"We talk honestly about rural life." A couple with many children has established a village life and tamed nutria

Our heroes have known each other since school. True, they studied in different classes - Yuri is a year younger, but he says that he immediately liked “the most beautiful girl in the school.” They started dating when she was already in her first year at university, but the relationship did not work out and the couple broke up for a while. During this period, Snezhana even managed to get married and give birth to a son. Now she recalls with a smile that the first marriage was hasty, and calls the meeting with Yuri nothing less than fate.

- After serving in the army, all youthful stupidity disappeared. More than once I was called to work in the security forces in MINSK , but I was always drawn to the village. I realized that I was no longer a schoolboy, I needed to settle down. I wanted simple family happiness. Snezhana was just graduating from university when I proposed to her. Of course, I agreed,” Yuri smiles and looks at his wife with tenderness. - My mother raised me alone, so there was no one to rely on financially. In those years he worked on a collective farm on a tractor, then on a forage harvester. I earned money for the wedding myself.

In the first year after the wedding, we bought our first car and a house in the agricultural town of Signevichi, which was several decades old,” Snezhan’s husband adds to the story. “We really wanted to build our own family nest.” Although it turned out to be not so easy.

By the way, Snezhana didn’t really want to live in the village, because in the city, as it seemed to her, there were much more opportunities. Her husband still managed to convince her, and years later she admits that she did not regret it at all. The agricultural town has everything for a comfortable stay: shops, a school, a kindergarten. Children attend various clubs. If something is missing, then the regional center is just a stone's throw away, less than 15 kilometers away.

- As popular wisdom says: a real man must build a house, plant a tree and raise a son. In our case, five wonderful children. And this should be the basis for any Belarusian - a real man . When you get married and have children , you must understand that it is not the state that is responsible for them, but you. Although our state provides enormous help and support. We were convinced of this by our own example,” notes Yuri Kapuza. - We got a house with a long history. He literally stood on the ground, not even the foundation was visible. The conditions, of course, were not at all suitable for living, especially with small children. Therefore, they began to think about its reconstruction. Later they wrote an application to the village council to carry out the necessary construction work.

At that time, the couple did not know that there was an entire state credit program aimed at helping large families living in rural areas. Employees of the village council told them about this, and they helped collect all the necessary documents.

- It was scary to start reconstruction. It seemed as if everything would fall apart literally before our eyes. I remember how they began to jack up the house and the wall began to fall. The men and I stood and held it, weighing several tons, with our bare hands. The wife looked at everything that was happening and cried. Then I went to church, lit a candle, prayed, asked the Almighty for help, and gradually everything began to work out,” says Yuri.

Today they have a large and comfortable home. They admit that there is a lot to be done, but this large and friendly family is not afraid of difficulties. Here everyone is ready to lend a helping hand to each other: this is what their parents taught Yuri and Snezhana , and now they pass this rule on to their children. By the way, my husband has dreamed of having many of them in the family all his life. - Since childhood, he wanted a big family: for the brothers to be friends with each other, and the sisters to be girlfriends. So that everyone helps their parents. So we have a whole football team. Children are our main value in this world. If God gives us more children, my wife and I will be only happy. We will be able to raise them to their feet, raise them to be real people - true patriots of their country,” says the father of many children proudly and recalls how fate double-checked their relationship with his wife. The first time was when Snezhana became seriously ill and Yuri was left with a farmstead and children, one of whom had just been born. - After Varvara’s birth, my wife fell ill with CORONAVIRUS, which provoked a complication such as thrombosis. The disease is very serious, treatment is lengthy and must be in a hospital. During her absence, I rethought a lot.

After Snezhana’s recovery, nothing foreshadowed trouble in their happy family: the children happily grew up, the household was replenished. The trouble, as they say, came from unexpected places: Yuri had a heart attack.

- I survived only thanks to my wife. She pushed me into the car, got behind the wheel and drove me to the hospital. The doctors said so: if they had waited for an ambulance, they most likely would not have been able to save him,” he notes. - These trials only strengthened our family, we began to treat each other more carefully.

“People are drawn to rustic simplicity.”

In addition to his large family, Yuri’s second important topic of conversation is his farming. Two cows, goats, sheep, ducks, turkeys, chickens, rabbits - you can’t see anyone in their yard! Previously, Yuri worked as a salesman, after which he rose to the position of manager. However, at some point I realized that I needed higher education, especially since Belarus has excellent opportunities to obtain it.

I am a second-year student at the Belarusian State Agrarian University. I decided to choose an agricultural direction, specializing in labor protection engineer. I had to quit my job. The DIRECTOR did not support my desire to study. Session is soon. I take great pleasure in attending classes. I like everything, it's interesting. “I’m surrounded by kind people, wonderful teachers,” says Yuri and recalls how easy it was for him to enroll in the correspondence department: “Having a good average score and passing the exams, I passed on a budget.” That is, I get education for free. True, after the heart attack I thought about quitting this business, but my wife insisted that I go to the end. And he constantly supports me in this decision.

Although the family’s farm is large, they honestly admit: they never even thought about the fact that their products could be sold and make money from it . One, two or three times they treated neighbors, friends and acquaintances to MILK, butter, cheese, cottage cheese and even condensed milk - and after a while Kapuza had regular customers.

- One day they told us: your milk is so tasty , why don’t you sell it? Then we started thinking: really, why? After all, all our products are natural. And in our country, by running a personal subsidiary plot, you can fully implement everything without breaking the law . We raise chickens so that we have our own MEAT and eggs . We got cows because my daughter really loves milk, and we used to buy it in bags at the store,” notes Snezhana. - People come to us to buy food, walk around the estate, get acquainted with animals - why not agroecotourism?! We will develop in this direction. Of course, things don’t always work out as planned.

- To buy something new from technology, you need to have a large turnover, and we are just starting our business. Therefore, we have to collect almost from scrap metal. Now I’m sorting out the tractor, it’s time to plow the land - it should feed us, and not be empty,” explains Yuri and shares his dreams: “We want to create a petting zoo.” This will be a place where you can come and relax with the whole family, and, if desired, stay overnight. Experience real rural life for yourself: milk a cow, feed chickens and ducks, chop firewood, mow the grass with the most ordinary scythe, as our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers did. Believe me, people are attracted to such rustic simplicity; many are tired of the bustle of the city.

Belarus , according to Yuri Kapuza, is one of the few countries that can be proud of its developed agriculture. And this is a great merit of the President, who supports the construction of new complexes, the reconstruction of old farms, cattle breeding , milk production...

- We, being indigenous villagers, fully support the HEAD of state: he did not allow enterprises to be plundered and destroyed like they did abroad. Just remember what happened in agriculture 30-50 years ago and what today?! Modern technology, and people look great, earn good money and can afford to drive around the village in an expensive car, the interlocutor is convinced.

“Being a blogger, I never leave home without my phone.”

What’s unusual at Kapuza’s farmstead is a small pond in which tame nutria live. They are so well-mannered that you can pet them and even feed them by hand. The animals made friends with other animals on the farm. Only the cows look at these fluffy creatures with distrust, carefully avoiding them.

The story of their appearance in Signevichi deserves special attention, says Yuri, who has always wanted to have exotic animals.

- I first saw them in the photo and thought it was a big rat. I began to delve deeper into the topic and read articles. I thought it would be cool to have one of these. My wife and I dreamed - and that was all, because the price of such an animal was beyond our means. And special conditions are needed to keep them,” the owner recalls. - But dreams tend to come true! So, one fine day my friends called me and offered to pick up several muskrats. Someone threw them into the wild, and the animals will most likely die. When I arrived at the address, it turned out that it was a nutria. How can one not believe in miracles after this?!

The wife accepted her husband’s idea with a smile, saying that you need everything. However, as befits a loving companion, she fully supported his idea. In addition, there was an abandoned pond nearby. All that's left to do is clear the pond and transport the nutria to a new place of residence. At that time, the couple did not even think that the animals would become such an outlet for them. They brought very young children, today they have already grown up, settled down and feel like full-fledged owners, they have managed to start their own families. These furry guys have very poor eyesight , but their hearing is well developed. When you try to grab it by the back, the nutria may bite, showing that it is in charge here. In general, the animals are kind: they run along the pond with the chickens, are friends with the cats and, of course, let people pet them.

- Our guests often pay attention to their yellow teeth: does this mean the animals are sick with something? In fact, this is an indicator that the nutria are absolutely healthy, and in our case, also happy! - Yuri assures.

Yuri and Snezhana talk about their rural life on their personal blog on TIKTOK.

For example, how Bertha the dog gives children sledding rides in winter, eared rabbits give a lot of positive emotions, fluffy cats come running from all corners of the farmstead during milking of cows and meow as they wait for the mistress to treat them with warm fresh milk.

- In addition to taking care of the house and children, washing, cooking, my responsibilities also include filming videos for the blog. Many people, when they find out what kind of farmstead we have, are surprised how we manage to keep up with everything. I also go for manicures,” Snezhana winks and immediately talks about the idea with the blog: “We started with TikTok, and now we have gathered our own audience on YouTube. As a blogger, I no longer leave home without my phone. I took pictures in the barn, ran to the chicken coop, looked at the piglets, and then ran to the pond to see our main characters - the nutria.

At first we learned from our mistakes. There were also many haters who found something negative in simple videos. Snezhana recalls how emotionally she perceived each such comment; she even wanted to quit all this filming. Her husband and children, on the contrary, always praised her videos.

- Now we don’t work for content, but it works for us. There are subscribers who like our blogs, they admire us, they write only good words and wishes,” the owner of the farmstead says embarrassedly. - But we don’t invent anything on purpose, we just honestly and without embellishment show our beautiful rural life.

Yuri and Snezhana Kapuza have five children, a house and a large farm: cows, pigs, ducks, chickens and tame nutria.

The Kapuza couple dreams of creating an estate where the whole family can come and relax and stay overnight. Experience real rural life for yourself: milk a cow, feed chickens and ducks, chop firewood, mow the grass with the most ordinary scythe, as our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers did.

created using targeted funds for the production of national content

Marina VALAKH, photo - Pavel ORLOVSKY