The harvest festival began with a joint prayer. “From these grains that you have brought today there will be bread; it will become food not only to strengthen our earthly forces, but also food that leads to eternal life. This bread is given to us through the work of farmers,” said Father Jerzy Adamczewski, parish priest of the parish of Our Lady of the Rosary.
For believers, these words are words of encouragement, filling them with pride that, as farmers, they contribute to nourishing both body and spirit.
This pride may be even greater because farmers work in exceptionally difficult conditions. Like no other professional group, they depend on the whims of the weather. “Dear farmers, in recent years the weather has not been favourable to you,” said Gmina Bolesławiec Head Andrzej Dutkowski. “The drought has particularly affected the northern and central parts of our gmina. Spring cereals, rapeseed, even maize resistant to high temperatures, and root crops, including potatoes, have suffered the most. There are fewer vegetables and fruit. Meadows and pastures have dried up. People are worried about what they will feed their animals. At the request of our local government and farmers, commissions from the voivodeship are assessing the losses. We continue to call for systemic and legal solutions that would provide farmers with genuine assistance.
The Bolesławiec County Head praised the increasingly strong cooperation between the gmina and county local governments. “Village residents need good roads,” said Tomasz Gabrysiak. “Together, thanks to organisational and financial cooperation between the local governments, we are managing to repair these roads. Just before the harvest festival, the road from Bolesławiec to Bolesławice was widened. I am convinced there will be more joint investments of this kind, because residents can see that, thanks to goodwill and reaching agreement, anything is possible.
After the speeches, the festivities began. The best farmers received ministerial decorations. The commission selected the most beautiful harvest wreath. Members of the county board honoured outstanding beekeepers. Awards were presented to those residents of Bolesławice who had prepared the most attractive and funniest harvest decorations.