Jasminka Gršković from the picturesque island of Krk, is a kindergarten teacher and campaigner for sustainable living. In her work, she combines education, nature and craftsmanship. She runs a family farm and makes lavender-scented wool sensory balls to strengthen hand muscles.
She also produces environmentally friendly wool dryer balls that shorten drying time, save energy and reduce waste. By using these natural alternatives, households can reduce their reliance on chemical-laden fabric softeners and opt for a more sustainable way of life. Through her work, Jasminka promotes sustainability in everyday life, especially among the younger generation, and encourages them to make conscious choices that benefit both people and the planet.
Jasminka is a driving force for positive change by showing that sustainability and tradition can coexist harmoniously. She encourages meaningful steps towards a future where nature and society thrive together, proving that even small, conscious efforts can have a big impact.
Jasminka Gršković s pitoresknog otoka Krka odgajateljica je u vrtiću i zagovornica održivog načina života. U svom radu spaja edukaciju, prirodu i rukotvorine. Vodi obiteljsko poljoprivredno gospodarstvo i razvija mirisne senzorne loptice od lavandom obogaćene vune koje pomažu jačanju mišića ruku.
Također proizvodi ekološki prihvatljive vunene kuglice za sušilicu, koje skraćuju vrijeme sušenja, štede energiju i smanjuju količinu otpada. Korištenjem ovih prirodnih alternativa kućanstva mogu smanjiti upotrebu omekšivača s kemijskim sastojcima i odabrati održiviji način života.
Kroz svoj rad Jasminka promiče održivost u svakodnevnom životu, posebice među mlađim generacijama, potičući ih na svjesne odluke koje pozitivno doprinose i ljudima i planetu. Jasminka je pokretačka snaga pozitivnih promjena, dokazujući da održivost i tradicija mogu harmonično surađivati. Svojim djelovanjem potiče značajne korake prema budućnosti u kojoj priroda i društvo napreduju zajedno, pokazujući da i mali, svjesni napori mogu imati velik utjecaj.
Fantastic news! Albertine Ekkels – van ‘t Hoog, one of the many great women in the Dutch Living Lab, has reached the final round of Jong Agrarisch Talent (Young Agricultural Talent). She proposes a new booking system to connect groups (coaches, parties, meetings…) with farmers. She earnestly believes that everyone should benefit from and understand the nature that farmers nurture. Arranging a meeting in a rural location can help bridge the distance between the city and the countryside and give people the opportunity to appreciate the beautiful Dutch landscape by themselves.
Albertine’s idea is to set up and facilitate a booking service, making it easier to have an overview of availability for customers, and taking away the administration and promotion requirements from the farmers. Combined with her previous experience with a coach and her current role as a farmer, she is ideally positioned to bring together both of these sectors. All this after recently giving birth to her third child – she is a super woman!
After rehearsing her presentation with the Living Lab, she sparkled when presenting to the judges this week. The winner receives a €2,500 grant to help launch their idea. Now we wait and cross all fingers and toes for her, as this could be her moment to shine. Here she is explaining her concept (in Dutch) along with describing how important it is for women to ‘just try’ their ideas out and not to be scared: https://www.boerderij.nl/video-boerderijruimtes-en-platteland-zichtbaarder-maken-met-online-platform
Can you help Albertine develop this platform? Contact her directly to share your ideas and wisdom – thank you in advance!
Fantastisch nieuws! Albertine Ekkels – van ‘t Hoog, een van de geweldige vrouwen in de Dutch Living Lab dat doet mee met de EU Grass Ceiling project, heeft de finaleronde van Jong Agrarisch Talent bereikt. Ze stelt een nieuw boekingssysteem voor om groepen (coaches, feesten, vergaderingen etc.) te verbinden met boeren. Ze is ervan overtuigd dat iedereen moet kunnen profiteren van de natuur die boeren koesteren. Het organiseren van een bijeenkomst op een landelijke locatie kan helpen deze afstand te overbruggen en mensen de kans geven het mooie Nederlandse landschap zelf te zien.
Albertine’s idee is om een boekingsservice op te bouwen en te faciliteren, waardoor het makkelijker wordt om een overzicht te hebben van de beschikbaarheid voor klanten, en de administratie en promotie bij de boeren weg te halen. Gecombineerd met haar eerdere ervaring onder een coach en haar huidige rol als boerin, is ze in de ideale positie om beide sectoren samen te brengen. Dit alles na de geboorte van haar derde kind – ze is een supervrouw!
Na het repeteren van haar presentatie met de Living Lab, schitterde ze deze week tijdens haar presentatie voor de jury. De winnaar ontvangt een subsidie van €2.500 om zijn idee te beginnen. Nu wachten we af en kruisen onze duimen voor haar, want dit zou wel eens haar moment kunnen zijn om haar plannen te laten groeien. Hier legt ze haar concept uit (in het Nederlands) en beschrijft ze hoe belangrijk het is voor vrouwen om hun ideeën ‘gewoon uit te proberen’ en niet bang te zijn: https://www.boerderij.nl/video-boerderijruimtes-en-platteland-zichtbaarder-maken-met-online-platform
Lina Vyšniauskaitė, a farmer from northern Lithuania, has transformed her 2006-established farm in Joniškis into a leading cold-pressed oil producer since 2019. Her primary focus is on hemp, flax, and milk thistle seed oils, which she grows and processes entirely on her family farm.
The production of these oils involves cold pressing, ensuring the preservation of their natural properties. Every stage, from seed cultivation to the final product, is meticulously supervised to guarantee exceptional quality. This commitment to excellence has positioned Lina’s oils as a healthy and natural choice for consumers seeking nutritious alternatives in their daily diets.
In addition to production, Lina is dedicated to educating the public about the benefits of these oils, which, although traditional, are less known among younger generations. Through workshops and community events, she shares knowledge about incorporating these products into everyday cooking, revitalising old recipes with a modern twist. “Currently, we are organising classes to teach people how to use products from rural areas in their daily lives, apply them in the kitchen, and use old recipes by producing something modern. For instance, we organise education events for baking tree cakes, making cheese, or cold-pressing oil.”
Family integration into farm activities is fundamental for Lina. Each family member contributes to the production process, strengthening family bonds and ensuring sustainable and efficient farm management. This family dynamic optimises production and creates a harmonious and collaborative working environment.
Lina has found that community support and lifelong learning are key to overcoming obstacles, such as initial lack of knowledge and balancing family responsibilities with work. She actively participates in the rural community of Stupurai, collaborating with other entrepreneurial women on projects that strengthen the local economy and promote social cohesion.
The adoption of modern technologies has been essential to her business model. Online sales of her products have expanded her reach, making it easier for consumers to access high-quality oils. Additionally, Lina shows a keen interest in artificial intelligence, exploring how these tools can enhance communication and efficiency in her agricultural business. “I am also highly interested in AI and have attended various courses. Believe it or not, it greatly helps communication, and I use these tools. I try to catch up with technologies. The Grass Ceiling Project has worked as a great motivation to enter online sales and start looking into new solutions, clients, and opportunities.”
Lina exemplifies how combining traditional agricultural methods with modern innovations can lead to success in the farming sector. Her dedication to quality, consumer education, and community integration makes her a remarkable role model for other farmers and rural entrepreneurs.
Gail developed Bó Bar soap when was looking for a natural treatment for her daughter’s eczema and started trading in December 2021. The soaps are free from chemicals, parabens and palm oil and are scented using essential oils. They are handmade using traditional cold press methods. All packaging -cow print, of course- is fully compostable and biodegradable.
“All of our soaps are hand-made on our farm, using the traditional cold process method. This requires all of our soap bars to be cured for at least 4 weeks but generally 5-6 weeks. As our products are genuinely handmade in small batches, each soap is unique in its size, colour, pattern & appearance, so they will vary slightly from the images shown. Our bars weigh a minimum of 95g but can range between 95 and 115g”, comments Gail from her business homepage.
Congratulations Gail from everyone at GRASS CEILING.
Pictures: The photos of the awards ceremony that illustrate this article are courtesy of the National Dairy Awards. See: www.nationaldairyawards.com
Si è svolto qualche giorno fa a Ruvo di Puglia (BA) il settimo Living Lab del progetto triennale Grass Ceiling, finanziato dal programma europeo Horizon Europe e dedicato all’innovazione femminile in contesti di lavoro rurale. Il progetto, ormai al suo ultimo anno di attività, si concluderà a dicembre.
Il Living Lab è da sempre un’occasione di confronto e apprendimento collettivo. Fino a oggi, le otto donne innovatrici coinvolte hanno lavorato a idee di business nuove e accattivanti, nell’ultimo incontro, però, è arrivato il momento di testarle sul campo. Seguendo il metodo del design thinking, il percorso è ora nella fase di prototipazione, cui seguirà un’importante fase di testing per simulare l’innovazione e definire i prossimi passi.
Le innovatrici stanno quindi sottoponendo i loro progetti al giudizio dei potenziali utenti finali. Un passaggio cruciale, che può confermare la validità delle idee o spingerle a rivedere strategie e scelte.
Il Living Lab ha mostrato loro il giusto percorso da compiere: attraverso un workshop sul Business Model Canvas con Francesco Notarangelo, le partecipanti hanno reso più concreti i loro progetti, trasformando ciò che finora era solo un’idea in un piano strutturatoEach project is thought out in detail: a museum on the history of an ancient oil mill, the rebranding of an essential oils brand, a Festival of the Seasons, these are just some of the options made up during the discussion. Each one of them aims to enhance the territory, thanks to the collaboration of the Bio-Distretto delle lame, which is following the evolution of this journey of female innovation in agriculture step by step, together with the two co-leads, Ciheam BARI and Legacoop Puglia.
Dal museo sulla storia di un antico frantoio al rebranding di un marchio di oli essenziali, fino a una Festa delle Stagioni, ogni progetto mira a valorizzare il territorio, grazie anche alla collaborazione del Bio-Distretto delle Lame che, insieme ai due co-lead, Ciheam Bari e Legacoop Puglia, segue passo dopo passo l’evoluzione di questo percorso di innovazione al femminile in agricoltura.
C’è grande entusiasmo per i prossimi, decisivi appuntamenti. Del resto, come scriveva Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “Fai della tua vita un sogno e di un sogno una realtà”, e noi ci siamo quasi!
The seventh Living Lab of the three-year Grass Ceiling project, funded by the European Horizon Europe program and dedicated to women’s innovation in their business rural settings, took place a few days ago in Ruvo di Puglia (BA), Italy. The project is in its final year and will end in December.
The Living Lab has always been an opportunity for collective discussion and learning about rural topics. So far, the eight women innovators involved have been working on new and engaging business ideas; in the last meeting, however, the time has come to a field test.
The Living Lab showed them the right path to innovation, by means of the use of solid methodologies. Through a workshop on the Business Model Canvas, lead by Francesco Notarangelo of Ciheam BARI, the participants made their projects more concrete, transforming what was so far just an idea into a structured plan.
Each project is thought out in detail: a museum on the history of an ancient oil mill, the rebranding of an essential oils brand, a Festival of the Seasons, these are just some of the options made up during the discussion. Each one of them aims to enhance the territory, thanks to the collaboration of the Bio-Distretto delle lame, which is following the evolution of this journey of female innovation in agriculture step by step, together with the two co-leads, Ciheam BARI and Legacoop Puglia.
There is great excitement for the upcoming, decisive milestones. After all, as the famous writer as Saint-Exupéry once said “Make your life a dream and a dream a reality,” and we are nearly close!
As the new year begins, the Living Labs within our project are reactivating after the Christmas break.
The Croatian team was the first to do so, seizing this initial meeting of the year to maintain direct contact with local stakeholders. See the meeting agenda here.
The Croatian Living Lab has set itself the task of holding the majority of Living Lab meetings in the local communities of the innovators involved in the project. Thus, on 24 January, 2025, the Living Lab meeting took place in Gospić, where Marijana Svetić, who was recently introduced on the project website https://www.grassceiling.eu/marijana-svetic-croatia-livinglab/ , comes from. The meeting with stakeholders was particularly successful, primarily due to the great interest of local stakeholders in the project and then also due to their active participation in the workshop. It was noted that the progress made over the last two decades is remarkable, but there are still many problems in the Lika region that need to be worked on to improve the status of women, especially in the areas of infrastructure, economy, politics and family. Rural poverty and the needs of the elderly population, especially older women, as well as the digital divide and the lack of microfinance were particularly highlighted. Some of the services that are lacking in the rural region of Lika are kindergartens, facilities for the elderly, microfinance for small crafts, businesses and family farms, more accessible public transportation and fast network signals.
Representatives from Lika-Senj County Development Centre (the host), The Croatian Chamber of Economy, the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences, the Croatian Employment Service (Gospić branch), the Association GTF-Initiative for Sustainable Growth, City of Gospić, Polytechnic “Nikola Tesla”, LAG Lika and Lika-Senj County itself, had the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge of the Grass Ceiling project and, more specifically, how it is impacting rural Croatia through the group of women entrepreneurs participating in it.
Professor Nataša Bokan from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Zagreb was responsible for presenting the project’s content and the Living Lab methodology being implemented in various parts of the country.
Innovation training took place in the afternoon session, focusing on the testing phase of the innovation process as part of the design thinking methodology. In an open discussion, the innovators shared their experiences of testing their products with the customers. The innovators reported that they received constructive critical feedback with new perspectives on their products or approach. The final session was an open discussion about the overall innovation process and their own progress (personal and business) that they have made so far in the Grass Ceiling project. The most important outcome for them is support and networking. In second place is learning about the innovation process and realising that their own perspective is not enough and how important it is to talk to others and incorporate their opinions into their own ideas/projects.
This meeting spanned over two days and included, among other activities, a visit to the Nikola Tesla Memorial Center. The gathering also served as an opportunity to share with all the women participating in the project the results of the 2nd showcase event, which took place in late November 2024 in Vilnius (Lithuania) and was attended by Ines Dundović.
S početkom nove godine Živi laboratoriji (Living lab) u okviru našeg projekta ponovno se aktiviraju nakon božićnih praznika.
Hrvatski tim bio je prvi koji je to učinio, iskoristivši ovaj prvi ovogodišnji sastanak za održavanje izravnog kontakta s lokalnim dionicima. Dnevni red sastanka pogledajte ovdje.
Hrvatski Living lab si je zadao zadatak da velik dio svojih sastanaka održi u lokalnim zajednicama inovatorica uključenih u projekt. Tako se 24. siječnja 2025. održao susret Living Lab-a u Gospiću, odakle dolazi Marijana Svetić, koja je nedavno predstavljena na web stranici projekta (https://www.grassceiling.eu/marijana-svetic-croatia-livinglab/. Sastanak s dionicima bio je posebno uspješan, prvenstveno zbog velikog interesa lokalnih dionika za projekt, a zatim i zbog njihovog aktivnog sudjelovanja u radionici. Istaknuto je da su pomaci ostvareni u posljednja dva desetljeća veliki, ali da u Lici još uvijek ima mnogo problema na kojima treba raditi kako bi se poboljšao položaj žena, posebice u područjima infrastrukture, gospodarstva, politike i obitelji. Posebno je istaknuto ruralno siromaštvo i potrebe starijeg stanovništva, posebice starijih žena, te digitalni jaz i nedostatak mikrofinanciranja. Neke od usluga koje nedostaju ruralnom području Like su dječji vrtići, domovi i sadržaji za starije osobe, mikrofinanciranje malih obrta, poduzeća i OPG-ova, dostupniji javni prijevoz i brzi mrežni signal.
Predstavnici Razvojnog centra Ličko-senjske županije (koji je bio domaćin skupa), Hrvatske gospodarske komore, Instituta društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar, Hrvatskog zavoda za zapošljavanje (podružnica Gospić), Udruge GTF-Inicijativa za održivi rast, Grada Gospića, Veleučilišta “Nikola Tesla”, LAG-a Lika i same Ličko-senjske županije, imali su priliku iz prve ruke upoznati projekt Grass Ceiling te čuti kako on utječe na ruralnu Hrvatsku kroz skupinu poduzetnica koje u njemu sudjeluju.
Profesorica Nataša Bokan s Agronomskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu bila je zadužena za predstavljanje sadržaja projekta i metodologije Living lab-a koja se provodi u različitim dijelovima zemlje.
U poslijepodnevnoj sesiji održana je obuka o inovacijama, s fokusom na fazu testiranja inovacijskog procesa kao dio metodologije dizajnerskog mišljenja. U otvorenoj raspravi inovatorice su podijelile vlastita iskustva testiranja svojih proizvoda s kupcima. Inovatorice su izvijestile da su dobile konstruktivne kritičke povratne informacije s novim pogledima na svoje proizvode. Završna sesija bila je otvorena rasprava o ukupnom procesu inovacija i vlastitom napretku (osobnom i poslovnom) koji su inovatorice do sada ostvarile u projektu Grass Ceiling. Najvažniji rezultat za njih je podrška i umrežavanje. Na drugom mjestu je učenje o procesu inovacija i shvaćanje da vlastita perspektiva nije dovoljna te koliko je važno razgovarati s drugima i njihovo mišljenje ugraditi u vlastite ideje/projekte.
Susret je trajao dva dana i uključivao je, između ostalog, posjet Memorijalnom centru Nikola Tesla. Okupljanje je također poslužilo kao prilika da se sa svim ženama koje sudjeluju u projektu podijele rezultati 2. showcase event-a koji se održao krajem studenog 2024. u Vilniusu (Litva), a na kojem je sudjelovala Ines Dundović.
