Liene Auziņa’s interest in wild plants began when she was a child. She studied them in the wild, tried to learn about them and even carefully recorded her observations in a notebook. Her childhood enthusiasm has not faded over the years – quite the contrary, it has grown into a desire not only to learn about meadow plants, but also to preserve and propagate them.

Today, in Tērvete parish, Liene and her husband manage natural meadows. Three years ago, she began collecting seeds from the valuable and rare plants growing in her meadows and growing meadow plant seedlings. Gradually, this initiative has developed into a well-thought-out system in which every stage of a plant’s life has its own place and even its own apt name.

It all begins in the “Nursery”, where young plants are grown in pots from seeds collected in the meadows. Once the seedlings have grown and become stronger, they are moved to beds in the “Nursery”, where they continue to grow and develop under Liene’s careful care.

New plants set off from the “Nursery”. Some are sent to new owners in various parts of Latvia to help restore and enrich natural meadows or to introduce a diversity of wild plants into gardens and other green spaces.

Some of the seedlings remain on Liene’s farm and are taken to the “Treasure Trove”, where they grow and multiply so that seeds can later be harvested from them for future generations of meadow plants. Others are moved to “Rehabilitation Centres” – places where the meadow needs help to become more species-rich. There, the seedlings grown by Liene supplement the existing plant diversity and help the meadow gradually regain its characteristic species richness. These carefully nurtured seedlings become part of a living meadow and continue their natural life cycle.

For Liene, it is important not only to recognise and cherish the value of nature, but also to take action to help preserve it, whilst asking herself one key question: what can I do? It is precisely this question that drives her to seek practical ways to help meadow plants survive and thrive. Liene knows that there are already people and organisations working to conserve and restore natural meadows, but there are still too few of them. For natural meadows and their plant diversity to flourish in the Latvian landscape, we need more and more people who ask themselves – ‘What can I do?’ – and then take action.

“Our Natural Meadows” is a passion that began with a child’s desire to learn about wild plants and has grown into a commitment to their conservation. From notes in a childhood notebook to collecting seeds, growing seedlings and enriching the meadows – Liene’s interest in plants is now helping the values of natural meadows to take root and continue elsewhere in Latvia.