IVANA (29) MOVED TO THE COUNTRYSIDE FOR LOVE: A mother of three daughters running a 50-hectare farm with her husband! (VIDEO)

Ivana (29), a born and raised Belgrader, made a drastic change in her life seven years ago when she left the bustling city and moved to the countryside. Today, together with her husband Zoran and their three daughters, she runs a 50-hectare farm in Tometino Polje, near Požega. With ten dairy cows and over 100 sheep, they produce homemade dairy products—cheese, kashkaval, and kajmak.

She admits that this radical change brought many challenges, but also moments of happiness, which is why she can now confidently say that life in Belgrade is just a thing of the past and that she is a successful rural homemaker today.

She made this decision for love, but at first, it was far from easy. Coming from a city, she was not happy with life in the countryside, mainly because she was far from her family and lacked everything she was used to. Fortunately, she quickly adapted to her new surroundings and now admits that she wouldn’t trade rural life for anything.

“Crowds and people in general bother me now. I’ve gotten used to this peaceful place, my own little haven, to relaxation, to everything,” she said.

Her Day Starts at 7 AM

As a mother of three daughters, Ivana shared what a typical day on the farm looks like.

“My day actively starts around seven o’clock. That’s when I go to milk the cows, then I come back home to prepare breakfast for the kids. After that, I handle the milk-related tasks. If my husband isn’t around, I clean the barn, my father-in-law and I give the animals silage, we let out the calves if there are any, and finish up with the milking. Then it’s lunchtime, taking care of the kids… There’s always work to do. Especially in the summer, when you have to haul hay bales, stack them, prepare meals for the workers… The day sometimes ends at midnight when we go to feed the livestock,” she explains. She adds that they also raise pigs and chickens in addition to cows and sheep.

A Wide Range of Dairy Products

Ivana milks the cows herself and makes cheese from fresh milk, which she sells immediately. She says they only started the business in November last year, but she already has loyal customers in Belgrade.

In addition to milk, they offer a wide variety of dairy products, including aged and fresh cheese, kajmak, hard kashkaval (both smoked and unsmoked), butter, yogurt, mozzarella, and cheese preserved in olive oil. Their future plans include expanding production, as the current barn has only 17 stalls.

“Young People in the Countryside Don’t Want to Work”

Having moved to her husband’s large family estate, which has been maintained for generations, Ivana reveals that finding workers is now extremely difficult.

“There are a lot of young people in our village, but they just don’t want to work. The daily wage is around 5,000 dinars. You get coffee, a home-cooked meal, dinner, something sweet, and there are always breaks—it’s not like you work until you drop. But young people just won’t do it,” Ivana told the YouTube channel “Return to the Countryside”.

She adds that many people in her area buy land, build weekend homes, and visit occasionally, but very few commit to living in the countryside full-time and working daily.

Real estate prices in villages have also gone up.

“It goes up to thousands of euros per acre. Our house is only 12 kilometers from the center of Divčibare. The older I get, the more I realize that the peace I have now is something no city could replace. Sure, my parents and sisters are in Belgrade, and I love visiting them, but never for more than a few days. I’ve just gotten used to life here—my peace, my responsibilities, my schedule. Managing everything on my own with three kids has become second nature,” Ivana concludes.

“Life in the Countryside Is Truly Beautiful”

When it comes to fitting in with the local community, Ivana says she was warmly welcomed by her neighbors and soon became a beloved newcomer in the village.

As someone who would choose rural life all over again, Ivana has a clear message for young people:

“Life in the countryside is truly beautiful. What you work for is what you get, you work for yourself, you have for yourself, and you are your own boss,” she says.

Although life in the countryside requires more work, she finds that working in Belgrade was far more stressful:

“I worked in Belgrade, in a supermarket, then in a restaurant, and I wouldn’t go back to that kind of work for any amount of money. Not for anything. I like it much better here.”

Recipe for Her Easiest and Best Product

Ivana also shared the recipe for her easiest and best product—hard full-fat kashkaval cheese.

“You need 8 liters of milk, one tablespoon of salt, and one packet of citric acid. Heat the milk until it boils, add salt and citric acid, cook for another one to three minutes, then strain through a cheesecloth and press. And that’s it—in just 10 minutes of work, you get about a kilogram of cheese. Simple, and the result is delicious!”