People often talk about farms in terms of land, buildings and future plans. Those elements matter, but they do not define the starting point here.
Ghemu Farm begins with the history of the Ghemu family.
The earliest known ancestor of the family, Matei Ghemu, was born in the 1690s. The family lived for generations in the same area, in the village of Vălcineț in what is now Moldova, around 43 kilometres from the Romanian city of Iași. Historical records first mention the village in 1436. Forests, vineyards and orchards surround the area and have shaped daily life there for centuries.
The Ghemu family lived and worked on the same land until the 1960s. Family members farmed, grew food, worked with wood and produced many necessities by hand. Much of that physical work did not survive in a tangible form. The values behind it remained. Respect for labour, land and food endured, along with habits of growing, preserving and passing knowledge across generations.
The First World War caused a profound rupture. Many family members across different branches, including relatives through marriage, went to war and did not return. The family faced another wave of loss during the Second World War. These events left lasting gaps that shaped everything that followed.
Those who survived continued to work and tried to move forward. Large-scale migration to cities later changed everyday life again. Practical traditions faded as circumstances shifted. Memory carried forward what practice could not.
The Ghemu family now lives in England.
The distance between Vălcineț and London measures around 1,307 miles. Geography changed, but the connection to land, food and manual work did not disappear. New conditions now shape how that connection can exist.
Alexandra Ghemu has been developing a small tea business in Britain since 2024. This work continues alongside preparations to test preserves, jams and fruit drinks based on older family recipes, with small-scale testing planned for 2026. These products represent the most immediate and practical expression of Ghemu Farm today.
Ghemu Farm exists as a semi-self-sufficient project connected to IVA PLANTS. Future plans include growing herbs for herbal teas and tea plants, Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, as well as ingredients for farm-made food products. The project operates within present conditions and practical limits.
This is where Ghemu Farm starts. The project begins with concrete choices about work, responsibility and limits. Each decision grows out of what already exists and is shaped through ongoing practice.