I am the author of the Goodacity blog, a journalist, and a translator. For 16 years, I have worked in professional journalism, contributing to regional and national publications, both in print and online media. I have written reports, conducted interviews, reviews, articles on cultural, social, and charitable topics, as well as materials in the style of "solution journalism" and communication materials.
My focus is on creating interesting and exclusive content. Journalism, to me, is primarily about human stories, to which I always find the key, empathize with the people I write about, and love all my heroes. Journalism, to me, means telling people about what truly matters to them, informing and inspiring them. It is not just a job, but a way of life, just like for all those who dream, create, and are inspired by it.
So, if you are looking for stories that inspire and motivate, that instill faith and help find meaning while believing in goodness, read my stories on the Goodacity website.
I am a manager of cultural affairs and a project manager with over 14 years of experience at United Thinkers. I have participated in the organization of numerous successful social and charitable projects and have implemented informational campaigns and communication cases.
As a marketing manager, I have been involved in organizing marketing and sociological research, working with media and partners, developing advertising and marketing strategies, as well as planning and implementing advertising campaigns.
I believe in the power of goodness and I am happy that as part of the Goodacity project, I can contribute to its expansion. I believe in the power of words and in the fact that communication can help make the world a better place. I know how, where and when to speak in order to be heard. And when you are heard, you can change the world!
A Chernihiv Farmer on Finding Your Path in Life
What is the meaning of life? He’s one of those who definitely knows the sense of life! To say my interlocutor is a unique individual would be… barely scratching the surface of his incredible life story! About how, after spending five years in the United Kingdom, he returned to Ukraine to build Europe here; about how he left his position as a top manager at one of Ukraine’s largest agro-holdings to purchase a farm with barely five living cows in a Chernihiv village, Ukraine – to show how to save the Ukrainian countryside; about how he sold his childhood dream – a Harley Davidson motorcycle just like Schwarzenegger’s, to realize another dream – saving disappearing breeds of Ukrainian cows; about how in March 2022, amid relentless shelling, he delivered milk to people so they would have something to eat…
Impressive, isn’t it? And we haven’t even touched on his mega-popular YouTube channel about animal farming that he runs himself, and about “Veles Farm,” which now attracts thousands of visitors for tours… But even that’s not the main thing. The main thing is that Mykhailo Travec’kyi is a person with the courage to live his life. The courage not to be afraid to swim against the current, not to compromise with his conscience, and to persistently pursue his dream! With that dream, we begin our conversation…
“How did I find my path in life? The main thing is to focus on what truly matters to you,” says Mykhailo Travec’kyi. “To hear your inner voice, to define yourself, to find yourself, to self-identify. To answer a simple question: ‘Who am I?’, what is my mission, what is the sense of life? And when you start focusing on this and thinking about why you are on this Earth – then you search for your calling, you understand what you should be doing to make it the sense of your life. And so, everything came together and led me to the work of my life.”
Sold a Harley... to Save the Cows!
A Fifth-Generation Veterinarian, a Business School Graduate from Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, a Farmer, a Blogger, and the Owner of “Veles Farm” in Kraslyany village, Pryluky region, Ukraine.
“I’m just a simple country boy,” Mr. Mykhailo says with a smile. “From childhood, I knew I would be a veterinarian like my father and grandfather, like my brothers and uncles – not just because it’s a ‘family dynasty’ tradition, but because it intrigued and pleased me…”
Graduating with honors from Kharkiv Zoo Veterinary Institute, completing postgraduate work, working in the UK, and then defending his thesis in Ukraine, he held executive positions in the livestock sector of agro-holdings like Kernel and Astarta-Kyiv. It seemed like he had everything one could wish for. Yet, he left it all behind to start his own project…
“I managed the largest livestock farm in Ukraine – 30,000 head,” Mr. Mykhailo recounted. “I had a well-paying job, everything was fine, but I looked around and saw how life gradually disappeared from villages where unprofitable farms had closed down: people moved away in search of work, kindergartens and schools, stores closed, leaving only one street where the elderly lived out their days… I wanted to change this paradigm! I realized I was needed here – to show how livestock farming can be developed in the private sector!
What’s the sense of life – I asked myself and understood that for me, the answer lay in doing everything within my power in my life’s work. What have you done for yourself, for your country – these questions greatly motivated me. I wanted to help people, to be with them – not to sit somewhere in Kyiv, Ukraine, in an office, but to be here, in the village, with everyone, with a pitchfork in hand, in boots – “to toil,” telling people how to work, being with them, showing and inspiring! Thus was born my own “Travec’kyi Project.”
I went not just against the current – but against the storm,” the man laughs. “I left the big holdings and started doing something of my own. It felt like jumping off Everest… I jumped into the abyss, but fortunately, it turned out that I flew… Flew on the wings of a dream – and it was my path to happiness.
I began consulting, small animal farming enterprises, started my own YouTube channel where I share my experience (now with over 20,000 subscribers), and then I wanted to manage my own farm.
I’m originally from Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, have been working in Chernihiv region, Ukraine, since 2009, and I really like everything here: the atmosphere, the people, the nature… By chance, I ended up in the village of Kraslyany in the Pryluky district – and fell in love with the place. I bought an old house there – it had been empty for 20 years, fixed it up, and started living there. Nearby was a farm – things weren’t going very well, only about five cows barely alive, and I bought it to bring it back to life.
At first, I didn’t fully understand what I would do and how to do it, but I knew one thing – I wanted to save Ukrainian animal husbandry. I decided for myself: I’m staying with the cows, and I’ll do the maximum to preserve them. I focused on saving disappearing Ukrainian cow breeds like the gray Ukrainian. A hundred years ago, there were about 2 million heads across Ukraine, and now only 300 cows remain…
I bought one or two cows here and there – mostly, I rescued them just steps away from meat processing plants… Sometimes, I even bought them directly off the truck on its way to the slaughterhouse… Instead of going to meat, they now live on my farm.
However, I didn’t have much money, and I didn’t want to go into debt. So, to bring my farm project to life, I had to sell my dream – a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, just like Schwarzenegger’s. I dreamed about it all my life, saved up for a long time, and was very happy when I bought it. I understand it was a bit of a childish dream, but all the best in us comes from children!)) But when faced with the choice between the motorcycle or further developing the farm, I realized this dream was far more grand and global…
Today, my “Veles Farm” is home to 43 horned “residents.” Ukrainian Greys, Lebedyns, Ukrainian Whiteheads, Red Milks – all of them are our Ukrainian breeds. The bull Veles, our very own hero, has lent his name to the entire farm. Just recently, Mykhasyk, a grey Ukrainian calf, the son of Veles and Mavka, was born. All our greys have our authentic names: Veles the bull, Mokosha the grey cow, Mavka the grey, and there’s also Marfa – the oldest grey Ukrainian cow, who is now 18 years old. Recently, Vesnyanka was born, and last year we welcomed Javelinka – born amidst the height of military conflict… The war has been a significant trial for all of us…
Shots Overhead, But I'm Delivering Milk to the People!
“In the early days of the full-scale Russian invasion, we found ourselves occupied, completely surrounded by enemy troops. My farm was literally two kilometers from the epicenter of the fighting… With each passing day, the situation became increasingly difficult. In early March, I evacuated my wife and three children abroad and returned to the farm. My wife begged me to think of myself… But I told her – I can’t abandon the farm and the cows to fend for themselves! I rescued them from the slaughterhouse, gave them a chance at life, so how could I leave them now? Who would feed them, water them, milk them, take care of them – it was winter outside… I slept with a rifle and in a bulletproof vest on the farm, near the cows – because I knew that at any moment, the occupiers could storm in…
I joined the local territorial defense, helped the guys build checkpoints. And every day, I delivered milk to people: bullets were flying, shells were exploding overhead, but I was delivering milk to the people. Our guys at the checkpoints would tell me, ‘Where are you going? There are heavy bombardments there, have you lost your mind?’
But I went anyway – stores were closed, where were people supposed to get food? I gave away all my products, all the reserves I had – because I saw people who really had nothing to eat – it was terrifying…
People were waiting out the shelling in basements, in bomb shelters, I would arrive and say – take the milk, you’re sitting here hungry, and I have nowhere to store it… They still tried to pay whatever money they had… Sometimes the cows were bellowing with hunger – I bought grain and hay for them from people in neighboring villages, but then all the roads were either blocked or mined, tanks everywhere…
Those were hard times, terrifying times… But you know – it wasn’t me saving the farm, it was the farm saving me! You approach a cow, calm her down, stroke her behind the ear – and you calm down yourself… Animals heal, they take away negative energy… That’s how we survived and saved ourselves together.”
Ensuring Ukrainians Drink Ukrainian Milk!
Today, “Veles Farm” is well-known and, without exaggeration, heard of across all of Ukraine!
It also serves a sort of educational mission. Just imagine – over the last month alone, more than a thousand kids from schools across all regions have visited. Together with the community, we organized an official tourist route, and my farm and apiary are among its destinations. We venture out to the pastures, visit the calves, and the kids get to interact closely with the animals, all of which are gentle and calm – no one ever raises their voice at them on the farm…
Kids can approach and pet the cows or Veles the bull – I want them to feel the positive energy from the animals.
I explain to them how cows eat, how milk is produced, why it’s beneficial, and why it’s essential to consume it… These are simple yet very important and necessary things… Every time, I console myself with the thought that perhaps someone among these thousand will develop a love for animals and, as they grow older, they too will decide to start such a business and such a farm… I’m incredibly grateful to my YouTube channel subscribers and viewers who have started their businesses, inspired by my example. In Ukraine, it’s not just hundreds – thousands of people have written to me and thanked me – they’ve taken the plunge and decided to embark on dairy farming. This motivates me to keep moving forward, never to give up…
Why cows? My grandmother from Dnipropetrovsk region survived the Holodomor as a child: she told me how a cow saved their entire family. They hid the cow inside their home to protect it from the “Soviets” who took everything from the people – without her, the whole family would have died of hunger… If not for that cow – my grandmother wouldn’t have survived, my father wouldn’t have been born, and neither would I… What I’m doing now is also a way of showing respect for my lineage and roots. I’ve decided – as long as I have the strength, I will make efforts to rejuvenate our country through the revival of animal husbandry.
Yes, I’m no longer a top manager, but a simple farmer – and through my example, I show that one can live this way, work, and be entirely self-sufficient. I’ve found my calling in this life – doing what my heart tells me, living off what I do… I’ve had plenty of opportunities to live differently – but I chose what my heart and conscience dictated.
I want to create a breeding center at my farm for the revival of disappearing Ukrainian cow breeds, establish a hub for Ukrainian breeds – to develop our own, native Ukrainian livestock. So that Ukrainians drink Ukrainian milk, and most importantly – so that Ukrainians are masters of their own land!
