Dacha

Dacha (Russian: да́ча) is a name for summer home or vacation house in Russia and CIS countries where people spend their summer holidays and grow fruit and vegetables for their own use. A dacha often has a separate banya (Russian: ба́ня, meaning sauna) attached to it.

The need to grow vegetables at a dacha was due to food shortages experienced in Russia. To this day, May Day holidays remain a feature of Russian life, allowing urban residents a long weekend to plant potatoes for the long winter.