Our “Egghof” is located in sun-kissed Marein, a district of Kastelbell in the Vinschgau valley south of the Adige River. For four generations, farming has been practised here. Apples of the Golden Delicious, Ambrosia, Royal Gala, Stark Delicious, Braeburn, and Cosmic varieties thrive on the fertile alluvial cone.
When I took over the farm from my father, I immediately switched to organic cultivation. My father had always given me a great deal of freedom in the farm’s activities, even when I was not yet at the forefront making important decisions. Now that I am a father of three myself, I can well understand how he felt when he gradually delegated more and more responsibility to the next generation. My children are still very young, but one day they too will have to make important decisions – perhaps even ones that go beyond the significance of converting to organic farming. At present, organic is the forward-looking path I have chosen, and one that should positively influence their growing up. They will have to learn the art of observation, just as I must get to know every single tree carefully so that it produces beautiful, healthy fruit. There is always something exciting happening in the orchard, and it is impossible for the children to get bored. What fascinates them about ladybirds hunting aphids, or parasitic wasps and earwigs going after woolly apple aphids, fascinates me just as much. The children quickly understand that the woolly coating of the woolly apple aphid leaves ugly marks on fruit and that sucking on shoots, buds, and fruit is something we do not want. They intuitively develop a sense for what should be encouraged in the orchard and what should be prevented.
Every day, I enter the orchard with a feeling of contentment. I often have to accept that not everything can or should be perfect. The trunk and leaves could sometimes look better than they do, but in organic farming the human urge for perfect order is better left aside. Perfection in organic farming reveals itself in biodiversity, in the harmonious interplay between pests and beneficial insects, and in the measures we farmers take to support this balance. That is what I do in my apple orchards, what my father does in his “hobby vineyard” with Lagrein and Vernatsch, and what I hope my children will do one day – once they are old enough to consciously appreciate this feeling of inner contentment.
