There is probably nothing more fascinating than food. And it becomes even more exciting when you produce it yourself. As a lecturer at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, entomology is one of my fields of research. The lively little creatures also play an essential role in our apple orchards in Plaus. The meadows belong to the “Reaslerhof”, which has long been in family ownership, and whose name may derive either from roses or from the “horses” once kept on the farm.

Since my wife Tanja and I have been managing the “Reaslerhof” meadows according to the principles of organic farming, parasitic wasps & co. have been more in focus than ever in my daily work as a researcher – and now also as an organic farmer.

Our apple trees of the Gala and Golden Delicious varieties, as well as the younger Bonita trees, are managed by our farm manager, with whom we exchange ideas almost every day. Many of the tasks in the orchard, however, I perform myself – which is a wonderful practical counterbalance to theory at the university.

Our two children, Flora and Johann, are still preschoolers, so too young to understand why we sow certain plants or why we farmers classify insects as beneficial or harmful. What they can already admire, however, are the splendid colors of the flowering strips between the apple rows: flowers and grasses that provide delicious food for many rare insects. For them, the meadow is still a playground full of small and large creatures, with apples playing only a side role. I already look forward to the day when they will understand the connections in the orchard and help foster the natural balance among insects. Then they will share with us the joy of producing healthy, tasty organic apples – in which lively insects play a decisive role. The superheroes in the soil may be much smaller than the two Haflinger horses at the “Reaslerhof”, but they are all the more tireless.