Biological Gemuse

Have you ever thought about the phrase "organic vegetable"? Its pretty funny that they use the word "organic" to describe a form of regulation. Well, in Europe, the synonym for "organic" is "biological" or bio. The following pictures are of an inspirational bio farm in Dorf Tirol. There is an incredible amount of production on this small piece of land, in the middle of town - and its all chemical-free. It should be a model for other small farmers. The owner of the farm, Franz, has a small market on Tuesdays and Saturdays. He produces vegetables and fruit. Franz and his family also raise chickens, goats, and have a miniature horse! Brunnenburg purchased their heritage breed chicks from Franz last week.

Monoculture agriculture in this part of the country, is common-place. Apples and grapes are grown in rows with nothing else. Franz grows apples with vegetables in between! Here are squash and corn between, he also grows potatoes and peppers in other rows between apples.

Here, Joe poses for me to show the scale of the greenhouse. The greenhouse is so neat! There are strings for the vines to climb up to about 7 feet to take advantage of vertical space. There were tomato and a variety of squash vines that will fill this greenhouse. They are only wrapped around the string and they climb away!


Here is a beautiful currant bush that is part of Franz's fruit production. He also has cherries, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries! What a wonderful field trip to Franz's farm!