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Fiegele Egon Severin

Organic farmer - Tufthof

"A buffet for beneficial insects."

My story

I live at the Tufthof with my parents, my wife and our three children. The name of the farm comes from the fossil spring tuffs that are common in the area of our community on the Monte Sole as typical limestone deposits with cavities. After grandpa and father had devoted themselves to livestock farming, my brother and I then started growing apples and vegetables. I am a great friend of the Val Venosta Golden Delicious, which is not exactly the easiest candidate for us farmers in organic cultivation. Therefore, it took me a while to dare to start with organic. Today I am very glad I did: Golden Delicious, Gala, Kanzi, Pinova, Red Delicious, SweeTango and soon Cosmic Crisp have found a location in our orchards in Oris that suits them very well.

I had to acquire the necessary know-how for organic cultivation slowly and through a lot of observation. In the process, I understood that you can also take the wrong measures forever if you don't observe well what nature is doing. Today I have reached the point where I am happy when I see pests in the apple orchard. Why? Because then the buffet is there for the beneficial insects, which can simply help themselves once they are there in sufficiently strong populations. So the blood louse scares me less: it would inhibit shoot growth, prevent the formation of flower buds, cause black spots on the fruit with its protective wool. But thanks to the earwigs, and with the help of twitching and hatching vesps, the blood louse can be kept in check. These antagonists of the blood louse are our important allies in natural plant protection. Sometimes I help mechanically by spraying away the wool of the blood louse with gentle jets of water, which leaves the blood louse underneath unprotected and the earwigs can then pounce on it greedily. This has to be done very carefully, though, otherwise I also spray the beneficial insects off the tree.

Long before I switched to organic, we were already working without herbicides and always removed the weeds mechanically. The benefits to soil and tree life were always very clear. In the organic sector, you have to get used to smaller harvests and also to very strict controls that protect not only the consumer but also all honest farmers.

In the constant exchange of knowledge among colleagues, we deal with topics such as counting beneficial insects and pests, weather forecasts and ideal coloring of the fruit, but above all we talk about healthy fruit produced in a natural way with a beautiful appearance and with a unique Val Venosta mountain taste.
 

Where I live

My harvest
 
Royal Gala
The elegant precocity
The tasty gala appears every summer in its reddish yellow shell and the new apple season begins.
Availability
September - March
 
Appearance: 
smooth shell, spherical shape, slightly conical, pale yellow base colour with bright red and striped cover
Features: 
crispy and juicy with firm pulp
Taste: 
refreshing, sweet with little acidity
Golden Delicious
The classic delicious
Golden Delicious is our main variety and, therefore, the queen of Val Venosta apples. That the most popular apple has a real quality, can be seen in its lovely red cheek. By the way, this is typical of fruits on a hillside.
Availability
October - September
 
Appearance: 
greenish yellow to golden yellow
Features: 
juicy with very fine and soft pulp
Taste: 
sweet with delicate acidity
Pinova
The Val Venosta resistant
The Pinova with its red vermilion-red skin is a typical apple of Val Venosta. Not only is it colourful, it also has a very balanced flavour. Thanks to its long durability, it offers you unlimited fruit enjoyment until the summer season.
Availability
January - July
 
Appearance: 
Bicolour, yellow to greenish, at least 30% of the fruit is covered with a bright vermilion colour
Features: 
refreshing with very crisp, juicy and firm pulp
Taste: 
Balanced proportion of sugar and acid
Nicoter / Kanzi®
Balanced freshness
With its proper balance of sweetness and acidity, the juicy Nicoter / Kanzi® offers a harmonious taste experience and a lot of energy, almost like music for the palate.
Availability
October - July
 
Appearance: 
red base colour with yellow secondary colour, rounded shape
Features: 
compact, firm pulp, very crispy and juicy
Taste: 
balanced ratio of sugar and acid
Minneiska / SweeTango™
Summer in an apple
Juicy and sweet, with tropical notes and fruity notes of pineapple, banana, and fennel seeds.
Availability
September - November
Appearance: 
Base color yellow, covering color ruby red with lenticels.
Features: 
Pleasant texture, juicy and crunchy.
Taste: 
Notes of pineapple, banana and fennel seeds dominate the aromatic profile. Balanced in sweetness and acidity.
WA38 / Cosmic Crisp®
Heavenly taste
Heavenly attractive in appearance and taste. Pleasant summer fruitiness with aromas of green grass, kiwi and gooseberry.
Availability
February – April
Appearance: 
Dark red-purple blush on a yellow-bright base color.
Features: 
Very crunchy, particularly juicy and with a hard paring.
Taste: 
Sweet-sour; balanced taste. Aromas of green grass, kiwi and gooseberry.
 
 

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