My husband Markus and I took over the apple orchards from my parents. Although Markus is a trained surveyor, he also has a strong connection to agriculture through his father, who worked as a consultant in fruit growing. We thought carefully about switching to organic farming together. It was clear from the outset that, as a small family business, we wanted to do as much as possible ourselves and only call on external helpers during very intensive weeks. This is one of the main reasons why we grow ten different apple varieties in our orchards. As a result, the harvest window stretches over several months from August to November and not everything is concentrated in the main harvest period in September. We are very lucky that all the orchards are positioned around the farm and the many good neighbours are also a great asset.

Thanks to many friends, good training courses and the South Tyrolean Advisory Council, we have become increasingly familiar with the complexities of organic farming. We are very grateful for this. Our parents would never have dreamed of having so many different contact points for obtaining valuable tips. They were very much on their own and were particularly attentive observers of nature. That's exactly what we farmers of today have to perfect again and my husband and I are getting better at it every day. Our three children are all working, but are happy to help out and observe when needed.

When we switched to organic farming, our eyes first had to get used to it. The orchard no longer resembled perfectly tidy wallpaper, but became a orchard again, with lots of beneficial insects doing their "work in progress" under the long grass.

The eye of a good observer can be trained relatively quickly, you just have to want to do it and try it out often enough. For example, Markus can immediately tell which flower is fertilised and which is not by the colour of the pistil. Spring is probably the time for maximum observation. It's not just the eye that helps, but also technology, whether it's the weather station in your own orchard or that of the advisory ring.

If you observe a useful creature, you have to encourage it and create a pleasant habitat for it. Markus and I have created a nice vantage point for the buzzard, where it likes to rest and keep the mice in the orchard at bay. Especially with young trees, the mice like to nibble on their roots and with the bird of prey as an ally, this happens less often.

All the visible diversity in our orchards brings double the pleasure and compensates for the double effort involved in organic farming. It is important to take your time when observing, just as the drip irrigation only drips slowly and does not get lost in a rush.