Being an organic producer without any enthusiasm or passion is not possible, as you constantly have to think, watch, analyze and decide. Without any distractions. For a long time, my attention was on other things. I’m a trained pastry cook and both during my apprenticeship and later as a pastry cook I always resisted the work at my father’s farm. Then my only intense contact to apples was preparing an apple strudel where I could highlight the sweet Golden Delicious apples.

But then everything – job and private life – changed within a relatively short time: some kind of stage at an organic farm, two children, I sold three small orchards to buy a larger one, attended a course for soil practitioners, planted new varieties and finally took over the farm from my father at the age of 32. So I unexpectedly gave up my job as a pastry cook and now I have a free mind for being a full-blood organic producer. It’s fun. Especially analyzing the soil. If it’s wet, I plant lucerne, whereas buckwheat is rather for dry ground. And if the soil is hard, I use organic seeds for plants that grow horizontally and loosen the soil. It’s fascinating. I didn’t know all that when I was a pastry cook but today it feels like I’ve done nothing else.

When I carefully influence the sensitive balance between useful insects and pests, I always have the perfect taste of the future apple in mind – it could hardly be otherwise for a former pastry cook. I’m especially proud of my favorite variety: Natyra. I can taste this late variety only three weeks after the harvest of Golden Delicious apples, but so the anticipation for the first bite is even longer. Then it may be that I return to my old job as a pastry cook for a short time. But only if I’m asked to prepare a ten-tier wedding cake tasting of apples that’s designed by my wife. These are the moments when both worlds merge and stimulate each other. The most important thing: I only produce what I personally like best. Because this gives me a feeling of absolute happiness.