There is a connection somehow: My „Schwebelehof“ farm is not far away from Silandro’s modern gym. And you almost need acrobatic talent to cultivate my orchard there. I do not produce my sweet Fuji apples in the flat valley floor where cultivation is much easier, but on 13 steep terraces that lie one above the other. They are built on dry-stone walls and connected by 80 stairs. Such a cultivation method is rather rare for apples, but very typical for the cultivation of vines on steep slopes. But when it comes to wine, my son knows much better as he works in Austria in the wine industry.

Thanks to the warm hillside location I feel privileged to successfully produce Fuji apples. This variety is the most commonly cultivated variety worldwide, especially in China and Japan. In Europe, however, it only grows in areas where it’s very sunny. This is why South Tyrol is one of Europe’s strongholds of this crunchy variety with gentle aroma and very late time of harvest. The single terraces are linked with each other with a conveyor belt for material handling to facilitate this almost “heroic” apple cultivation. This technical aid is invaluable, especially during the harvest and when spreading organic fertilizers. There nevertheless is a lot of manual work to do such as planting new trees, cutting trees and mowing.

The location of my orchard is so ideal for Fuji apples that the use of pesticides is hardly necessary. It already happened several times that I had forgotten to do something against aphids and nevertheless everything fine. These positive experiences will soon lead me to another project: the cultivation of the very scab-resistant Topaz variety. I haven’t decided yet if I will cultivate this variety on the terraces or rather in Silandro’s valley floor together with Bonita, Golden Delicious and other varieties. Either way, my organic apples might be a bit smaller in size but they definitely taste great.