My story
Steinhaus farm is in Colsano at the foot of Val Venosta's Monte Sole Mountain. Like the others in the area, its orchards are criss-crossed with many dry stone walls built with remains from the Via Claudia Augusta Roman road which used to stretch the full length of the Val Venosta. The farm is an ancient heritage estate which has been passed from generation to generation of the Wielander family for 200 years. Father Heinrich and son Florian, who attended the Fürstenburg agricultural college, are a good team and, in their view, the most important thing is to enjoy the work. They grow Golden Delicious, Gala, Red Delicious, Braeburn and Fuji in their orchards, and the kitchen garden has herbs, potatoes, vegetables, pears, peaches, walnuts, nectarines and grapes. Health was the main reason for switching the whole business over to organics in 2006. Florian and Heinrich wanted to farm in as natural a way as possible. They even converted the way they grow their own food. They are planning on turning their next dream into reality soon: making organic wine from their own grapes. That will mean that they can go one hundred percent their own, organic way.