The Field Guideby Moss & MarrowBuurtboerderij Nieuweweg
- Organic methods: no synthetic pesticides or fertiliser, not certified
Buurtboerderij Nieuweweg is a neighbourhood farm on the Nieuweweg in Haarlem where members harvest their own vegetables, herbs and fruit through a seasonal subscription.
They grow familiar vegetables such as courgette, pepper, tomato, onion, garlic, cucumber, lettuce, cabbages and squash, with herbs and now and then a forgotten vegetable such as kohlrabi, chard, turnip tops or winter purslane. Seedlings are started in the greenhouse before planting out, and no chemical pesticides are used. Eggs are available through a hen adoption scheme, not yet confirmed; their website describes the hens as fed organic layer pellets and plenty of fresh food from the land.
The harvest subscription runs for about 35 weeks from April to November. Each week members receive the harvest list by email, the same list is on a board at the farm, and they come whenever they like and follow the white flags to the beds that are ready. All hens have been adopted and new harvest members can sign up for the 2027 waiting list. The farm is open to visitors on Sundays from 12:00 to 17:00, when a box of spare eggs is sometimes available.
Pests and diseases are handled with natural remedies chosen to support biodiversity, so some of the vegetables arrive with a few bite marks.