The Field Guideby Moss & MarrowC.V. de Horsterhof
- Pigs and poultry live free range: outdoors on pasture, in woodland or a run
- No synthetic pesticides or fertiliser (certified)
- Cover crops
De Horsterhof is an organic farm on the Horsterstraat in Duiven that grows more than 80 kinds of vegetables a year for its farm shop, weekly boxes and a pick-your-own membership.
Each crop returns to the same spot only once in eight years, with grasses and grain sown as green manure in the rotation, and no pesticides are used; even in the unheated greenhouse everything grows in the open soil. The eggs come from their own hens, which live in a mobile henhouse moved around the land, and their pigs root outside all season on vegetable waste and weeds before slaughter each November, with the pork sold in mixed packs so that every part is used. The farm is certified organic (SKAL); we found it in the register. The shop also sells bread from Driekant in Zutphen, which they describe as an organic baker, and dairy, not yet confirmed.
The shop is open Wednesday from 13:00 to 17:00 and Friday and Saturday from 10:00 to 17:00. Boxes come in four sizes and arrive on Tuesdays at volunteers' homes in Arnhem and nine towns around it, or at the farm; in winter they come fortnightly at double size. Pick-your-own members harvest Monday to Saturday.
Their three bee colonies are kept for pollination, so most of the honey is left for the bees to winter on without sugar water, and none is sold.