The Field Guideby Moss & MarrowDe Groene Griffioen
- Cattle, sheep or goats graze on pasture in the grazing season
- Pigs and poultry live free range: outdoors on pasture, in woodland or a run
- Heritage breeds
- No synthetic pesticides or fertiliser (certified)
- Food forest
De Groene Griffioen is a certified organic dairy farm on the Vecht near Weesp, where about 60 Montbéliarde cows give milk that is sold raw from the tank and made into cheese on the farm.
The Montbéliardes, a French dual-purpose breed kept with their horns, eat grass and silage with a little concentrate and graze from about April to October or November; in winter they live in a free-stall barn on a compost bed of wood chips. The cheese is made from their raw milk and ripened on the farm, including a graskaas (grass cheese) from the first month's milk on pasture. Beef comes from their own cattle, and pork from pigs of breeds such as Nederlands Landvarken, Bonte Bentheimer and Tamworth that root outside in a paddock from spring to late autumn. The 200 hens range over the pasture from a mobile coop. The farm is certified organic (SKAL, NL-BIO-01.528-0000671.2026.002); we found it in the register.
The farm shop is open on Tuesday from 10:00 to 12:00, Wednesday from 13:00 to 17:00, Friday from 10:00 to 18:00 and Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00. Bring a bottle or jerrycan for the milk and reserve a day ahead, because the tank is emptied every three days. Part of the range can be ordered online for collection.
The pasture is fed only with the farm's own manure and compost, and the whey from cheesemaking goes to the pigs and hens.