Hoeve Ruitenbeek

Hoeve Ruitenbeek is a dairy and beef farm on the Arnhemseweg in Leusden with a farm shop selling its own milk, beef and farm ice cream.

The farm keeps dairy cows for milk and beef cattle for meat, and the cows graze on the 30 hectares of land around the farm, which also provide their feed for the winter. The herd is a mix of breeds that is being crossed with Jersey, a smaller cow that needs less feed and gives creamier milk. The shop sells beef packed by cut and portion, milk and buttermilk, all year round; their website does not say whether the milk is raw or pasteurised. The cream ice cream has been made on the farm since 2005 from fresh milk from their own cows with extra cream and no artificial flavourings or colourings, and there are also fruit sorbets and sugar-free and lactose-free ice cream. The shop also sells eggs and young, young-matured and herb cheeses, which we did not check.

The farm shop is open Monday to Saturday from 9:00 to 18:00. The ice cream is also sold at Jumbo in Leusden and Hoevelaken and at Plus in Amersfoort and Maarn.

As part of agricultural nature management, a pump floods one of the fields each spring to make a shallow wetland (plas-dras) for meadow birds.