The Field Guideby Moss & MarrowHoeve Vlietenburgh
- Organic methods: no synthetic pesticides or fertiliser, not certified
Hoeve Vlietenburgh is a listed longhouse farm on the Lange Linschoten river in Snelrewaard, between Oudewater, Linschoten and Montfoort, where a family keeps an old standard-tree orchard and has much of its fruit pressed into juice.
The orchard holds about 90 old apple and pear varieties, among them Notaris, Ooms Kinderpeer, Dubbele Bellefleur, Schone van Boskoop and Zoete Ermgaard, and the fruit is picked in summer from trees that aren't sprayed. The juice has no added sugar and comes in 5 litre packs with a tap, which keep for a year unopened. Their website calls the juice biologisch (organic), though the farm holds no organic certificate; what qualifies it here is that the old orchard isn't sprayed.
The family invites visitors to come and taste the juice, so the way to buy is to get in touch by email or phone and arrange a visit to the farm.
The farm's own goats, Dexter cattle, Hampshire Down sheep and ponies are fed on hay made each year in small traditional bales.