Reijers

Reijers is the organic mixed farm De Middelwaard, the only farm outside the dike on the Rhine between the Looveer ferry and the village of Loo, which has grown oyster mushrooms since 1984.

The oyster mushrooms are sold loose or in clusters and in small 150 g packs, and a mixed pack also contains shiitake and other mushrooms. No fertiliser, feed additives, pesticides or disinfectants are used anywhere in the growing, including in making the substrate, and their website says it is the only oyster-mushroom grower in the Netherlands whose entire growing is inspected by SKAL with no conventional production alongside. The farm also keeps beef cattle, which are part of the nature management of the floodplain meadows. The farm is certified organic (SKAL); we found it in the register as De Middelwaard. Shiitake, eryngii and other mushrooms can be ordered in from fellow growers, but these are not their own.

Oyster mushrooms can be bought at the farm on Saturday mornings from 10:00 to 12:00. Beef is sold three times a year as small packages of fresh, unfrozen meat, reserved by email at post@demiddelwaard.nl, which also gives the pickup date.

The farm makes its own substrate, about 90% organic straw and 10% hay or lucerne, as far as possible from its own fields and topped up with straw from other organic farms nearby.