Rustpunt De Groene Waal

De Groene Waal is an orchard of tall fruit trees with a market garden on the Ooievaarsdijk in Zwartewaal, on old sea clay beside the Hollemare creek and nature area.

The orchard holds mostly old fruit varieties, and between the trees a greenhouse grows vegetables and herbs all year. Depending on the season they sell leeks, endive, lamb's lettuce, squash, Goudreinette apples and Gieser Wildeman pears from their own land, plus berries and strawberries. Juice is pressed from their own apples and pears each autumn, and they make syrups, jam and chutney. Eggs come from 40 hens and a rooster with a roomy outdoor run, fed organically grown grain plus weeds and vegetable scraps from the garden. Carrots, potatoes, cabbages and other vegetables bought from nearby growers are sold alongside. They use no synthetic fertiliser or pesticides, feed the soil with manure and compost, rotate crops and sow fallow strips with green manure and wild flowers. The farm is certified organic (SKAL); the certificate is in the register under De Groene Waal at this address.

You buy on site at the farm and at the self-service rest stop (Rustpunt) among the trees, and in season you can pick fruit yourself.

The hens are part of the orchard's cycle, eating the garden's scraps and weeds.