THE PACT WITH THE ENVIRONMENT
Our vegetable garden offers up fruits for every season: we start harvesting asparagus, strawberries, chicory and lettuce in spring; then soon after courgette, cucumber, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, onions, melons and watermelons. We produce a wide variety of tomatoes: cherry, plum, Roma, Genovese, oxheart and San Marzano tomatoes, from which we get our precious tomato purée, reserved by many customers for stockpilling through the winter months. Pumpkin, Savoy cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, turnip greens and black cabbage are just a few of the vegetables we offer even in the cold seasons.
We have many fruit plants, including some ancient varieties:
Apples, pears, apricots, peaches, figs, quince, cherries, black cherries and kiwi fruits. From these natural delicacies we obtain our jams and fruit preserves.Organic farming method
We run the farm using organic farming method, respecting the rhythm of nature and harvesting vegetables by hand. It is hard work, but the results are clearly visible. We have been accredited since 2001.
We do not use chemical fertilizers, instead we use organic, coming in part from biodegradable wet waste from our kitchen together with manure.
No chemical weeding, only natural methods like hoeing and mulching.
Part of the land is cyclically left uncultivated to allow it to rest and ripen.
Crops are alternated in rotation, year on year.
We have restored old riverbanks and groves and introduced some local arboreal species, thus creating a natural oasis where our guests can take a walk, and, if so inclined, have a nap in the shade of a tree.
Our farm is enclosed in Parco Fluviale del Trebbia (www.parchidelducato.it/page.asp?IDCategoria=3729): an amazing migratory route positioned in a protected area of 4031 hectars, rich in nature and biodiversity, where it is easy to meet fallow-deer, roe deer, herons, stone curlews, terns, bee-eaters, little ringed plovers, hedgehogs, porcupines, foxes and boars.
We use exclusively “clean” Electrical Energy, that is energy coming from renewable resources.
With the aim of reducing environmental impact to the minimum and of making our farm as sustainable as possible, we employ “Brillor” detergents from Cascina Meira (www.cascinameira.com) to clean our kitchen and laundry. These products are made with raw vegetable materials, easily and totally biodegradable. This means that by using these detergents we do not leave caustic soda residues on our dishes thus helping the agriculture and, above all, not polluting the water and the environment.