Agriculture is life
Our work – our life
Every farm of Renon/Ritten, whether wine-growing, fruit-growing or livestock-breeding, is farmed arduously and respectfully by the farming family. Our farm is the place where we live and the place where we work. It is the place where we produce our daily bread and the place where we provide space for our guests to recover and enjoy their off time.
In harmony with nature
Today sunny, tomorrow rain: working on a farm is highly affected by the vagaries of nature and the weather. The seasons play a decisive role in a farmers year of work. To accomplish a successful year the farmer needs to have a good timing: every season requires particular works to be done on the farm and the fields.
Springtime
manure, sow, plough, fix the fences, plant trees and vines, clean up pastures and fields of branches and leaves, bring the young animals on the fields, maintain the irrigation system, milk cows, bake bread
Summer
Harvest, bring the livestock to high mountain pastures, manure, pull up weeds, irrigate, plant protection for trees and vines, reap grain, pick summer fruit and refine it for the winter, milk cows
Autumn
Pick potatoes, bring the livestock back in the valley, fruit harvest, vintage, milk cows, last manure, clean up the stable, corn harvest, prepare fields and pastures for the winter months
Winter
Forest tending, prepare timber and firewood, cut fruit trees and vines, take care of the animals claws, maintenance repairs round the house, farm and machines, butcher pigs, produce “Speck” and sausages, refine and bottle wine, thrash and mill grain
You are what you eat!
We harvest, produce and refine fresh products of our farms every season of the year. In springtime, we plant and sow a never ending variety of plants, fruits and vegetables in our gardens and on our fields. The harvest during the months of summer and autumn brings us plenty delicacies, that are used to produce our traditional and tasty local specialities. Our animals provide us plenty of products throughout the whole year, we enjoy them fresh or as refined products.
A little foretaste of our delicacies:
Milk, butter, yoghurt, cheese (mozzarella), eggs, “Speck”, traditional sausage “Kaminwurzen”, meat, honey, fresh fruit and vegetables, herbs, wine, juices, syrups, teas, jams, dried fruit, potatoes, flour, bread.
A little foretaste of our delicacies:
Milk, butter, yoghurt, cheese (mozzarella), eggs, “Speck”, traditional sausage “Kaminwurzen”, meat, honey, fresh fruit and vegetables, herbs, wine, juices, syrups, teas, jams, dried fruit, potatoes, flour, bread.
The farming family: carrier of customs and tradition
Customs and traditions are of utmost importance in South Tyrol. Many families succeeded in preserving the regions characteristics, customs and traditions which are often still in use.
- Three Kings Day (Epiphany) on January 6th: An old pan is filled with glow, covered with incense and then brought into every room, even to the barn, fields and cars. The whole family takes part in this custom, saying prayers and sprinkling holy water to the doorways. The writing C + M + B + the year is to protect the family.
- On Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, children bring to church colourful bundles of branches comprising olive, willow, box tree twigs, along with heather and other spring flowers, all decorated with brightly-coloured ribbons, tied to sticks and sometimes long poles. Pieces of this sticks get burnt while summer storms, to protect their house.
- On Easter Sunday, after church, people play “Hecken”: two hard-boiled eggs are taken by the “opponents” who bash the ends against each other. The player whose egg hasn’t cracked is the winner, and he or she gets to eat the losing egg as a trophy.
- Every year, at a Sunday night of June, huge figures are made out of fire high up in the mountains, the so-called “Herz-Jesu-Feuer” (literally: fires for the heart of Jesus), to remind Tyrol's unity.
- Assumption of Our Lady on August 15th, with religious processions and traditional music.
- August 24th, St. Bartholomew's day: After spending the summer months up on high mountain pastures, the livestock comes back to their winter quarters in the valley. This day is celebrated with a big party for old and the young on mountain pastures of Corno del Renon/Rittnerhorn. Locals feel strongly for this ancient festival.
- Thanksgiving in autumn, people go to church for giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest.
Kids program!
The earlier you start, the better you get!
Our farms are a paradise, especially for kids. There is an adventure waiting for you behind every corner. The farming families share their know-how with the kids and show them how important it is to respect mother nature, the environment and the animals. Muck out the stable, feed the pigs and drive a tractor: every helping hand is very welcome!
Our farms are a paradise, especially for kids. There is an adventure waiting for you behind every corner. The farming families share their know-how with the kids and show them how important it is to respect mother nature, the environment and the animals. Muck out the stable, feed the pigs and drive a tractor: every helping hand is very welcome!