Customs and traditions for guests
Ulrike Laimer from Lana’s Goldbichlhof farm is one of the
“Creative Farmers”. Her 17th-century farm with its two buildings and a barn is located at 450 metres (1,480 ft) above sea level. The barn is home to 15 sheep – the pastime of Ulrike’s father – and some chickens, which are busy chasing the flies sitting on the barn windows right as we get there. The total land amounts to 2.6 hectares and is used for orchards and vineyards, but also for some chestnut trees. Ulrike has planted more than five apple varieties, focusing mainly on Golden and Stark Delicious and Fuji. And she grows four different types of wine grapes: Chardonnay, Sauvignon, the aromatic Gewürztraminer and Schiava. Most of her grapes are shipped to a winery, and only some of the Schiava harvest is pressed at the farm for their own personal use. The berries and fruit grown out in her garden are used for making delicious jams. And Ulrike also makes her own apple juice and South Tyrolean speck, a bacon variety: She buys legs of pork from farmers personally known to her and prepares them in her own
smokery (a special room known as Selchküche, which all those farms used to have in the past) following old, traditional recipes.
For Ulrike, it’s all about diversity, and she would hate restricting herself to just one thing. And her guests love the opportunity to try her home-smoked bacon, eat some fresh eggs for breakfast and savour her home-pressed wine. The 45-year-old rents out two apartments for holidaymakers. To improve the farm Holiday experience, she and some other farmers founded the “Creative Farmers” cooperation group 14 years ago. The women in the group now organise guided moonlight walks with torches, wine tastings and invite their guests to cook traditional South Tyrolean specialties such as apple strudel or dumplings. Customs and traditions really matter a lot to Ulrike. When baking their own bread, the women of the group use old, traditional recipes. Some
evenings, the Goldbichl farmer simply enjoys spending the night outdoors with her guests, having a nice BBQ in summer or roasting chestnuts in autumn. “I feel very lucky that I get to live on a farm. I really enjoy the peace and quiet up here”, she says, and is happy whenever she has the time to do so.