Farming
Our farm is certified organic. We don’t use pesticides and we only rely on natural ways of farming which we believe are the the keys for nutritious, sustainable food production. Our main products consist of hay, apple trees and vegetables.
What can one farm do?
Kollreid has shown us that living a good life does not have to be at the expense of the coming generations.
Our mission is to take an active role in preserving biodiversity and to implement circular solutions in our business that contribute to the wellbeing of humans and animals without harming our planet. For instance, we only use renewable sources of energy coming from wood and solar panels. The latter is a great solution up here since we live on the southern slopes and have plenty of sunny days all year round. We practise alpine transhumance on our pastures. Instead of intensive farming we manage these in a circular way that keeps our soil healthy and promotes biodiversity including a variation of different plants which in turn is insect friendly. Our farm animals play an important part of this circularity by grazing on the pastures and providing manure. Moreover, we plant a variation of different kinds of trees to fight against monoculture in our forests.
We promote areas such as healthy, natural food and an active lifestyle. The guests at our farm have the possibility to co-learn and contribute in our mission to preserve biodiversity – because we all play a part in this. Whether it is by helping us to make hay or giving a hand in the garden, we appreciate your help.
We wish that Kollreider Hof can raise some awareness of the impacts of our modern lifestyles and inspire people to find a closer connection to themselves and the nature.
Sports
We believe that sports can be a great way to connect with ourselves and with nature - when doing this with respect. The surrounding area at Kollreid offers a lot of possibilities for mountain sports such as climbing, hiking, skiing, alpinism, paragliding, kayaking, fishing and mountain biking.
Local animals
We prioritize local heritage breeds among our farm animals. Our Noriker horses and Sulmtaler chickens all belong to the traditional breeds that are robust and adaptable. They store a wealth of genetic resources that are important for our future and the future of our agricultural food system especially in times where climate change changes the way we farm.
Bee-keeping
Our Carnica bees contribute to the ecological system by pollinating plants in this area. We use a small amount of the honey and wax that they produce – only as much that their little bee-system stays in balance.
Forestry
Taking care of the surrounding forest at Kollreid is a main task of ours. Each year we plant trees of different varieties to keep up with the loss of trees that happen due to extreme weather, the bark keefer and human inference.
Biodiversity
We take small steps to preserve biodiversity in this region. A bigger project that we have is to support this ancient apple species Malus sieversii, because its input to biodiversity is essential - especially with a critically changing climate.