smoked cheese
Bauer Freigeist
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The project
Adopt a cow of our flock "Bauer Freigeist" in Gardelegen (Germany) and receive your harvest in the form of smoked cheese at home. The Farmer Linda will take care of your adoption and take its picture. Also, you will be able to download the adoption certificate and, if you wish, plan your visit to the farm. As the production coming from one cow is big, the adoption is shared among various people. If you wish to have a bigger share, you may adopt more than once. You do not enter into any long-term commitment: once you receive your harvest and you enjoyed the experience, you may decide to renew and extend the adoption.
What do you adopt?
Adopt a cow that we take care of following the Organic Farming regulations of the European Union since 2017.
The herd comprises approximately 300 dairy cows of the breeds Holstein, Jersey, Fleckvieh and crossbreeds of these, more and more of which belong to the "CrowdFarming herd". The organic approach of the crop farming and dairy farm is a central part of our philosophy and our milk has been certified with the EU organic seal since 2017. We want to build a bridge between ecology and economy. We face the challenges of a future-oriented, sustainable agriculture with an ecological focus. We are dairy farmers and have been organic cheesemakers by conviction since 2018. All our food is processed in the traditional way and reflects the cheese craft. Each cheese is a small unique specimen and passes through our hands several times. All our products are made from organic milk produced on our farm. Only selected organic herbs are used. Our small dairy 'Bauer Freigeist' is part of the family business.
In the overview of certificates and seals, you can download the current certificate.
Our offspring: The male calves go through the same 'rearing process' as the females. All calves go through the hands of my mother. Calf care and rearing requires a special feeling. It simply needs a maternal instinct. Like a toddler, she has to recognize from movement or breathing if her fosterlings are missing something. The bulls (male calves) are then sold to a fattener who continues to raise them. We are still looking for a nearby organic calf rearing farm with whom we can work even closer together.
The productive life of a cow is around 6 years. For as long as you want to keep it and we can continue taking care of it, you can renew your adoption year after year. If your cow dies, we will replace it with no additional cost and assuring the delivery of your production from other animals.
Each cow is adopted by 266 CrowdFarmers who receive a box with 1.5 kg of smoked cheese.
What will you receive?
Each season we will send you a box with:
1/2 x __Smoked cheese “Rauchi”__ (min. 1,5 kg, wrapped in sustainable paper)
The Rauchi is a very creamy, smoked cheese. Its smoky character makes it stand out as something special among the cheese varieties. The smoky note is not too strong or obtrusive, but rounds off the creamy cheese in taste.
We send a half loaf to your home. It has a red smeared rind which can be eaten with the cheese. Try and keep it under a cheese cover and not too cold. Allow the cheese to reach room temperature before eating. It is also perfect for baking, for example, burger patties or as a Swiss raclette over a good mixed bread with pickles and onions. If you can't eat it all at once, share it with friends and family or freeze it in 2 finger-thick pieces. In the fridge it will keep for 3 weeks if well packed and at least 6 months in the freezer. - If not everything has been eaten before ;) -
The cheese consists only of good organic milk, original animal rennet, salt and the red smeared rind.
When will you receive it?
Please, check the deadline for participating in this project (deadline for adoption) below. As of this date the Farmer will start preparing the orders that are to be shipped.
You may select the delivery date of your box as suggested by the Farmer at check-out.
Why should you adopt?
* Learn who produces your food, how and where. Receive your food in a conscious manner.
* Buy directly from the farmer. Help to generate wealth and better jobs in the rural areas.
* Plan ahead and enable the Farmer to produce on demand. This way we can avoid overproduction and fight food waste.
* Reward Farmers who make an effort to use environmentally-friendly packaging and cultivation techniques.
Plastic-free
Organic
How does it work?
Meet the Farmers
Adopt and plan your harvest
Let the Farmer and nature work
Receive your harvest at home
Environmentalist
Farmer 360
Personalized harvest
Plastic-free
Organic
Renewable energy
Young Farmer
Family Farm
Visitors welcome
Linda Becker
I am Linda Becker from the dairy Bauer Freigeist. I founded the dairy with my partner Tilmann Dreysse and my family and the dairy farm stand behind this project. Together we are working on our version of a valuable, sustainable and future-oriented agriculture with our exclusively organic way of farming.
My way into organic farming and back to my home farm (family business) led through various stages. First, I completed a training as a tax clerk, and then a study of agriculture in Stuttgart at the University of Hohenheim. During a traineeship with the DLG, the German Agricultural Society, I broadened my horizons beyond my studies and then worked as a consultant for agricultural companies throughout Germany. After learning, seeing and getting to know so much, I joined our family business in 2015.
My everyday life on the farm and in the cheese factory has become very valuable to me. The work presents us with new challenges every day and it never gets boring.
My wish is to be able to pass on valuable food directly to appreciative consumers. CrowdFarming offers a suitable platform for this. It creates the direct link between farmer and consumer.
We have to think of the whole "package", not just the cheese: "What are our natural resources and how can they be integrated into a supply chain in a sustainable way? We started with the label: it is made of stone paper and is free of foil. The cheese the CrowdFarmers receive is wrapped in parchment paper - just as your lunch package was packed in the past.
Our delivery box is a winner! In 2016, Landpack won the Sustainability Award, the Next Economy Award and the German Packaging Award. The cardboard and the straw insulation consist exclusively of natural, renewable, compostable resources. These can be reused in many ways (the straw insulation e.g. as a seat cushion) or simply recycled.
Together with our 9 employees we continue to work ecologically, sustainably, environmentally friendly and in harmony with the nature of our animals and natural resources. We look forward to your support, CrowdFarmer!
Surely there will always be points that can be further improved. If you don't find them any more - you have simply become blind to your own business...
Linda Becker
I'm a dairy farmer by conviction. My inner motivation is the love for this kind of life, for the landscape and the agriculture, the tradition and craftsmanship. This helps me to ground in times like ours, characterized by constant change and movement, and fills me with a good feeling for the future.
Bauer Freigeist
Bauer Freigeist
Our farm and the cheese factory “Bauer Freigeist” are a regional family business in the heart of the Altmark in Saxony-Anhalt, situated in a landscape protection and drinking water protection area. Springs and watercourses run through our area and shape the landscape of the floodplains. Our family looks back on 8 generations of agriculture. The original farm is located in the centre of the village Wiepke, where my grandparents and us live one next to the other. Grandma and grandpa also help with the daily work and put all their heart, soul and energy into it, despite their age. They also take care of chickens, ducks, pigeons, rabbits and all the animals you’’ll find running around here... But the main work in the cowshed and with the cheese is done by the two younger generations: My parents and us. 3 generations live, fight, love, work, create and manage together.
Everything moves in a circle.
With us in a cycle.
The cows not only give milk, but also a valuable fertilizer. But before spreading it on the fields, we sent it to the farm's own biogas plant where cattle manure is converted into methane and electricity is generated via a motor. Our mini biogas plant runs only with cattle manure, no crops have to be burned. Thanks to this we can fully cover our electricity demand and even supply 14 more households with bio electricity. The fermentation residues are then spread as valuable fertiliser on our land and the biological material cycle closes.
On the other hand, our own milk is used for cheesemaking. Quality and origin are our top priorities. Our cheese products are something special, each cheese has passed through our hands several times and is manually checked. And much more: In many parts of Europe, cheese also forms a vital part of our culture. We produce typically German and also international varieties and our cheese not only appeals to young people, but also to older generations, feeling reminded of their childhood and the regional products. In each landscape, the natural conditions of the environment have led to the development of very different cheeses.
Our small village of Wiepke (250 inhabitants) is an area full of many small streams, provinding the meadows and pastures with water and thus supplying the cattle with feed.
Our cowshed is surrounded by our green pastures with grazing or resting cows. The water comes from a spring area...the elves’ springs - a magical place for every hiker. You’ll also find plenty of grassland, forest, flowering bee meadows and of course agricultural land. The nearest towns are the hanseatic towns Gardelegen, Salzwedel and Stendal. Our surroundings impress with a lot of nature and peace and smaller sights - such as the Romanesque Road - and simply invite you to linger and discover...
Technical information
Address
Bauer Freigeist, Gardelegen, DE
Altitude
58m
Team
4 women and 5 men
Size
434 hectares
Cultivation technique
Organic farming
Flock size
300
Location