It would be unthinkable for me, Christian Schenkel, and my wife Nicole, to do all the work here without our family and employees. I grew up on the farm, which is owned by my family, and I still live here, now with my wife and our three children. A life without animals is just as unthinkable for us now. Although I initially completed an apprenticeship as a car mechanic, livestock farming was always part of our family and it never let me go. Anyone choosing agriculture today should be focused on conscious harmony with animals, nature and resources. That's how it was for us growing up in a country environment in what back then was untouched nature. These are important values to us, values we want to live by and put into practice in our company. That's what we've done, and we're convinced it's the right way forward. Our company has grown over the years. The logical step for us was to set up our own butchers on the farm, where we now employ three skilled butchers. We employ three employees to package our eggs, and ten people to help us sort the eggs. Four drivers make sure that our products can be delivered all around the region. We employ an electrician and one employee as a cleaner. My wife Nicole does an indispensable job in administration and office work. We run our family business together. But I won't let anyone take away my trips to weekly markets around the region – the contact with our customers is crucial for me. I really love being able to be in touch with the people in the local region, sharing our ideas and our goals with them. Talks with local stallholders at organic markets take up a lot of my time. Time I'm happy to spend. We also run a small farm shop and I'm always happy to meet interested customers who want to know more about our company and our concept. Looking after our employees is part of our day-to-day work on the farm. Of course I can rely on my team, but personal contact with them is important to me, both for work, but also for a face-to-face break together to ground us and to connect about how things are going. It's in those quiet moments when you see that the cattle are happy and when you watch the chickens enjoying a sand bath and communicating with each other. You really feel what you're working for. And that’s a beautiful thing. With the support of CrowdFarming, we want to reach people who share our ideas and ideals, who appreciate carefully produced and hand-picked products and who not only value being a customer, but becoming part of the organic farm Biohof Kapplermühle.

Our organic farm Biohof Kapplermühle has an idyllic location at the foot of the Rothaar Mountains in the Wittgensteiner Land region, in the south of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Our region and landscape are characterised by meadows, pastures and extensive forests, which Biohof Kapplermühle perfectly blends into. The name of farm ('Kapper Mill') refers to a piece of our history as the farm was originally a mill, and our family has run it for three generations. Today cattle and their calves are bred with their mothers here, along with chickens, hens and geese. We produce the feed for our animals in an environmentally friendly way across our 80 hectares of grassland. We don't kill any weeds, on the contrary, we promote natural growth and are happy with it. Meadow flowers and wild herbs grow on our grassland. We protect these plants, and provide insects and birds with a natural habitat. We deliberately refrain from the first cut to make hay because the meadows blooming with wild herbs and flowers attract lots of birds to breed in the early summer. For nature's sake, we cut the grass for the first time in the year at the start of June. After that, the areas are free to bloom again until we mow them for the second time in September. Our farm has been certified as organic since 2022 and has been part of the 'Biokreis' since 2010. This was part of a very deliberate decision – we think it's crucial to live with nature rather than against it. A local focus in all areas where this is possible is part of our philosophy. The 'Biokreis' association is headquartered very close to us in Hilchenbach, and Biokreis is there for the farmers, supporting them in implementing their objectives at a local level. An association that is not for the benefit of the retail trade, but which takes care of producers and shares their objectives. Over the years we have created 23 jobs here in our region. Together with our employees, we make one big 'Kapplermühle family' and share more than just our day-to-day work. Our work, in harmony with nature, the careful handling of our animals, our appreciation for the products they give us, a local focus – all this is important to all of us here. We started to set up our business ten years ago, on a much smaller scale back then. Most of our employees have been with us for many years now. Not only do we place great value on appreciation, but also payment above the amount set by collective agreements. We meet every morning for our courtyard breakfast to discuss what's coming up and to exchange ideas. Our animals' meat is processed into meat and sausage products at our farm's own organic butchers, and then sold directly from the farm as well as in our own market wagon at markets around the local region. Treating our animals with care and respect until the last day they live with us is crucial to us and is a key part of our appreciation for them. This also means we don't load them onto a truck to be driven to a slaughterhouse at the end of their lives. We want to make our way of living and working tangible and transparent for visitors, who are always welcome to stop by our farm. We also offer guest boarding in our half-timbered farmhouse for anyone who wants to enjoy a break from everyday life in the middle of nature. Sustainability and business in harmony with nature are key factors for us. Our meadows are allowed to grow naturally and are not watered. Our animals' water comes from the village's water supply. Our energy consumption is covered by our own solar power and CHP. Our focus on local, sustainable agriculture continues into our waste disposal. Slaughterhouse waste and organic waste are collected from the farm by Krämer, the operator of a regional biogas plant in the Siegerland region, to be turned into biogas.