history and vision
a short history lesson
In 1948, Hein and Mien van Rijn bought the farm on the Geerweg. They started out with 11 cows, 2 pigs, 10 chickens and 1 goat. They also rented out their rowing boats and sold cold drinks. The water next to ‘t Geertje served as a public cool, and so it happened, one bright summer afternoon in the sixties, that the future queen of the Netherlands, princess and then-student Beatrix was sunbathing on the dyke. Hein and Mien had 10 children. In 1982, their oldest son Wim and his Wife Ada took over the farm. They renamed the farm ‘t Geertje, after the location: the Geerpolder.
Wim and Ada both left their jobs in health care to take over the farm. Because of their background, they want to always make sure that the farm takes care of animals as well as our fellow man.
Mission and vision
mission
In our shop we sell honest and delicious products from our own cattle and other (local) small businesses. We also strive to connect people to all farm animals. Where does our food come from? It used to be completely normal to play on the farm. There was always someone in the family or in your group of friends who owned one. Nowadays, it’s different. Today, farms are less accessible and often only keep one type of animal. ‘t Geertje however, is like the classic farms we used to see: all animals are kept at a small scale and are accessible to everyone. Our mission is to connect the city to the country. Offer people the opportunity to see and learn where our food comes from. By keeping things low-key and offering a wide variety of activities, our target audience is very diverse. Young and old and people in all kinds of different group variations will love it here.
vision
Our vision is to farm within the circle of life as much as possible. We believe that if the soil, the air and the animals are healthy, they will always yield the best product. All of our animals are kept organically.
- All spaces are large enough and are arranged so that animals feel comfortable. This makes sure our cows are able to keep their horns and our pigs to keep their tails.
- Fertilisation is done the natural way. No artificial insemination is permitted.
- - All cows are let out onto the grass 4 times a day. This makes sure only the tips of the blades of grass, which are the most nutritious are eaten, which in turn, will grow back faster, which in turn is good for the soil. We do not use any chemicals.
- In the spring, you can see the baby calves with their moms in the field
- All of the animal food is organic. Grass mostly, as little concentrate as possible.
- We do not use antibiotics pre-emptively. If we need antibiotics, milk is taken out of circuit.
- We try to keep are farm as self-sufficient as possible, to help keep the circle of life as balances as possible (this means, for instance, we produce most of our animal food ourselves and fertilize our own land).
Taking care of our planet, together.
