Celebrate spring

By: Henri Willig
09 apr 2022
± 3 minuten

If there is one season that makes many people blossom it is spring. Literally everything blooms and grows. Just look at the plants and flowers for example. During spring the days are fortunately also "longer" again. That makes everyone happy. 

When spring comes, many people also always think of new life. The birth of lambs, chicks, calves and other young animals. Even at our stables, calves are born again. They like it when you come by, because these calves find the people who come by very interesting and cozy!

We enjoy the first warm rays of sunlight that warm our faces when we are outside again. In short, we want to go out. It is so beautiful that nature works like this. Our cows love that spring weather too. That's why our cows will do their cow dance in April and go outside again as much as possible.

Now some may wonder why we call this a cow dance?

Well, because during the colder winter months, the cows basically stay inside. The grass hardly grows in the winter and the land can get soggy. Cows can't walk on that well and you have the risk of trampling the grass. When the days get warmer and it stays light longer and the grass starts growing again, they like to go outside. And when they do go outside, they are so enthusiastic that it seems as if they are all dancing through the meadow!

It is very important to us that the cows feel comfortable. We are an organic dairy farm and try to take extra good care of our beautiful Jersey cows on several fronts. In our beautiful straw yard barn they have all the space they need and they can decide for themselves where they want to lie down, but also when they want to be milked. We maintain our grasslands in an entirely natural way. This keeps the soil life healthy and gives the necessary herbs room to grow among our delicious grass. This forms healthy food for our cows and all the other life in the meadow. And we are proud of that.

And we like to set goals for ourselves. One of those important goals for us is to reduce CO2 and emissions. In this way we are getting closer and closer to climate-neutral business operations. We do this by, among other things, using solar panels whose electricity we can also use for heating, for example.

Because we like to do business sustainably with an eye for animals, nature and people, we also limit our residual waste to a minimum. If cheeses do not have the right shape but do have a delicious taste, we look for buyers who use them for processed cheese.

We also have a special thickening installation for our whey, which enables us to sell our whey - a residual product during the cheese making process - in a concentrated form to keep the number of transport movements as low as possible. And since whey can be used in many products, it is an ideal solution.

Many people are also becoming more conscious themselves. Choices are being made, for example, in food and other products. Where does something come from? How is it made?

It all starts at the beginning, and for us that is with the land and the cows. They give us that beautiful whole milk. Since we are transparent, we welcome anyone who is interested to visit our organic dairy farm. And then come and taste a piece of cheese in our store, cheese farm the Jacobs Hoeve. Expect a welcoming reception, enthusiasm and lots of cheese! 

Is this article already making you hungry?

Check out Henri Willig's delicious recipes below.

Enjoy spring with this cheese for your spring cheeseboard

6 pers
30 min

Popping Spring Cheese board The happiest season of the year. Manon from @courgetticonfetti made another beautiful, colourful spring cheeseboard.  The cheeses you see on the board: Lavender cheese Green pesto cheese Smoked goat's cheese Sublime old sheep's cheese She also made 3 simple recipes and further filled the shelf with things you can put directly on it. Incredibly easy, but it looks great! The extra things on the shelf: Spicy mustard Chef's selection Roasted tomato dip  Strawberries Olives  Mandarin Radishes Nectarine Pistachios The 3 simple recipes:  - Egg muffins with smoked goat's cheese Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grate 50 g smoked goat cheese and keep half of it aside. Mix the other half of the cheese with 4 eggs, 6 sun-dried tomatoes (chopped), 10 olives (sliced), 1 pressed clove of garlic, 1 tsp Italian herbs and a pinch of salt in a bowl and mix well. Grease a muffin tin (for 6 pieces) and divide the batter in it. Sprinkle the rest of the grated cheese over the top. Put them in the oven for 20 minutes. - Muhammara  Mix 80g roasted paprika, 80g walnuts, 1 clove garlic, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp cumin, a pinch of cinnamon, 30ml olive oil and 20g pomegranate seeds in your mincer to make a tapenade. - Beetroot goat cheese  Blend 1 beetroot and 200 g goat cheese until smooth.   Present this explosion of colour on the table and enjoy!

Bright steak tartare with aged cheese

4 pers
60 min

Preparation Cut beef steak into fine brunoise (cubes) into tartare. Divide aged cheese into coarse crumbles and coarsely chop the capers. Mix tartare, cheese, capers and the sweet chilli mayo until creamy. Grease cutting ring with a little vegetable oil and spread the tartare in it and press. A la minute Divide over the tartare the fine frisée lettuce, chunky pieces of old cheese, shallot rings, edible violets, vegetable chips, capers and mini tomatoes or mini chilli peppers. Garnish the plate with drops of mayonnaise.  Tip Do not add salt in the tartare, the old cheese provides a delicious bite and natural salt crystals.