01 Oct '20

Zero-miles veg 

8830
door Gerard Hautekeur
One huge field of maize occupied a plot of land in Huttestraat, Pepingen, before the arrival of the two pioneering spirits, Tijs Boelens and Sander Van Haver, with the organic market gardening company de Groentelaar.

Now it is a patchwork of seamlessly blending rows of tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries, courgettes, endive, fennel, spring onions and leaf beet. At the edge of the field are tunnels where vegetables are grown under plastic sheeting. They supply shops and restaurants in Brussels, where organically grown local produce is all the rage. Their vegetable parcels are also available from various sites in the area. On Saturday afternoons you can buy vegetables from the stall set up on their field in Pepingen.