The Sticklerhof, or Stücklerhof as it still says in the land register, was first mentioned in written records in 1369. Before a new link road into the Vinschgau valley was built on the opposite side of the valley in Forst, the road led through the present-day parish of Mitterplars past the Sticklerhof. "Stickl" or "Stückl" are old German words for "steep"; this refers to what was in those days a steep uphill section of road where the farm stands.
Since 1909 the farm has been owned by the Kiem family, when it was purchased by Matthias Kiem, a fruit merchant from Algund. Today the 6th generation of the family is growing up on the farm, and living from and on it.
The buildings have been repeatedly altered to keep pace with the ever-changing needs. One radical change in the recent past was the rebuilding of the farm buildings at the end of the 1940s. Alongside fruit, grape and crop cultivation, at this time livestock farming was also an important source of income on the farm, plus the cows and oxen were still needed as working animals.
In 1986 the last cow left the Stickler and thus the history of livestock keeping on the farm, which had endured for centuries, came to an end. Today only the chickens remain.
Tourism also has a long tradition at the Sticklerhof.
From as long ago as the early 1950s the grandmother of today's owner, Aloisia Theiner Kiem, was one of the first in Algund to rent out rooms, running a bed and breakfast establishment until the mid-1980s.
The Sticklerhof is a typical South Tyrolean fruit and grape-growing farm.
The farm consists of two properties, with around a third of the acreage surrounding the farmstead. First and foremost we grow a range of different apples, whilst around 10% of the land is planted with vines. The apples are supplied to the Texel fruit cooperative, which is part of the VIP, the federation of Vinschgau fruit and vegetable producers (Biography: Ulrich Kiem). The majority of the grapes are supplied to the Burggräfler Merano winery.
Ecological awareness is a prerequisite for sustainable agriculture. Not least for this reason, since 1999 we have farmed all of our land according to organic cultivation guidelines and are a member of the Bioland association (ABCERT ITBIO013).
The way in which fruit and grapes are grown has changed over the years and is influenced particularly by the changing requirements of the market and technical developments. Whilst up until the 1960s our orchards contained tall individual trees from under which in some cases the feed for the animals was still cut, nowadays we have modern apple orchards and vines that best suit the working requirements and yield expectations of a modern farm.
We take particular care to deal responsibly with natural resources. Energy is an important area in this regard. Since 1997 we have used our own wood chipping plant to provide the energy for hot water and heating. The wood that supplies the plant is mainly cut from our own forests. In 2010 we added a 20 kWp photovoltaic plant. The result of this is that we now produce more energy on the farm than we consume.
