Biosain

Tristan Toé and his wife Jahwezi Graf grow more and more vegetables every year on a hidden patch of land in the Kamptal. The soil was not actually predestined for this.

Not even pouring rain stops Tristan Toé from visiting one vegetable patch after another: Every potato he pulls out of the ground with his hands is followed by another of a different colour, beetroot is followed by celeriac, potatoes are followed by artichokes and, of course, tomatoes: he grows 150 different varieties on his farm on the Wachtberg in the Kamptal. On a hidden spot, surrounded by forest. And on what was originally poor, thin soil that wasn't really suitable for growing vegetables to begin with.

Things are different now, of course. Since the Malian-Chinese-French farmer ("I am an earthling") started farming the land around his parents-in-law's house in Lower Austria with his wife Jahwezi Graf, a lot has happened. You can see this when Tristan crumbles the earth in his fingers: You may still quickly come across rock - but what lies above it allows the plants to flourish magnificently. Jahwezi and Tristan currently have around 70 types of vegetables, with five to ten being added every year. "We are a diverse farm."

Tristan, who trained as a plant breeder in France, has created some of them himself: the yellow tomato Kayoulou, for example, named after his daughter. Overall, he is constantly looking for the plants that get the best out of his soil. And that is by no means all: Biosain - the name of the company, which also includes Osain, the Yoruba god of plants - is constantly on the move. Among other things, Tristan is in the process of creating a space for workshops. He now has so much experience here that others also want to learn from him.