Showing posts sorted by relevance for query schwarz. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query schwarz. Sort by date Show all posts

20070430

Schwarz: Primeurs en gros


If you come here regularly, you know that there's a lot of farmland around Villigen. Much of the farming business is owned by Schwarz (their website even has an English version now), a local company established not that long ago, in 1929. They have an outlet center across from zum Hirschen where I sometimes buy vegetables. This aspect of their business, wholesale and retail, is a general one and is not limited to locally-grown vegetables. Previous mention of Schwarz: Delivery from Villigen (20070326)

20070429

20100505

viva ag


AG = Aktiengesellschaft = corporation. Schwarz, the agribusiness in Villigen, is now Schwarz Viva AG.

By the way, the wisteria is in full bloom all over the area.

20130811

Crates


These are the crates that are used to carry the farm produce from the fields to the Schwarz processing center. I've written about Schwarz a few times before -- search in the archives if you're interested.

The style of this photo was inspired by Michael Wolf's photos of Hong Kong high-rise apartment buildings in his series "architecture of density".


20071217

'Tis the season VII


The low-key decorations at the Schwarz produce outlet. A daytime summer view of this building can be seen here: Street corner. Other posts about Schwarz at this link.

20071213

20090216

Framed III


One of the photogenic windows at Schwarz. Seen here before: 20070430 Schwarz: Primeurs en gros.

20090215

20090621

Rüfenach greenhouse


I thought it would be easy to find information on what is produced in this greenhouse, but I was mistaken. If the one in Villigen (Geiser+Schwarz) is anything to go by and some other information I found about the area, it's to raise saplings for fruit and vegetable plants. The greenhouse facility appears to be at least twice as large as the Schwarz one.

20090614

20130912

A gathering of chairs


The argibusiness Schwarz has a division that processes vegetables for supermarkets and restaurants. Sometimes the workers appear to take their breaks out here and I like to see their collection of chairs when I walk by. Note the Eames side chairs, contrasted by the contemporary office chair with wheels.

20130925

Composition in blue and green


The greenhouses of the Schwarz company dominate the area near the entrance to the village.

The view from the hill can be seen in this post:
View from Besserstein IV

20070326

Delivery from Villigen


Schwarz is probably the largest private employer in Villigen. They are an agricultural business and as the growing season starts up I'm sure their activities are going to be featured in my posts. This morning I saw one of their trucks making deliveries around the corner from my language school in Baden. The building in the background is a department store called Manor (maa-nore).

20070326

20070816

From the region ...


Migros (meegro, the "s" is silent) is one of the two main grocery store chains in the country, and is the oldest and the largest. Aus der Region, fur die Region -- from the region, for the region -- is their slogan for locally grown produce and locally raised animals. Villigen's own agrobusiness Schwarz supplies salad greens (and reds, as seen here) to Migros. This sign says "we're producing for Migros".

Migros was started in 1925 in the Zürich region by Gottlieb Duttweiler. At first, there were no shops, just one Ford Model-T van driving around neighborhoods, selling just six basic items at very low prices. The business took off from there, with many set-backs along the way, to become the largest retailer in Switzerland. They even have recreational "schools" for adults, with classes that range from language instruction (I attended German lessons there for a time) to vegetarian cookery to oil painting to Microsoft certification. Another interesting aspect is that the supermarkets don't sell cigarettes or alcohol. To read more about Migros in English, you can try this Wikipedia article.

20070813

20080826

The right tool: die Haspel


Surely, it would warm the cockles of Martha Stewart's (in case you don't know who I'm referring to, click here) heart to see how nicely the tools are organized over by the Schwarz greenhouse (last seen here). Notice the stencilled label AND the helpful photo next to it, which is a little difficult to make out in this image.

At to what this object does, I'm at a bit of a loss. My guess would be that it smoothes the soil and removes pebbles and clumps in preparation for the planting of seeds. A postcard to the one to provide a good (as judged by me, hey it's my party!) answer.

20080824

20070521

Wheat (or barley) Some type of cereal field


Wheat or barley Some variety of cereal growing next to Hauptstrasse between Stilli and Villigen. This field is close to the broccoli or raps/canola field in my post from April 12th. The greenhouse visible at the top of the field is part of the Schwarz agribusiness that I've mentioned a couple of times (1, 2).

Addendum: A couple of readers suggested that this looks more like barley than wheat. I'm putting the following links (which I had initially just put in the comments section) to illustrations and description of wheat and barley at the Cereal Diseases Laboratory website, so that you all can weigh in:
Barley (die Gerste)
Wheat (der Weizen)
and an additional crop to consider:
Rye (der Roggen)

More on this tomorrow. By the way, the bristle on the ears (the seed-bearing head or spike of a cereal plant) is called awn.

20070520

20130908

View from Besserstein IV


A couple of businesses visible here: at the top right corner is the Citroen dealership and on the left, just below the fields, are the greenhouses of Schwarz.

The silvery building in the right half is the Gemeindehaus. The town hall, if Villigen were a town. It's where the administrative functions of the Village take place.


20080316

Seedlings


If I had been a good citizen and had attended the open house that Schwarz organized yesterday, I might have been able to tell you all about their ecologically-minded seedling production. But I didn't, so I can't.

20080316

20070811

Street corner


The building on the left is the the same one as seen through the Hirschen window in the post from July 12th. The chapel and a barn I've shown previously are barely visible in the background, at the end of the street that snakes off to the left. The building on the right is the Schwarz outlet center where I buy vegetables sometimes. Next to it, but not visible in the photo, is the house with the buntings from a couple of days ago. The fountain in front, with the red geraniums, is Meierhof Schmittenbach.

NB We're actually having rather gloomy weather right now and this blue sky is from a week ago.

20070805

20080724

Pallets for organic seedlings


The local agribusiness Schwarz has been featured on this blog a few times. This building is a new addition to their greenhouse for seedlings. A view from the other side of the greenhouse here.

20080723