It's a full week today since the Reichenbach family moved to Alp Satteleggli. That's earlier than usual although they had stayed a week longer than normal on Eigen, the lowest pastures. "Satteleggli is like a second home", says There's Reichenbach. "Ernst and I basically never go on vacation, but here it feels like vacationing despite the hard work." The start on Satteleggli was splendid. The che

Transhumance has started everywhere in Switzerland, not the least due to the extreme heat that has spread over whole of Europe in early June. On Alp Pommern (or Bummere) master cheesemaker Chris Leuthold has made the first batch of Alp Cheddar. Watch his video message:

The bright and warm early summer days make it possible: Earlier than in other years the Tschudi family has moved to their summer home on Alp Heuboden. With helpers the animals are brought up as well. While they enjoy the juicy grass, the farmers and helpers are well fed with cheese, charcuterie and homemade bread.

The dairy on Musenalp only had a small cauldron. Therefore Andrea Herger had to make cheese twice a day. The decision was made to refurbish the dairy and put a larger cauldron in, so all milk could be worked into cheese in one take. That's a big help for Andrea who now also has to care for the family's baby girl. The new dairy will be ready once the summer on the Alp begins.

The animal welfare is the core of the philosophy for the Amacher family (operators on Botchenalp). They follow the strictest and highest governmental and organic farming requirements: Located above Brienz their cows enjoy different meadows during their time outside of summer. And they have a huge open barn (Laufstall) where the animals can move freely. With horned cows this would include a risk of

Transhumance with the move of the animals has yet to begin in Switzerland. But the arrival of spring in higher altitudes has allowed the animals to enjoy their meadows at their winter home for the first time. In Braunwald (elevation over 4100 ft), the goats were the first to enjoy a run on the pastures on Sunday, on Monday, May 9, the cows were allowed to go out, too. Before the animals can move t

On May 6, 1527, Karl V. of Habsburg ransacked Rome, the Eternal City. On that occasion his troups also attacked the Vatican that was defended by Swiss Guard. Outnumbered by a great margin the guards had no chance, and only 42 of 189 survived. However, they managed to bring Pope Klemens VII. through a secret tunnel to safety. To honor the historic event, new recruits of the Swiss Guard are traditio

Chris Leuthold is a seasoned cheesemaker and... world traveler. The former director of the "Lenk Milch AG" has made cheese in New Zealand (Adopt-an-Alp visited the dairy in 2016), and in Norway where he discovered his love for "Farmhouse Cheddar". Since he is a very meticulous person he wanted to do it right: So in a time span of 7 years he went several times to England to small production Cheddar

Baby Julia, born on December 30, 2021, gets a lot of attention, not only from her parents Sepp and Andrea Herger. Sometimes, there's the odd babysitter.

Crocuses - as far as the eye can see. Spring has reached Braunwald.