On my trip through Rheinhessen, I not only tested the vending machines and enjoyed the products, but also took a look behind the gears and got to know the heads and makers.
Milk filling station Gill's Willow Farm
Fresh milk for the first coffee of the day or the breakfast cocoa, preferably directly from the cow, that sounds like a dream that you can only experience on a farm vacation. Wrong, because with the milk filling station from Gill's Willow Farm in Bodenheim you get damn close. During a walk, a bike ride on the Rhine Cycle Route or by car, you first drive past the cows in the barn and on the pasture. Then in a small room the milk vending machines are waiting. Either you have brought your own container or you can buy a typical one-liter glass milk bottle with a white screw cap in another vending machine here. The subsequent operation is quite simple. Put the coin money into the vending machine, open the small door to the tap, entertain the bottle at an angle and let the milk start by pressing a button. For one euro you get one liter of milk. Before you taste the delicious milk, you should boil it at home, because from the milk filling station you draw raw milk.
The milk has a very full-bodied taste, because it comes from the approximately 300 Jersey cows; they give a tasty and somewhat fattier milk. Mrs. Gill tells me that the milk comes so to about 5 % fat. This makes the milk rather unsuitable for dieting, but it scores points when it comes to enjoyment. The Gills know their cow ladies all by name and appreciate the respective character of the cows. Every morning and evening they personally stand in the milking parlor and pre-milk the cows before they are connected to the machine.
Address: Gill's Weidenhof - Rheinallee 100, 55294 Bodenheim
Vinomat Cistercian Winery
Wine belongs to Rheinhessen like the moon to the night sky and wine must not be missing from our regional products around the clock. missing. Throughout Rheinhessen, almost all winegrowers have opened their farm gates and are on request or at fixed opening hours of the vinotheques for questions or tastings. tastings. In the meantime, many wineries have also set up an additional vending machine vending machine, where you can buy a chilled bottle of your favorite wine around the clock chilled bottle of your favorite wine.
The Vinomat of the Cistercian winery in Dittelsheim-Heßloch is also a real eye-catcher. It is easily visible from the street and the parking spaces directly next to the vending machine make shopping easier. In the vending machine itself, you will find not only the bottled wine of the winery, but also other Rheinhessen delicacies such as a "Spundekäs" or seasonally even the "Zwiebelkuchen". Just try out how the taste of your favorite wine changes when you switch from the Spundekäs to the Mousse au Chocolat. Being able to offer the all-round package with wine was an important aspect in the purchase of the vending machine, Mrs. Michel tells me. Thanks to a lucky coincidence and a new employee, the winery produces and packages a large part of the culinary offerings in the vending machine itself.
Address: Cistercian Winery - Dalbergerstrasse 28, 67596 Dittelsheim-Heßloch
Fruit farm Zimmermann
On the large Fruit farm Zimmermann in Zornheim, the farm store offers a wide range of vegetables, fruit from our own cultivation, jams and wine. In the vending machine on the farm you can buy completely independent of the opening hours. "Freshness from the region and at the push of a button" that is the slogan of the Zimmermann family and that's exactly what it says. In their vending machine they try to reflect the freshness of the fields and fruit trees. What is on offer is what is currently in season and has been freshly harvested. So you can find the apples for the Sunday cake and the strawberries or plums for the picnic break on the Hiwweltour Zornheimer Mountain.
The fruit farm has been run by the Zimmermann family for a good family for more than 40 years and in several generations. The own harvest and those of not only in the farm store, but also around the clock. clock, was the next step in 2021. You can do so much more with apples more than just eating them directly. That is why you will find in the vending machine of the you will also find apple juice made from our own fruit and an apple sparkling wine made from the apple variety Rubinette. Be sure to try the freshness of the region.
Address: Obsthof Zimmermann - Nieder-Olmer Straße 9, 55270 Zornheim
Eggs from the vending machine - The egg layers
The vending machine on the Wischer family farm in Gau-Odernheim can be reached directly from the main road and offers sufficient parking space. Who are the main actors of this machine, you can see directly. On the lawn behind the small shelter run a bunch of brown chickens across the meadow, in between a few white roosters. In the vending machine I discover then also directly the eggs. The fresh eggs are carefully packed in colorful 6 or 10 egg cartons. Among them are eggs in every size from S to XL. The couple Wischer is already waiting for me and I may exceptionally look closer and visit the chickens.
Here directly at the vending machine live about 300 chickens; with the two other areas at another location there are about 670 egg-laying. An absolute speciality is the rearing of the brother cocks. Even though the new chicken mobile makes a lot of work easier - when it comes to the eggs, manual labor is the order of the day. Searching for the eggs in the morning is a very special experience, he says.
Address: The Egg Layers - Alzeyer Straße 139, 55239 Gau-Köngernheim
