Greetings from the farm! Our first month of hosting collections from The Ladder was a true pleasure. We adore the space that Nicholas and Anastatia have created - their warmth and sincerity have translated into a beautifully open environment where simple elegance fosters wholesomeness.
We rather enjoy meeting each individual who supports what we do, and find great value in making these connections. To us, its important to know not only where your food comes from, but also to have a relationship with whoever is growing it. With this in mind, we know that one of the challenges of having a collection point where handovers are done by others, is that the amount of face-to-face time we actually get with people who receive our boxes is less. However, once a month we will be staying at The Ladder during our collection period, between 1-2PM, and invite you to come an join us for a cup of coffee!
Some of our boxes ready for collection at The Ladder on Bree Street.
Newly upgraded veggie beds (with sweet potatoes growing happily in the back bed) at our Mowbray collection point.
Updates from our Fields and Gardens
The early signs of Autumn are upon us... Evenings grow cooler, and sunrises are starting slightly later. The summer vigour of tomato vines has stopped and they are slowing down in their production. Soon, we will be pulling them out altogether, and using their plant matter in a new compost heap - but not before planting a new set of tomatoes in one of our greenhouses. This delicate cycle management of crop rotation is definitely not as simple in reality as it is in theory.
There are many other factors to consider when planning for what to grow, and the succession of it. The season, timing, growth rate, production yield, how much to plant, pest control and companions, which crops can follow the current ones, and of course: all those uncontrollable factors... Like a sporadic heatwave in the middle of winter, a new generation of francolin, guinea fowl and peacock hatchlings, or a new super colony of ants ready to decimate (quite literally) anything. All of this, on top of the fact that it's always tough to pull a living plant out of the ground, make crop changeovers a difficult task!
Keeping this in mind, we have finally gotten around to improving the food garden at our Mowbray collection point. Our upgrade included adding plantings of sweet potatoes, baby spinach, corn, carrots, beetroot, lettuce and rocket to the existing beds of peppers, basil, thyme and sage in the back yard surrounding the avocado trees (which are fruiting nicely, and should be ready to harvest fairly soon!); and a pomegranate bush to the front yard. May this garden grow and thrive!
Here on the farm, we have dabbled with a new cover crop, caliente mustard. We've sown it in two of our tunnels, in preparation for their new crops which will be planted in the upcoming weeks. The benefits of using these as a cover crop is that they grow extremely quickly and without much tending; and more importantly they are "biofumigators" meaning that once chopped down and mixed into the soil, they emit natural gasses which help rid the soil of harmful diseases and pathogens. For us, a wonderful bonus is that their leaves are edible, with that strong peppery mustard taste - great when sautéed in a little olive oil with garlic. We might be featuring these mustard greens in our boxes soon, so keep an eye out for them!
Bushrah gearing up for some beekeeping.
Beekeeping
With the third harvest, this time of several kilograms worth, from our homemade hive, we give big thanks and all of our appreciation to the bees. What magnificent creatures they are - in observing them we have found the intricacies of their lives woven in ours. Simple universal truths that lay within the flutter of their wings, and the vibrations of their bodies as they dance to communicate with one another. Their collective embodiment in the hive creates resilience and strength which manifests in diversity and longevity.
Apiculture dates back about 9000 years in Northern Africa, where the domestication of bees began as an art form, and honey was highly regarded - even being placed in pharaohs' tombs. There are 8000 year old cave paintings in Spain, that depict honey being harvested from the side of a cliff. There seems to have always been a wonder and awe about this golden liquid that honey bees produce.
The art of beekeeping comes in many wonderful forms. Our style is taking shape to be a more natural approach. We firmly believe that the bee comes first - harvesting by disturbing the bees as little as possible, and leaving most of the honey for them. We also aim to create a regenerative environment that they flourish in, maintaining a good nectar and pollen flow all year round.
We hope to put a few more hives on the farm soon, in time for next swarming season.
Some our homegrown apples - part of our trees' first ever fruiting season!
Eating In Season
To plant and eat fresh produce that is locally grown in season is an integral part of living sustainably. But how often are we really aware of what is actually "in season" in our local environment? Even as farmers, we repeatedly find ourselves having to research whether a particular fruit or vegetable is actually naturally available during that time.
So we've put together a list of produce that should be naturally ripe and ready during March in the Western Cape. This should give you a good idea of what to look for when shopping, but do bear in mind that with weather patterns and climate change harvest seasons are always shifting.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, and think somebody else you know might like it too, please feel free to forward it on. If you're interested in reading a bit about our experiences, visit our website thosewhoharvest.com to find out more and read our blog.
