NEWS FROM THE FARM BY SVEND RANDS

NEWS FROM THE FARM BY

SVEND RANDS

We speak to owner of Twee Jonge Gezellen, Svend Rands about the goings-on at the pastoral home of Vintage-Only Krone MCC.

What’s been happening on the farm this winter as you gear up for spring?

At the moment the majority of pruning has been done for the MCC vineyards. We still have to prune the bushvines. Other than that we’ve been busy with the twining of 35ha of young vines. We’re also making our own compost and mulch. This has been a huge success for us.

Also exciting is that our farm manager, Juan, has been busy increasing the number of beehives we have over the last few years. This is vital for pollination. Each year we increase our hive count. We have also just sowed 25ha for baling, this will be used as organic material in our composting.

And in the organic garden?

- Omar [horticulturalist] and Juan have managed to plant 2500 trees around the farm over the last couple of years. All of these trees come out of our own nursery.

- As we prepare for spring, the fruit trees are pruned and fertilised. We’ve also been busy prepping the vegetable garden for harvest and have planted sunflowers, aubergines, artichokes, rocket and plenty of herbs.

- Prepping our flowerbeds for summer flowers.

- All organic matter from the farm is used in Bokashi [an anaerobic composting process], which goes back into the veggie garden.

- Omar also taken 3500 protea cuttings that will go into the nursery for planting next year.

Speaking of sunshine, can you elaborate on the solar project?

This has been a very successful project for us. We are now able produce nearly 30 per cent of the power required in our secondary production and storage areas harnessing the energy from the sun.

What other eco-projects do you have on the go at the farm?

We decided to do a sustainability audit of Twee Jonge Gezellen in 2019. Some very interesting things came from this. The solar project being one of them. It allowed us to tweak a lot of the projects we already have going on the farm and has also got us all thinking along the lines of sustainability. It’s really just about finding a balance—where you don’t take out more than you put in.

You are known for your herd of Nguni cows – any news from the pasture?

The cattle on Twee Jonge Gezellen must be some of the happiest in the world! There have been lots of calves over the last few months, and with the good rain we have had this winter there will be plenty of grazing this summer.