OUR STORY
OUR BRAMLEIGH JOURNEY
In 2015 we were entrusted with the management of the family property. Excited to have our own vegetable garden, a couple of backyard chickens, and pick our own fruit, we enthusiastically jumped in. Thankfully, we were incredibly naive, otherwise we may never have made the decision!
WHERE WE STARTED
Our plans began with the idea of running the guesthouse on the side while we continued to work full time - Andre as a solar system designer; Kait as a teacher. We very quickly discovered that our salaries did not stretch that far with the property upkeep exceeding our income, and that our time did not stretch that far either - preparing breakfasts before work, and serving dinners after work, guests on weekends, and conferences in between. With the house having been run as a guesthouse for most of its life, it was well suited to this. However, we were not.
Andre's work in solar caused him to consider the efficiency of plants at harvesting solar energy to convert it into food energy, with grass essentially powering all food production in some way. We began to explore regenerative agriculture through Ridgedale Permaculture, GrassFed Life podcast, and of course, Joel Salatin. With this backdrop, we began developing a farm inspired by nature; regenerative, and resilient, slowly building up enterprises each year.
MARKET GARDEN
Running the guesthouse allowed us to establish a market garden in 2017, from which we sold vegetables to local restaurants and wedding venues. The value of “small-town-where-everyone-knows-your-name” was immeasurable as we started out.
Our self-sufficiency dream began to evolve into a farm-scale vision as we considered our holistic context - the ecological and economic impacts, as well as the value of social relationships within the community.
Without a “one-day-when-we-start-a-farm” fund, we have had to be extremely careful and creative with what we have.
PASTURE RAISED CHICKEN
From there we were able to start our first 50 pasture raised chickens in 2018 that we pre-sold to cover production costs. We slowly scaled each season, before adding 50 pasture raised egg layers at the end of 2019. Our egg laying hens have been one of our most rewarding enterprises with many happy hours spent with our chickens; they in turn producing nutritious golden yolked eggs that have become the backbone of our business. Pasture raising chickens means they are moved every day to provide fresh forage but also spreading their fertility nuggets across pastures, increasing diversity of grasses and therefore better forage when they next visit the same piece of grass.
FOREST RAISED PORK
A local pork producer, in agreement with our animal management practices, asked us to raise 5 pigs for him in 2019. From there we started raising and then breeding our own pigs, mainly in the forest, but also as an exceptional tool for clearing alien species such as wattle, bramble, bugweed and many others, to assist us in reclaiming and regenerating natural grassland and pasture.
GRASS FINISHED BEEF
In 2020 we added goats to the mix as a herd-share with our staff to honour their dedication and commitment, and patience with our crazy ideas! In 2021, a friend from the Regenerative Agriculture Association invested in our farm by assisting us to start with cattle that will be part of the larger regeneration of our veld, and close the loop through grazing the nutritious forage that develops following the fertility provided by the chickens raised on pasture.
The idea of regenerative living on every level has forced us to think differently, to run our business differently, and a create a regenerative lifestyle for our family. A key transformative element has been REKO, a Facebook based Finnish market system designed for small scale farmers, aimed at increasing food security, social relations, and transparent local food production. Having seen this modelled overseas, we decided to start up a REKO Ring in our area. This has been instrumental in getting our business off the ground, and keeping it afloat through the ups and downs.