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Farm life

Stories of the people, the work and the changing veld.

The Nel family among winter trees and yellow flowers: Enya, Japie, Frances, Angelique and Alex Nel, left to right
The Nel family, left to right: Enya, Japie, Frances, Angelique and Alex Nel.

Field notes

  1. Jan Martin standing in front of a green tractor in a field of yellow flowers
    Jan Martin, preparing the soil for the next rooibos planting.

    Preparing the next planting

    10 and 11 July 2026. Jan Martin prepared the soil for the next rooibos planting with the land in flower, and on the escarpment edge the small plants were out between the quartz stones.

    By Japie Nel

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  2. A track between tall green rows of rooibos bushes under a pale evening sky
    Rows of rooibos bushes, ready for harvest.

    Rooibos ready for harvest

    Evening of 16 February 2026. The rooibos rows had grown in and the bushes were ready to be cut. The same evening the sky built up behind the windmill and lit the fields from the west.

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  3. Aerial view of planted blocks and a dam, with cloud turning to mist along the top of the mountain
    Early morning light as the clouds become mist at the top of the mountain.

    Clouds become mist

    Early on 9 January 2026 the cloud lay against the top of the mountain and turned to mist over the planted blocks and the dam that irrigates the vineyards and alfalfa. Later the same morning, from above, Cloudskraal and the neighbouring farm Elandsvoetpad.

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  4. A yellow weaver in flight beside its woven green nest
    A weaver at work on its nest in the poplar wood, preparing for the season.

    Weavers in the poplar wood

    29 August 2025, late afternoon: a weaver working on its nest in the poplar wood, and the Stone Cottage, Kliphuis, in soft light with yellow flowers in front of it.

    By Alex Nel

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  5. Japie Nel walking between rows of dormant, bare vines in winter sun
    Japie Nel, inspecting the vineyards.

    Winter in the vineyard

    End of July 2024. Japie walked the dormant vines; the family was photographed together among the winter trees; and two nights later Garsland was lit under a clear sky.

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  6. Vineyard rows seen straight from above, filled with yellow flowers between the vines
    The vineyards in flower season, the rows filled with yellow flowers.

    Flower season, 2023

    18 to 27 August 2023. The vineyard rows filled with yellow flowers, the wine was poured in the veld, blue cranes danced on the lands, and the community cooked roosterkoek on the coals. On the 24th the krans was photographed at its sunset viewpoint.

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  7. A tractor pulling a planter across a dusty land at sunset, two people aboard
    Planting the cover crops to restore the land between rooibos rotations.

    Cover crops between rooibos rotations

    13 May 2021, at dusk. The planter sowed oats and lupins to restore the land between rooibos rotations, photographed close up and from behind as the light went.

    By Cloudskraal

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  8. Pink Maartblomme covering the red earth at dusk, with the plain stretching to the horizon
    Maartblomme in bloom at Nieuwoudtville.

    Maartblomme

    Evening of 29 March 2021. The pink Maartblomme were in flower across the plateau.

    By Alex Nel

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  9. Freshly cut green rooibos bundles tied with white cord, stacked in low sun
    Freshly hand-cut rooibos bundles, ready to be chopped and fermented.

    Cutting and sweating the rooibos

    28 March 2020, on the tea court: freshly hand-cut bundles waiting to be chopped, the rotovator turning the previous night's fermentation to the deep red that is ready for drying, and dried tea off the court. The next morning the cut bushes in the field were wet with dew.

    By Japie Nel

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