Elisabeth and Jan from Swellendam

Tell us a little about yourself!

We’re both born and bred in the Netherlands, but we call South Africa home. After obtaining my Master’s in Business Administration in 2005, I travelled to South Africa to do volunteer work and explore the country. I then met Jan in Cape Town, who had already settled here after he got his degree, and the rest is history! I moved here permanently, and we started building up our lives here.

Fast forward a few years, in 2015, I decided to leave my corporate career to join Jan in his business. Jan had sold his IT business to focus on growing his new business OmniBlend high performance blenders. Through this business, and by adding a sous vide equipment business later, we got immersed in the food world - getting to know farmers, food producers, chefs, and health conscious and foody consumers. Along the way, our interest in nutrition, food preparation, the food industry, and the supply chain grew and we got increasingly opposed to conventional farming methods, and highly processed foods because of their impact on soil and health. By that time we were already pretty health conscious, focusing on healthy food and exercise. I feel strongly about focussing on health span rather than lifespan, as so many people are on medication to treat chronic diseases.

With both of us having grown up in the countryside, we were dreaming of retiring on a smallholding somewhere upcountry. When Covid struck, it accelerated our plans, and we soon found our perfect piece of land in Swellendam. The town and area offered everything we were looking for: beautiful mountains, lush greenery, a welcoming community, a sense of security, and high annual rainfall. We moved here in February 2023 and started developing our plans as the land was a blank canvas.

How did you start doing what you are doing now? 

The years prior to our move we learned about permaculture, regenerative farming principles, soil health, and were in awe with examples of what could be achieved when soil health is restored. Working with nature rather than against it, without chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. We wanted to experience this for ourselves, and farm ethically, to produce food that is nutritious and delicious. We wanted to get chickens, sheep, perhaps dairy cows, but for starters we had to build a barn, clear the land, and get settled into our new life and community. We got in touch with Simon of Khula Farms who’s also based in Swellendam to buy pork from him, and became friends. One day we visited his farm and Jan instantly fell in love with the pigs. During our first winter we had finished the barn, cleared alien trees, and planted about 200, primarily fruit and fodder, trees. That Spring we got Lenna, our Anatolian Shepherd, we bought 2 pregnant sows from Simon, 2 pregnant Dormer sheep, 6 rabbits and 80 one-week-old chicks. So in about 2 months we suddenly had an actual farm with animals to care for, and a lot to learn as we went along. Our approach is to observe and to adapt. To try, and change what doesn’t work. That’s how we got to the name Omweg Farm, as the journey is a winding road, never a straight line, and we don’t take shortcuts.

Our pigs and chickens are pasture raised. The chickens stay in mobile coops at night, and during the day they’re free to go wherever in the pasture so they are truly free range. For the pigs we use electric fencing, and we move their camps to fresh pasture every few days. Their rooting in the soil is incredibly beneficial for improving the pasture. One year on we already see dramatic changes species that are growing. Our aim is to improve water penetration and retention, and for that reason we’ve also planted many trees in the pasture. Their root system should support soil health, and the leaves provide minerals and nutrition for livestock at a later stage.

That first summer our herd of pigs grew from 2 to 23 and this winter we’ve harvested the first pigs of those litters. Jan loves traditions and traditional crafts. When we visited Rome a few years ago he took a pasta making class with an Italian ‘Nonna’ and learned how to use the mattarello. Back home he made a mattarello and he’s been making homemade pasta using that mattarello ever since. So with our pork he wanted to apply traditional methods to preserve, enhance flavour and create beautiful meat products that do justice to the way the pigs have been raised on pasture. He’s been studying all there is to learn about the art of charcuterie and loves the process of making great tasting cured meats. You have to practise delayed gratification when making cured sausages: it takes 6-8 weeks for the sausages to cure and much longer for larger cuts. We also make fresh sausages, variations similar to traditional boerewors. I really enjoy the opportunity to make sausages at the standard that I think should be the norm: meat, spices, herbs, and salt, but NO fillers, water, artificial flavourings, emulsifiers, etc. It frustrates me how long the list of ingredients is on any sausage label that you find in (even high-end) supermarkets.

What are you most proud of in this process? 

I’m very analytical and Jan is the goal-oriented driver, so we make a good team. All the things we’ve done so far seem easy once they’re done, and an outsider may not recognise the thought process behind all of it. But I’m proud of the research, thinking, calculations and considerations behind all actions, and the result of it. We’re working on a 7-year plan (that’s how long we think it will take before everything will be established the way we’ve envisioned it) but all that we’ve created so far that’s working out is definitely encouragement to carry on the way we are doing. Our compost system is producing prolific compost, we’re seeing a change in the pasture, the housing of all livestock have seen gradual improvements, and while there’s still a long way to go, it seems we’re on the right track.

What is the most helpful piece of advice you received when you were just starting out? 

We received this advice after our first season with livestock, so I knew he was right when he said it and we took it to heart: “Get really good at doing one thing before starting another”. It’s incredibly tempting to start everything at once, especially as you know the runway before everything is established is long and you don’t want to waste time. But you find yourself doing a lot of troubleshooting when you have too many new things on the go (as again, things often don’t work out exactly how you’ve anticipated), and it causes frustration and stress. So we paused having sheep for a while, and are sitting on our hands to not get goats before everything else that we’ve started is going 100%. Having said that, we did just start our vegetable garden and that’ll also require time and attention!

What advice would you like to give to others who are younger/earlier on their journey? 

Don’t take other people’s advice! I felt people often like to share (unsolicited) advice without first understanding your context, which can instil fear. When we had our sheep for a few weeks, someone with a lot of experience with farm animals visited and said “Have you dewormed the sheep yet? You have to.” We wanted to avoid routine treatment as it risks resistance to those products, and I’m also wary about residues in the meat and how it eventually impacts our health. Instead we moved the sheep to a fresh pasture every few days, moving them away from possible parasites. We also kept a close eye on how they behaved, and did regular stool samples. We bought a McMaster slide, borrowed a microscope and followed the procedure to the T.

The egg count remained very low. The proof was when they were slaughtered, and their stomachs were 100% clean, without having used dewormer. This is just one example, but in everything that you do, especially when it’s a bit out of the conventional way of doing things, rather think for yourself, do your research and own risk assessment (in our case, a vet was around the corner if a sheep got sick) and work from there.

Where do you see growing going in South Africa? 

When deciding on living here one of the main reasons was the people - their attitude, their resilience. That makes that we’re positive about South Africa and despite our foreign passports we decided to stay here.

On the tip of Africa it’s easy to forget how many countries are struggling with war or heavy oppression. To us, South Africa’s biggest challenge is wealth inequality. All around the world the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, but in South Africa it’s visible and it comes with many socio economic challenges that we’re all well aware of. The gap widens because assets, owned by the rich, increase in value, while the purchasing power of the money poorer people rely on diminishes.

It’s great to see initiatives in Mosselbay, Witsand, and now Swellendam too, that educate people on how to build wealth to be able to move forward. For example, the Bitcoin groups Bitcoin Ekasi, Bitcoin Witsand and Bitcoin Ubuntu are giving people tools and knowledge to build financial security.