“That sounds like a movement.”

According to Cavy Kelley, that was the somewhat astonished response from her son and his friend upon hearing that over 70 people arrived for the first Harvest Club event last Tuesday, 28 March, at The Harvest Fork & Farm restaurant outside Stanford.

It was indeed remarkable how the numbers exploded organically in a matter of days, purely from some WhatsApp’s and word-of-mouth alone.

Clearly, the idea of gathering with like-minded people to learn, share and find common solutions hit fertile ground.

In fact, the enthusiastic response meant I had to rapidly expand my plans – from a small sundowners at my home to quickly finalising a much larger venue one day before the event! 😅

The BIG collaborative foodie project

We designed an experiment to see how we could create never-before-tasted foodie products out of collaboratively sourced Stanford goods. The results were beyond exciting!

Crispy duck and ginger spring rolls; chicken, fresh basil and parmesan cheese sausages; Tuscan flatbreads with olives, rosemary and preserved lemon; smoked duck sausages; and more!

Every ingredient was sourced locally – from my own Muscovy ducks from Sunset Place Farm; to the chicken sponsored by Overberg Pastured Poultry; and the ginger, garlic, sundried tomatoes, fresh herbs and veggies all harvested from local, organic gardens and farms.

In fact, my farmer neighbour, Darron, yanked out the carrots fresh from the ground, just minutes before Bryan started prepping his spring rolls!

What was interesting about this experiment was that we could then directly ask all participants for feedback on their favourites, helping us to highlight which products we could produce for the new food club launching in May.

This model has the potential to create fabulous opportunities for foodies to create, test and then sell winning products to an audience eager to support local, incredible foods. (More on the food club and these foodie opportunities to follow soon.)

But as easy as it was to get distracted with all the foodie ideas, not everyone realised that something rather momentous happened for the local farmers and homesteaders.

Actually, two things…

1) A major old problem = Solved

Something that has stumped small farmers for years was resolved in one evening through the intentional collaboration of the group.

Access to a high-quality source of non-GMO feed for chickens, ducks and other livestock was always impossible, unless you could purchase two tons of it at once directly from the supplier, Profile Feeds, in Paarl.

But now Overberg Pastured Poultry have made it possible for any of us to order by the bag, instead of by the truckload! This is a monumental win for all small farmers and backyard chicken owners alike, helping to improve the health and quality of our eggs, poultry and other animals without any of the microbe-and-gut-destroying glyphosate inherent with GMO products.

For anyone interested in ordering a bag (or five) of non-GMO feed for your own animals, please contact Rachel from Overberg Pastured Poultry on 082 087 6416.

2) An Eggcellent Opportunity

Another remarkable opportunity arose during our Q&A discussion, where Terry Georgiev from Eggcellent Eggs posed a creative, collaborative solution to a problem she was experiencing.

Being the most passionate person I’ve ever met about pasture-raised chickens, it’s no surprise that she now has more customers and demand than eggs that she can supply.

Therefore, she’s offered to help other small, regenerative farmers get setup with her tested and proven method of raising happy egg-laying hens out on pasture.

Not only do the farmers benefit from her expertise and the dramatically improved soil fertility, but she’ll buy the unpacked eggs by the crate to then sort, package and distribute to her rapidly growing client base.

This means the farmer gets to focus on their core skill of tending to the chickens, and don’t need to invest all the equipment, time, packaging, marketing and logistics worry of running a full-time egg business. Another win-win solution!

If you’d be keen to discuss this possibility for your own farm, you can contact Terry from Eggcellent Eggs on 073 291 0776.

Couldn’t do it without YOU

A massive thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of our first Harvest Club event!

Without Lisa and Adele’s offer to use their fabulous Fork & Farm venue, we’d never have been able to cope or host such a lively event. My husband, Neal, thanks you 70 times over, because our house would never have been the same had we stuck to our original home-sundowner plan! 😂 Thank you to the whole Fork & Farm team for opening for us on such short notice, and on your day off.

A big thank you to Sonja Martin and Strandveld Wines for the very welcome Welcome Drinks! Thanks too to Sally of Amaré Farm for the incredible home-made quince cordial, Chanda from Wildgarten for the lovely iced tea, and to Cara for quickly whipping up some zesty flavoured water.

Thank you to everyone who was able to contribute to the Harvest Table. There were far too many of you, and too many amazing dishes to mention individually – but thank you for the abundance and deliciousness! Although I do have to make a special mention of my dad, Chris Burls, and his amazing pot-brood, because he’s my dad and obviously one of the best people in the world, along with my mom. 😊

The fantastic photos on this page are all thanks to Cavy Kelley, who has a great eye for a great shot – thanks Cavy!

By the way, Bryan now has his Tuscan breads, along with the popular brioche breads, rolls and other goodies at the Saturday Stoep Market. But you have to get there early before John Kelley nabs all the flatbreads! 😂

One final thank you goes to you, the fabulous people who so warmly and enthusiastically supported the Harvest Club idea – whether you could attend the event or not.

Thank you!
Robynn

P.S. Scroll through the image slider here below to see more pics from the event, and make sure to sign up via email so I can notify you directly ahead of our next event. Can’t wait!