South African Gardening Blog » rike

Essential Amathole

rike — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:06:30 +0000

“Located in the scenic Amathole region of the Eastern Cape in South Africa, Essential Amathole has been established to produce a range of organic essential oils and medicinal plant extracts for the global market”.

Still and nursery in Hogsback

As many of you know, I keep returning to Hogsback, and Essential Amathole is one of the reasons. This initiative follows an incredible approach to sustainable rural economic development in 4 ways. Firstly, it is based on a public-private-community partnership. Participation in this manner allows for equitable, responsible and sustainable development, and is a model that can (and should) be replicated as a priority for any development. Secondly, there are both direct and indirect beneficiaries. Not only is the project addressing severe unemployment in the region, but it has established a community trust that holds 24.8% of the profits, the proceeds of which go into a wide range of community-based organisations and initiatives. Thirdly, the business itself is based on environmentally sustainable methods. All farming is organic and focused primarily on indigenous plants endemic to the Eastern Cape. Finally, it is essential oils so it smells absolutely wonderful!

Here are some pictures I took of the nursery in Hogsback:

Nursery

Rose geranium nursery

Here are some close ups of the crops:

Rose geranium

Lavendar

Lemon balm

The project is still in its second phase of implementation so there are a lot more exciting possibilities emerging daily. I would highly recommend a visit if you are anywhere near those parts. It is a great example of an environmentally sustainable economic development model. And all the sites smell fantastic!

more recycled containers

rike — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:33:07 +0000

this is from a b&b in ficksburg. they have a whole lot of plants in vintage shoes.

more shoes

they also have a wild collection of old enamelware with plants.

this is a view of their enamelware collection.

some flowers in hogsback

rike — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:43:42 +0000

for those of you who haven’t visited hogsback… it is a small village in the eastern cape, in the mountains overlooking alice, where fort hare university is situated. there is a big movement to reclaim the area from the pines and wattles, revitalising the indigenous vegetation. i go relatively regularly to visit friends who live in the area. these are a small selection of photos of some of the flowers i saw.

keeping with the theme of hydrangeas… this was taken in someone’s garden.

i am not sure what this flower is but there was a pretty tree full of them.

hogsback has some beautiful indigenous and wild proteas. this was growing wild in the area being reclaimed for indigenous plants near ‘the edge’ (a very dramatic look out point overlooking both pine and indigenous forests. from there you can really see how the pines suck up all the water. nothing else grows anywhere near the pines. alternatively, the indigenous forest is lush and wild.

this is another protea seen at ‘the edge’. the timing was a little off and many of the proteas where on their way out. they still are deliciously beautiful though.

this is one of my favourite proteas. for some strange reason they are usually only used as fillers in bunches of more dramatic proteas. there was such beautiful bushes of these all over the garden where we were staying.