Farming with nature
Saurwein Wines found the perfect home in the Stanford Valley, near Hermanus on the Cape South Coast. Known for centuries for its high quality produce, Stanford also produces excellent wines under various labels, with a climate and soils similar to that of the Hemel-en-Aarde valley.
We believe in farming in harmony with nature, using practical and logical regenerative practices to increase sustainability and good health. These practises close loops, harness biology, cut costs, build soil, and increase resilience in the plants.
1. Worm castings and worm tea
Worm castings are the waste of the red wiggler earth worm, eisenia fetida, when feeding on organic matter. Worm tea is brewed during this process, and both are rather magical additions to the soil and plant. They enhance soil biology and structure, water retention, aeration, and suppress diseases.
The teas are sprayed onto the leaves and deliver live biology that improves nutrient cycling and induced plant resistance. We also feed the tea to the vineyards through the irrigation system during the growing season.
Worm castings, which are extremely rich in diverse bacteria, humic and fulvic acids, plant growth hormones and enzymes, are key to stimulate mycorrhizal colonization. Together they create a more effective soil food web and extend the root system exponentially which leads to more growth and resilience.
The castings were a vital ingredient to our vineyard establishment, with each vine receiving a cupful of ‘black gold’ and biochar, as well as some naturally mined lime from our coastline, for increased mineral content.
We learned about vermiculture from our uncle Andrew Southey, who has been perfecting the process for 2 decades and has proven large scale success on various farms in the Western Cape. We use garden and grass cuttings and horse manure to constantly feed the worms, completing a neat natural cycle that is also relatively easy and inexpensive.
2. Inoculated Biochar
Blue gum (eucalyptus) material that is too small or too large for timber or fire wood is the perfect material to produce biochar, and would otherwise take decades to decompose. We feed a large mobile kiln (don't worry, it's only done in winter and with the fire Chief’s approval!) for about 5 hours and then it is cooled quickly with water once all burned. This burning and then “quenching” process leaves a pyrolyzed biomass that is extremely porous in structure, acting as massive ‘apartment blocks’ for microbes.
The exceptional surface area improves water and nutrient retention, cation exchange, aeration, and carbon stability.
This special “charcoal” is then charged with compost, manure, or microbial teas. We have had best results in parking the chicken-tractor over the biochar for 2 weeks, and the chickens do the rest. Proper inoculation prevents short-term nutrient tie-up and jump-starts soil biology. Results include higher yields and better performance, especially in marginal soils, such as in the Cape, and research in this field has shown that biochar can have a positive effect on soil carbon levels for hundreds of years!
This process is effectively the same as centuries of natural carbon sequestration and is once-again relatively cheap if you have the material.
3. Composting with lievestock manure
Worm castings are the waste of the red wiggler earth worm, eisenia fetida, when feeding on organic matter. Worm tea is brewed during this process, and both are rather magical additions to the soil and plant. They enhance soil biology and structure, water retention, aeration, and suppress diseases.
The teas are sprayed onto the leaves and deliver live biology that improves nutrient cycling and induced plant resistance. We also feed the tea to the vineyards through the irrigation system during the growing season.
Worm castings, which are extremely rich in diverse bacteria, humic and fulvic acids, plant growth hormones and enzymes, are key to stimulate mycorrhizal colonization. Together they create a more effective soil food web and extend the root system exponentially which leads to more growth and resilience.
The castings were a vital ingredient to our vineyard establishment, with each vine receiving a cupful of ‘black gold’ and biochar, as well as some naturally mined lime from our coastline, for increased mineral content.
We learned about vermiculture from our uncle Andrew Southey, who has been perfecting the process for 2 decades and has proven large scale success on various farms in the Western Cape. We use garden and grass cuttings and horse manure to constantly feed the worms, completing a neat natural cycle that is also relatively easy and inexpensive.
4. Rotational grazing
Rotational grazing mimics nature as herd animals graze seasonally through the grasslands and form an integral part of the life-cycle. Our cattle and sheep are moved daily around a network of paddocks, allowing grasses to recover fully before regrazing, while feeding the soil with manure.
Overgrazing (along with monoculture) is the largest problem in today's farming which effectively farms against nature. This creates desertified landscapes which are nutrient depleted and cannot be used to feed the masses nutrient-dense food. Intensive, rotational grazing builds root mass and SOM, enhances microbial activity, reduces parasite risk, and improves water infiltration and carbon sequestration.
While we have seen rotational grazing on a large scale, we need to maximise every inch on our 10ha of pastures. The nguni cattle graze the longer tougher grasses, while the sheep graze closer to the ground and like horses prefer the finer grasses. All this grazing, when intense and short, stimulates root growth and thus fixes carbon back into the ground. Once recovered after a 3 months rest-period, the pasture becomes more lush as the process is nutrient cycling, and soil-regenerating.
The output not only nourishes the soils and the animals, but in turn we receive healthy and delicious Overberg lamb and beef.
5. Renaturing
In 2022 we started the removal of more than a hectare of glum forest, planted 100 years ago. Old gums become very dangerous in the Cape winter storms and the trees poison the entire area, making it an effective monoculture. The trees which can reach 45m in height, also shade our pastures and take up lots of water. They are also known to impart a mint-like flavour to adjacent vineyards.
We created berms and cleared where possible, as well as planted indigenous trees. In the first year all regrowth was taken out by hand and species popped up on the bare soil every day. First the pioneer plants and then after 1 or 2 years, fynbos species. The dead soil has been almost fully revived and within 2 decades the area will be rich in local life and fully restored.
Further we have created tree islands in the middle of pastures for shade and windbreaks for animals, but also for increasing diversity in the field. Fundamentally, adding more nature to your farm leverages biodiversity and soil biology to build resilience.
In the future we aim to build a network of ponds and orchids to conserve water, increase output and become more sustainable.
6. KNF topical preparations
Developed in the 60s this KNF is a regenerative tool that is once again inexpensive and uses local ingredients and waste. Korean Natural Farming (KNF) is a set of topical preparations—such as Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ), Oriental Herbal Nutrients (OHN), lactic acid bacteria, or fish amino acids—fermented on the farm and used as foliar sprays or soil drenches.
We constantly make plant teas using comfrey and nettle. Local mycorrhizal preparations increase plant vigour and increase soil biology, while visits to the beach allow us to collect enough kelp and sea water to add to these teas for better mineral content.
The preps deliver a host of microbes, amino acids, hormones, and bioactive compounds that stimulate growth, strengthen plant defenses, and increase soil biology. Science shows enhanced nutrient uptake, disease and pest resistance via competitive exclusion and induced systemic resistance, plus improved yields and lower inputs.
7. Mulching
The Cape is plagued with invasive aliens, and the surrounding area battles with gum, port jackson, wattle, pine, hakea and myrtle. The Cape Floral kingdom is the second most diverse plant Kingdom in the world after the Amazon forest. The Cape Floral Kingdom is incredibly diverse and is home to more than 9,000 native species over 90,000 km2. For comparison, the British Isles has 1,500 native plants and is three times larger.
The very old, poor soils in the Cape however never hosted many trees, as the fynbos (aka fine bush) periodically burns, which is an important part of the natural life-cycle. Gums and fast growing trees alike were introduced for fuel and building and now throttle the Cape Floralistic Kingdom, being costly to eradicate.
We are lucky to only have a few hectares of gums on our 65ha farm, perfect for fire wood and wood chips.. Extensive neighbouring alien vegetation is used to make wood chippings for mulching our vines.
Once chipped, after 12-18 months the poisonous allelopathic properties of the gum decay and hot composting is required to kill the seeds. .
Decomposed wood chips were added to the base of each vine and have added rich organic matter and more importantly an intelligent mycorrhizae over time. We have embraced the bartering system to swap wine for neighbours wool off-cuts, which we have used in the 2nd year of vine growth as mulch.
Mulching suppresses weeds, promotes beneficial fungi, moderates temperature, conserves moisture and builds soils while managing problem species. It is also low-labour and inexpensive.
8. Beekeeping
Beekeeping fits perfectly with our fynbos and gum forests, which all flower at different times. A few hives can dramatically improve yields of fruits, vegetables, and forage crops through better pollination, and give us a net output of honey!
Honeybees are premier pollinators for many crops (supporting 75% of flowering plants), enhance fruit set, quality, and seed production while supporting broader biodiversity.
The Autumn honey is typically fynbos - exotic and spicy with floral notes. The Spring honey is lighter - influenced more by the Canola fields. The winter honey is darker and more floral, from the gums.
See our Fynbos honey available for sale here.
Reach out to us (Jessica@saurwein.co.za or roland@saurwein.co.za) if you have any questions or comments