Waterkloof has emerged from winter full of life and already has been active; implementing further biodynamic practices, welcoming visitors, gaining and sharing knowledge.

Biodynamic practices deepened

Not only has Waterkloof been re-energised by the winter rains, but in July we also had the pleasure of welcoming Hans Supenkaemper back to the farm for some further biodynamic training.

During this time the Waterkloof team made some Cow Pat Preparation (CPP) and the Biodynamic Preparation (BD) 504.

On a wintery cold day, the mixing of the cow manure with eggshells and basalt for an hour for the CPP soon warmed up everyone as each had their turn. It was then placed into the ground with five other BD preparations and finished off with a spraying of Valerian preparation before it was covered. The CPP once it is ready can be added to the compost or directly on to the fields to stimulate the humification processes and create balance and structure in the soil.

Next we moved on to the BD 504 where bucketfuls of stinging nettle where buried in the ground between wooden boards and sealed in with coco peat. This will spend a year underground and then once ready, the preparation can be added to the compost to stimulate soil health.

We are grateful to Hans for sharing his biodynamic knowledge with us and look forward to the next visit.

Visitors on Waterkloof

We welcomed several groups of visitors to Waterkloof, both local and international, young and old in the last months.

In September we hosted two groups of students coming from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) respectively. As students in the fields of Botany and Environmental studies, we shared some of our practical experience of working with botanical resources – from the challenges and opportunities of taking a wild plant and bringing it into cultivation and product development to the intricacies of bio-prospecting and benefit-sharing.

Later that same month Parceval was chosen as a show-case for the Pan-African Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) workshop and delegates from the workshop spent a morning at Waterkloof, again looking at real-life examples of how Parceval has implemented the Nagoya Protocol and ABS in its work with indigenous crops on the farm and elsewhere.