Il Molinetto – The Little Mill That Could

After hearing rumours of interesting developments that would affect our local olive industry we asked John Southern, owner of Rosendal Farm, to comment.

The decision to purchase an olive press for the farm Rosendal at the end of the Prince Albert Valley, or Die Gang, was a difficult one. Most of the presses used are manufactured in Italy and are expensive. However, we bit the bullet last year and placed the order through South Africa’s “Mr Olive”, Gerrie Duvenhage of Morgenster.

Il Molinetto is made by the company Gruppo Pieralisi, in the small town of Jesi in central Italy. I visited them in June last year and couldn’t help but be impressed by the efficiency and cleanliness of the factory itself.

So it was with nervous expectation that I received the machine in February in time for the picking season. We were concerned with the offloading of the machine and its placement in our newly renovated shed. But, thanks to the careful planning of our project manager, Aidan Liepner, all went well and the machine was immediately commissioned under the supervision of Gerrie.

Many of you will have noticed that the farm buildings are being altered to house the machine and its related operations such as settling, storage and bottling. Hendrik de Villiers is the builder involved and he is doing a fine job, particularly with regard to the four big double doors that are being used.

Farm manager, Anthony Mullins, started picking our olives on 25 March and within hours the freshly picked fruit were turning into green extra virgin olive oil. We have chosen to call our product Kredouw Oil after the name of the pass above the farm and from now on the farm will be known as Kredouw Farm.

The press, where Aidan is ably assisted by Sias Schoeman, is available to other olive growers and by Festival time we will have a farm shop open with a viewing window of the press itself. You are welcome to come and see the operation first hand. The shop will sell olive oil and other related products, almonds and other farm products as they become available. Our olive picking and pressing will take place from the end of March to the end of May.

OLYWE BY DIE TON

-Denise Ohlson-

Prince Albert se olyftoekoms is blink. Met drie olyfboere wat stewig in die olyfsaal sit en met ‘n olyffabriek in aanbou, is ons in die wegspringblokke om die lint te breek as die olyfmekka van die Karoo!

Swartrivier Olyfplaas
Toe Jan Bothma in 1973 sy eerste eksperimentele hektaar olywe op Swart-rivier geplant het, kon hy skaars voorsien dat hy in 2007 vir die 13de jaar sy olyffeesstalletjie in die strate van Prince Albert sou kom opslaan.

Vandag, met 3000 volgroeide bome, oes en bewerk Jan en sy vrou Annalien en hul kinders Cobus, Jan en Carolien, tussen 50 en 80 ton olywe per jaar. Onder die Swartrivier etiket word bemark: ingemaakte groen, halfryp en swart olywe, gedroogde olywe, olyfpasta en olyfolie.

Jan deel graag sy kennis van sy geliefde produk. Hy lewer twee praatjies oor olywe en olyfolie tydens die fees. Sorg dat jy daar is om jou ore te spits sodat jy ook kan saampraat as dit kom by Manzanilla, Leccino en Mission!

Tydens die fees bied die Bothmas ook ‘n laatoggendontbyt aan onder die verwelkomende boorde op Swartrivier. Dit beloof om ‘n gesellige en interessante feesaktiwiteit te wees; kaartjies en aanwysings is te kry by die toerismeburo en kaartjiestalletjie.

Prince Albert Olives
Fred Badenhorst is ‘n man wat ‘n intieme verhouding het met grond. In 1997 sien hy al die goeie waarde in die bodem van Prince Albert raak en besluit om De Beerstraat 12 te koop. Gou is die paar hektaar nie wyd, breed en lank genoeg nie en hy skaf die plaas Rosendal aan - waar hy wingerd, neute en 15 ha olywe aanplant.

Hier byt die olyfgogga hom behoorlik en hy en sy vrou Anobé vertrek na Spanje, Italië en Griekeland om te gaan kyk na die hoe en die wat van die olyfbedryf.

Met sy terugkoms spring hy en sy bestuurder Essie in met ‘n span werkers en sit 21 ha van die ou Raap-en-Skraap Karavaanpark se grond onder olywe. Calamata, Mission en Manzanilla is die eetolywe, Frantoia, Coratina en Letchino die olieolywe wat aangeplant word. Terselfdertyd begin hulle ‘n kwekery waar boompies in tonnels gewortel word. Na sowat nege maande is die boompies sterk genoeg om oorgeplant te word en die eerste drag word verwag so vier, vyf jaar later.

Olyfkenner Linda Costa het die boorde onlangs besoek en sê dis van die mooiste bome wat sy nog gesien het. Die 2007 oes van 10 ton laat Fred en Essie se harte swel van trots en vreugde. Fred is ook bly dat PA Olives broodnodige werk skep vir werkers wat andersins ledig sit en wag vir die vrugteseisoen om weer aan te breek.

Intussen het die grond by Koelhoogte ook Badenhorst besit geword en die eerste 8 ha bome staan reeds kniehoog. Op Leeu-Gamka word 100 ha olywe beplan… Saam met die aanplantings op Stilplaas sal PA Olives binnekort 150 ha Karoogrond onder olywe hê. Fred sê Prince Albert is ‘n gesonde en goeie plek vir olywe. Die droë klimaat beteken daar is min swamme en siektes in die boorde.

Met PA Olives gevestig en op koers is ‘n ekstra ruim gebou in Prince Albert se industrieële gebied aangekoop en dit word tans ingerig as olyffabriek. Klein en opkomende boere sal welkom wees om hul olywe hier te kom verkoop of om hul olywe hier laat pers en onder hul eie etiket te bemark.

Kredouw Olive Oil
John Southern, owner of Rosendal farm, at the top of the Kredouw Pass estimates his olive harvest this year at 20 tons. He has 5000 trees on his farm, all about six years old, including a range of cultivars: Coratina, Frantoio, Leccino, Manzanilla, Mission and Favolosa. They started harvesting early this year, as one of the cultivars was ready at that time. John is "very happy" with this year's harvest, given the age of the trees, the climatic conditions and the water situation.

Most of the harvest will be pressed for oil and although most of this year’s produce will be sold by someone else, John plans to bottle what he keeps to sell under his Kredouw Olive Oil label. He plans on bottling and selling more and more of his own oil and planting more olive trees over the next several years.