The VANDERFAX Story

Image Credit: @renschemari

We have been living on our family cattle farm since 2014. Enjoying our beautiful vast open spaces, fresh air and animals that surround us. Never really anticipating to become farmers, we where led to it. VANDERFAX was a name that came to me about five years ago. I loved it but didn’t know what to make of it because I just had my second child Lara, and was being a full time mom trying to juggle my photography business and running our home. 

In 2020 when the Corona virus closed down the whole South African economy, during hard lock-down, I felt the need to start a vegetable patch that would self sustain our family and provide food for my household and workers on the farm. Already having a chicken pen that supplied eggs to my family and got rid of kitchen left overs, my husband and our gardener living on the property started a layout for my vegetable patch. It was only a few months later, when I realised I had to double the size of the vegetable patch because my seed starting skills have caused me to have too many seedlings, my compost heaps where overflowing and the overall ecology had improved. This awakened a constant urge in me to sow, plant and create a regenerative bio soil web so that I could continue planting without pests and without pesticides. And in return got rewarded with bountiful crops.

I started following incredible farmers and homesteaders in the industry to learn more., I decided that my vegetable patch needed a natural tea garden and also a flower garden to attract bees. And this is where my flower farming idea was born. What made the above story so profound was the fact that I had never really propagated anything before this, and kept to the fact that I would not use any pesticides or fertilisers in my garden. Everything came from natural methods and products. 

My Husband Etienne, saw the passion within me and for my birthday in April 2021 bought me a 16m x 3m greenhouse to start off my flower business. Together we decided to use innovative, modern and earth friendly techniques such as drip irrigation, weed fabric, cover crops, soil webs and soil regeneration techniques. Doing everything ourselves with all of my savings. Taking the leap into what could or couldn’t be a return on my investment. Today (Aug 2021) we have a fully functioning, automated, flower farm, and the vegetable garden has grown from a 3m x 2m into a 18m x 4m space with a fully automated greenhouse of 16m x 3m attached to it, all off the grid. 

This business that seemed like a hobby and a homesteading project has turned into a business which we plan to expand in 2022 into a 1,5hectare, micro farm. But for now I need to sell some flowers first. Above images taken in our small greenhouse. Stay tuned for some more exciting blogs and follow the hashtag #newgenrationfarmer & #vanderfax and on our instagram page @vanderfax

All images my own except our family portraits by Rensche Mari Photography