(View from the front porch of Spice Route)
The idea of a “green” farm seems a little contradictory, but in the Western Cape they are a very real, and a very delicious, thing. Over the past two weeks I’ve picnicked on homemade bread and smoked meat, sipped wine paired with fabulously fresh cheeses (and went back for a couple rounds of seconds), and tasted cacao beans and dark chocolate sourced from all over the globe. And all of these adventures were extraordinarily sustainable, which only made the food that much sweeter.
(Chocolate Room at Spice Route)
During our first week, we visited the Spier Winery and Vineyard right outside of Stellenbosch. For anyone whose read the Omnivore’s Dilemma, this place is the mecca of real, sustainable agriculture. After we carefully recycled and composted just about every bit of waste from our delicious picnic lunch, we were given a tour of the farm. The tour started with a drive by of the management intensive grazing program, where cattle graze for very short periods of time before being moved, and chickens follow to eradicate any fly problem and help spread manure for fertilization. Then we visited the onsite waste water treatment plant. It smelled surprisingly neutral, which probably had something to do with the lack of chemicals used to treat the water, the natural filtration of wetlands that are taken advantage of, and the effort to control and eradicate invasive species which has brought back endangered trees and incredible wild stands of lilies allalong the banks of the retention pond. Absolutely the most beautiful sewer I’ve ever met.
(Waste water treatment swamp/decorative flower garden.)
We followed up with a look at how the farm deals with solid waste through their recycling program, and met an independent farmer named Erik who grows organic vegetables and fruit on the property. Just one of the crazy things about Erik’s organic plot is that he uses oxen to pull a plow instead of a tractor. He told us his story and showed us where he raises his worms and finally had us taste his fresh strawberries right off the vine.
After our first week on campus, our team took a trip to Fairview Vineyards in Paarl outside of Stellenbosch. As my first official (legal) wine-tasting, it was incredible. We heard about and tasted three white and three red wines, paired with fabulously fresh cheeses, from a creamy, ultra-fresh feta to an apricot-infused goat cheese, my mouth experienced a flavor orgasm.
(Chocolate Tasting guide at Spice Route)
After Fairview we ventured to the Spice Route, a cooperative of small businesses that associate for marketing purposes, including a glassblower, a brewery, and most importantly, a chocolatier. We escaped from the rainy afternoon into a decadent smelling little boutique before we moved into the chocolate tasting area. From there we were transported around the world, from Uganda to Colombia and back again, we tasted six intense dark chocolates that were carefully selected for the natural flavor of the beans. This was no Hersey’s chocolate. It was exotic, deep, and complex, a food experience like none other. We followed up our tasting with a shared mug of melting chocolate (basically hot chocolate made with melted chocolate instead of a sketchy powder or syrup) by the fire. Who knew sustainability could taste so good?
(Malva Pudding at Solms, perfect end to our 4 hour lunch :))
Butt Naked Travels 