Wickedfood Earth Farm is a community upliftment, self-sustainable lifestyle project that has been developed on a 38 hectare site in the Hartbeesfontein Conservancy, located within the Magalies Valley near Hekpoort and the Hartbeespoort Dam, subscribing to the ethos of “Responsible use of sustainable resources”.
Over the last 12 years Cilla and Mike Crewe-Brown have developed Wickedfood Earth along permaculture principles. The Wickedfood Earth Educational Garden consists of:
- Extensive vegetable gardens, planted with a wide variety of vegetables and herbs propagated for heirloom seeds and organically grown, including 8 different tomatoes, 3 types of tomatillos, 10 chilli varietals, 5 varieties of eggplant, 4 different sweet potatoes (including a blue variety), 3 types of garlic, 6 varieties of beans, sesame (which we process into tahini), turmeric, artichokes, okra the list goes on.
- Over 2ha of fruit and berry orchards, including 10 varieties of berries, and over 800 fruit trees including peach – 9 varieties, nectarine – 5 varieties, almonds – 2 varieties, apricots – 4 varieties, plums – 4 varieties, apples – 4 varieties, pears – 3 varieties, citrus – 5 varieties, figs – 6 varieties, olives – 2 varieties, persimmon, pomegranate, cherries and quince.
- Apart from our vegetable gardens, Wickedfood Earth Farm also has a variety of own free-range animals including pigs, indigenous Pedi sheep and cattle, and poultry. These animals are an important part of our mix. Not only do they supply all the meat needs of the farm, they also supply all manure we need for our farm made compost, as well as control weeds and keep the veld in cheque.
Over the past 10 years, and still continuing, Wickedfood Earth Farm has been running a number of research projects on sustainability, ranging form indigenous chickens, the long term effect of global warming on fruit trees, the viability of free-range veld-raised pig farming for the South African environment, and research on viability of the different poultry and pig breeds.
In recognition of the groundbreaking work that is being done on Wickedfood Earth Farm, Slow Food Johannesburg honoured Cilla and Mike with the 2015 Food Heroes Award for “development of rare breeds and education on sustainable food and farming.” Mike served on various Slow Food committees in Gauteng for a number of years
An important aspect of the entire project is education. Through our fully-fitted teaching kitchen and lecture room, Wickedfood Earth Country Cooking School offers a wide variety of Food Experiences, from spending a relaxing few days of pure food indulgence on our working organic farm, to skills workshops on a range of subjects including sustainability, alternative farming practices, meat curing and sausage making, cooking classes, country lunches and corporate events. We have also developed a small selection of unique farm-made food products, all processed from products grown in the food garden, including a range of preserves and artisanal cured meat products, available exclusively on the farm and through the our online shopping portal. As we are self-funding, and receive no government support, incentives, or drought relief, we rely solely on the generous support of the public to continue following our passion of producing food following the Slow Food ethos of good, clean and fair. By supporting us, you are supporting a vital segment of the agricultural industry, a segment that is always forgotten – passionate small-scale farmers and artisanal producers.