Benevento Farm

01/09/2026

12/12/2024

No filter necessary for these Christmas beauties 😍. Fresh from the veggie patch 👩‍🌾 these vibrant red cabbages are rich in anti-oxidants, help fight inflammation, have been shown to support heart health, and are great for gut health. On top of which they look and taste amazing both raw in a slaw or cooked with cinnamon, cloves and orange for the festive table. We will definitely be pickling some for gifts and for impromptu summer picnics!

25/04/2024

It gets pretty hot here mid-summer, so we really needed to create a shade corridor to get from one spot to another. This one is planted with alternating Elderberry and Lucerne trees. Lucerne trees are fabulous nitrogen-fixers for the soil, and the trimmings are great for supplementing animal feed. They’re also super wind-breaks and help protect the fruit in the food forest.
Plus it’s just fun pretending to be a Hobbit in the tunnel 🍃🌿🌱🍃

25/09/2023

Meet Herb Robert! This little wildflower is widely considered a w**d. It is, in fact, a little superhero. When you rub the leaves between your fingers they give off the potent smell of burning tires. Unattractive as that may sound, this power-packed prettiness is not only edible (the flowers and leaves can be eaten in salads) but it also can be eaten/dried/ made into a tincture for medicinal use. Rubbing the leaves on the skin is thought to repel mozzies (that’s mosquitoes here in South Africa). Its arsenal of offerings includes carotenoids (which convert to vit A) , vitamins B and C, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium. Perhaps the most important health benefit claim is that of it being a blood ‘tonic’ of sorts, due to the fact that it is a natural source of germanium which is an oxygen carrier and stimulates electrical impulses at a cellular level, according to renowned Australian herbalist Isabell Shipard. I first heard of the virtues of Herb Robert from Geoff Lawton himself when I had the honour of attending his permaculture workshop in Stellenbosch. He had just spotted some in the gardens and I thought he was going to levitate off the stage with excitement. His enthusiasm is so contagious that I scoured our entire smallholding looking for it, and when I had just given up and was sulking about it all, I found two plants growing right next to my car in plain sight, in stony soil . I smile and think of one of the greatest teachers of our time every time I see it now.
I confuse it easily with other similar plants because I’m just not that savvy, but the smell is unmistakable. Do yourself a favour and read up more about it, then hunt it down and let me know if you find it and where it’s is growing 🍃!

01/09/2023

This a a Chayote. We prefer the local name for it; ‘Chuchu’ or ‘Shu Shu’ because it’s such a happy sound. And this is a happy fruit that pretends to be a veg. Packed with flavonoids and fibre, it also makes for very happy gut health. You can eat every part of the fruit itself raw (think smoothies and salads) or cooked . The vines of the chayote plant are durable but flexible, and are used in the making of hats and baskets - making it a perfect homesteader plant. Just make sure to put a strong trellis in place as it is a prolific grower, and one bearing lots of heavy gourds like this one!

29/08/2023

Best way to use the last oranges of the season while Spring is poking her head around the corner 🌱🌼 🐣. Moist (everyone’s favourite word),dense crumb, but light on the palate. Sublimely orange, and a bonus for the gluten-free crowd; this one is made with almond flour. It lasts for days and only intensifies in flavour (if you can hide it for that long). Behold the simplicity of the Orange and Almond Cake 🥰

18/07/2023

Why Cure a Sweet Potato?

Some of you are growing sweet potato for the first time . They are a healthy long keeping root packed with culinary power . You can even eat their leaves which are delicious but don’t make the amateur mistake of not curing them

If you harvest a sweet potato, then bring it in and cook it, you’ll be extremely disappointed. It will have a really starchy flavor and not be sweet at all.Basically, when you cure a potato, you put the potato through a process that takes all of those starches and breaks them down into natural sugar. This is what gives a sweet potato their naturally sweet flavor. It also helps to seal in the potatoes natural moisture and activate enzymes that will repair any damage that was done during the harvest of the sweet potato.
But keep in mind, that curing needs to take place soon after harvest because if not, you could lose the potatoes as moisture will begin to get to them.
To accomplish curing in the field, we wet down a large patch of grass, place the baskets of sweet potatoes on the moist grass, and cover them all with a tarp. The sun will heat the tarp and cause the moisture left on the grass to evaporate, creating that warm, moist environment needed to cure sweet potatoes. Usually just a few days is all you need

Some people cure them in the shower or oven or whatever space they can create.
It is a process that takes anywhere from 4 to 14 days. It is where the sweet potatoes are placed in a hot environment that the temperature hangs somewhere between 80 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.Then the area is kept at about 90% humidity. The closer you keep to these guidelines when trying to cure the sweet potatoes, the faster the sweet potatoes should cure.

After the curing process is done, then you store your sweet potatoes in an area that is kept around 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit for about 6 to 8 more weeks. This is so the curing process can finish.

Once this is done, then you’ll store your sweet potatoes in a root cellar, basement, closet, or anywhere else that is dark, cold, and dry.Then they’ll be ready to enjoy over the winter.
There are two main culprits to avoid once your sweet potatoes are cured. First, you need to avoid cold temperatures. This will cause your sweet potatoes to turn a darker color and ruin them.
Second, you need to avoid bruising your sweet potatoes. Even cured sweet potatoes will bruise easily. Remember, when produce gets bruised, it just creates a place for rot to form. When rot forms, your harvest is in danger.

So be gentle on your sweet potatoes so they can last.

12/07/2023

It’s really cold on the farm in the mornings and evenings now. Luckily we have a chiminea for the stoep. Unluckily for us, it appears to be occupied by an opportunistic duck and her six (and counting) eggs 🤨