17/04/2025
Many friends and customers contacted us in the aftermath of the raging fire that consumed almost all of Groenberg in February - and scorched a small section of one of Foxenburg’s olive groves and stopped short before the top cottage.
Some photo's of the fire drama … one of the worst of the past 3 years. On the second day nerves were frayed around the two top cottages, Owl and Bass.
At least three fire engines stood ready from as early as 4 of clock in the afternoon - when the fire started moving down Groenberg on its way to Owl cottage. Because we work with limited tank water, we can't really douse much beforehand, also due to low pressure.
Fire break roads were scraped everywhere in a mad rush by Foxenburg staff and assisting neighbours, arriving with tractors.
After watching the red flames 🔥 approaching for hours in the dark of the night, the wind suddenly dropped at 3 am - and the fire died down about 150 meters from Owl cottage. Phew!
The next day there was reprieve for a long time (or maybe it was the day after…? …everything became a blur) and suddenly a fire on the opposite side exploded in volcanic rage with thick yellow and grey smoke clouds billowing over the entire area - and that one scorched the edges of one of the olive groves - and then ran down between the rows of olive trees, consuming the organic straw compost from the goat camps …. fortunately with minimal damage, after being dosed by the firefighters.
Beautiful old organic log sculptures everywhere in the fields were all turned to ash… fortunately we have many historic photos of them on our website @ www.foxenburg.co.za .
Comments at photos.
Now we are keeping our eyes fixed on the hills for the defiant green life forces to emerge… And they do!
