Our Bramleigh Story
A story of trial and error, perseverance and passion, dedication and integrity, a bucket load of faith, supportive family, loyal customers and incredible team…
In 2015 we were entrusted with the management of the family property. Excited to have our own vegetable garden, a couple of backyard chickens, and pick our own fruit, we enthusiastically jumped in. Thankfully, we were incredibly naive, otherwise we may never have made the decision!
Where we started
Our plans began with the idea of running the guesthouse on the side while we continued to work full time - Andre as a solar system designer; Kait as a teacher. We very quickly discovered that our salaries did not stretch that far with the property upkeep exceeding our income, and that our time did not stretch that far either - preparing breakfasts before work, and serving dinners after work, guests on weekends, and conferences in between. Our dream was to grow the farm, to be surrounded by animals and steward the piece of land. As our family grew, we needed more time to invest into our littlest people too.
We began to explore regenerative agriculture through Ridgedale Permaculture, GrassFed Life podcast, and of course, Joel Salatin. With this backdrop, we began developing a farm inspired by nature; regenerative, and resilient, slowly building up enterprises each year.
Market Garden
Running the guesthouse allowed us to establish a market garden in 2017, from which we sold vegetables to local restaurants and wedding venues. The value of “small-town-where-everyone-knows-your-name” was immeasurable as we started out.
Our self-sufficiency dream began to evolve into a farm-scale vision as we considered our holistic context - the ecological and economic impacts, as well as the value of social relationships within the community.
Without a “one-day-when-we-start-a-farm” fund, we have had to be extremely careful and creative with what we have. Spoiler - our market garden is now a goat camp!
Pasture raised chicken & eggs
Forest Raised Pork
Grass-fed & finished beef
In 2020 we added goats to the mix as a herd-share with our staff to honour their dedication and commitment, and patience with our crazy ideas! In 2021, a friend from the Regenerative Agriculture Association invested in our farm by assisting us to start with cattle that will be part of the larger regeneration of our veld, and close the loop through grazing the nutritious forage that develops following the fertility provided by the chickens raised on pasture. From there we have grown our own beef herd.
Regenerative Living
The idea of regenerative living on every level has forced us to think differently, to run our business differently, and a create a regenerative lifestyle for our family. A key transformative element has been REKO, a Facebook based Finnish market system designed for small scale farmers, aimed at increasing food security, social relations, and transparent local food production. Having seen this modelled overseas, we decided to start up a REKO Ring in our area. This has been instrumental in getting our business off the ground, and keeping it afloat through the ups and downs.
REGENERATION IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION, AND WE ARE CONSTANTLY LEARNING, GROWING, EVOLVING AND ADAPTING. EACH DECISION IS EVALUATED ACCORDING TO ITS ECOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL IMPACTS RELATIVE TO OUR CONTEXT.