One of the key long term goals of the Goedgedacht Trust is its long term sustainability. From our wedding and conference venue to our ever growing Olive Peace Grove, we are constantly looking for ways to ensure the long term sustainability of our projects, ensuring that years from now the rural children of the Swartland will still be benefiting from the work that Goedgedacht does. This is no small feat, but slowly but surely we are seeing inroads into growing the Trust’s self-sufficiency and one project which is truly helping us to fulfil this dream is Goedgedacht Trading. Managed by Robert Templeton, who oversees a dedicated and driven team, Goedgedacht Trading is helping us to secure a constant income stream into our Path out of Poverty programme, which brings hope to impoverished rural children.

So what is Goedgedacht Trading all about…

At present the farm is home to just over 35 hectares of olive trees, some of these have been kindly donated by you our friends as part of our Olive Peace Grove, all of these trees are used to benefit the farm through Goedgedacht Trading. We harvest roughly 60 tons of olives a year, a third of the harvest is used for green Manzanilla and black Mission table olives, and the rest is used in the production of our high quality extra virgin olive oil. These products can be found in Pick n Pay stores across the country. But we don’t stop there, we also produce 100% natural fruit vinegar dressings which can be used in a variety of different dishes and have proved to be very popular. Our olive oil is high in anti-oxidants, has no preservatives and no additives and is cold extracted from the finest cultivars.

Our products are produced on Goedgedacht Farm, in a relatively small-scale factory using fruit from the farm. Our olives are grown without using chemical herbicides, fungicides or pesticides. We are able to produce quality olive oil because we hand pick all our olives, leaving the fruit unbruised and the trees not damaged. On top of all of these benefits this also allows us to provide much needed employment for farm workers living in the Valley. Many of the farm workers children are part of our Path out of Poverty programme truly showing the full circle benefits of Goedgedacht Trading to the Trust.

So the next time you are at Pick n Pay look out for our Goedgedacht products and know that by adding them to your shopping basket you are directly helping us to put rural children on a path out of poverty.

CLICK HERE to watch Pick n Pay’s advert showcasing Goedgedacht Foods.

For those of you in the Cape Town area be sure to join us at the Good Food and Wine Show from 24-27 May – we would love to see you there.

Robert Templeton tells us about Goedgedacht’s Mr Olive, otherwise known as Andrew Max, our Olive Shed Manager.

I met Andrew about 7 years ago when he was running his own business in Brackenfell, curing olives and supplying various restaurants around the Western Cape. I was intrigued by how much he knew about the olive industry and he could always tell a great story about the various characters in the industry all those years ago. Andrew has been involved in the production of olives, one way or another, for the past 33 years and in this time has amassed a wealth of knowledge about this wonderful little fruit that is helping Goedgedacht in so many different ways. Andrew meticulously processes all of our fruit and you can be assured that the quality of the fruit that comes out of our olive shed, ready for the table, is of the highest quality. Andrew now lives on the farm with his wife, who works at our crèche, and is an integral part of the Goedgedacht family. For safety reasons we park all the farm bakkies next to my parents’ house at night and my Dad, Peter, frequently hears Andrew leaving the farm at three/four in the morning or coming in late in the evening after dropping off workers or coming back from Cape Town after delivering a load of produce. We can honestly say that Andrew works unbelievable hours. We are incredibly lucky to have Andrew working for us, he sets the pace, is always the first one to get to work and the last to leave and he sets incredibly high standards for both himself and his staff.

We are looking forward to Andrew spending many more years working with us and growing Goedgedacht Trading. Thank you Andrew, you’re a true Goedgedacht star.

Who do you count on when things are going crazy, when you need somebody to stay late and work overtime, who smiles at 11 o’clock on a Saturday night after working 12 hours straight at a wedding and then sings merrily with the other ladies in the kitchen, who gets up at 6 o’clock on the Sunday morning to help prepare breakfast, who works on average 60 hours overtime per month? Salome de Bruin – who else! I have known Salome for just two years and what a pleasure to work with her, quiet but efficient.

26-year old Salome matriculated in 2003 at the Schoonspruit Secondary School in Malmesbury after which she worked at a number of hospitality establishments before starting her studies in Hospitality at the West Coast College in Malmesbury. Whilst still a student, she started her practical work here with us at Goedgedacht before becoming a permanent employee.

This bright and creative single mother of 6-year old Lucrechia has big dreams.  Because she wants to make a difference in the lives of others, she would like to study to be a pharmacist!  For now Salome and Karen make a fantastic team in the kitchen I need not worry about anything, Salome will go far in life and at Goedgedacht.

By Pieter Brand

Goedgedacht’s Jeanne Thomas tells us about one of the Trust’s very special people Simone Oliver.

Simone is one of those wonderfully unique creatures, excitable and always brutally honest.  She is more than a gardener….. She is ONE with Mother Earth.  I visited her some years ago at their farm in Tulbagh where they developed a truly “green” farm, building a home and outbuildings for a carpentry business from the wood, clay and straw bales of the area, providing food from the garden and living off the grid, the way we can just dream of.

It was such a pleasure to welcome Simone to the Goedgedacht farm when she arrived a few years ago to look after the Fresh Organix Garden.  Under her watchful and caring eye Jo & Deon learnt from her about caring for the plants and animals (yes she refers to snakes as “adorable visitors”).  The manner in which she tends to the garden is like observing a love affair. A real pleasure to see her eyes twinkle in delight about a new seedling, a fresh crop, the first winter rain, a seed harvested.

After Simone developed strange and uncomfortable symptoms and had to be sent for tests at the end of 2011 we all panicked but she stayed focussed and interested in knowing all the details of her condition.  Everyone was very relieved when the operation eventually took place and the non-malignant tumour was removed from where it was lurking near her brain stem.  I visited her three days after the operation and she was in fantastic shape, struggling to stay in bed, which is what the doctor ordered for the first 6 weeks.  This was a huge operation and we are SO happy that you’re doing well Simone.  Thoughts and prayers from the “Goedgedacht Family”.