Volunteers

Once again we have many thank you’s due to volunteers who helped us in the second part of 2016 and early 2017. These included Yoann, Nina and Tina from Germany, Anthony and Margot from France and Nick from South Africa

Everyone left happy we think and we got some heart-warming emails.

Winemaking

Nina and baby Winston

Margot and Leena

Yoann

"I spent one month and a half in Fynbos as a volunteer and it was a really great experience. When you enter this place, first you fall in love with this beautiful spot in the middle of the mountains and when you fall in love again but this time you do this with all the persons working there and the owners. It was really great to see these people every day; they all had good vibes and a lot of experience and knowledge to share with me. 

I already saw the wedding and events season, I can't wait to go back there to help with the harvest and discover this atmosphere which makes a really good wine.

Now that I'm back in my country I really know that I was lucky to live in a place like this with beautiful people in this beautiful country. 

Thank you a lot for everything!!!”

Yoann

Nick

Is like 5 months or something sinceiI’ve been there? So by now you and Johan must be on the cover of 'natural medicine' with that diet. (But loved every moment of ever inch gained!)  I often think of that time , it was more challenging than the places I’ve been to before in terms of work and general relationship  I smile about it as I’ve learned many great lessons , with you I had a lot more time to figure things out regardless how 'clownish' it might’ve looked I always appreciate the slowness in experiencing something new …I’m very grateful the experience and thought about you a lot with this incredible draught , I do hope you have a lot of harvest , I think I would’ve enjoyed the grape pickings , can you imagine me? I can hear you say 'nick you must bend' …. I trust you are well ,do send all my love to Gail and Johan , also for the dogs , I really enjoyed Karl , he was one of the coolest dogs I’ve met in a while! 

I hope we continue to write, if not reconnect again eventually

Much kindness

Nick 

Leena and Grace

Fynbos Estate was the perfect place to be for my 1 month wwoofing plans! Escaping from cold & grey Europe for a while to discover a country that had been on my list for such a long time was great! And it was perfect timing, too: after a week of helping with different things on the farm (weeding the vegetable garden, labelling bottles, sanding & painting chairs, etc.) the harvest started. What a gift to learn about and participate in wine making at a small-scale winery! Joining the picker team in the morning to harvest beautiful (and tasty ;-)) grapes while glancing at the beautiful landscape every now and then was simply gorgeous. And for sure it also teaches you a lesson about the hard work wine making involves… After a few hours of sun and heat and bending down one does look forward to helping with the grape processing in the winery during the afternoon - hard work as well, but shade, cool temperatures and Charles & Doubt who are truly fun to work with. And lucky me to also have met Andy - the associate wine maker - and his wife Becky during the last week of my stay! Their enthusiasm and knowledge-sharing was simply great! Cooking with the other wwoofers in the evening was fun too - though I would recommend other wwoofers to split up in cooking teams as to have a free evening every now and then during the week (weekends are off anyway!). 4 weeks went by super-fast. But I very much enjoyed the experience, the learnings, the people at the farm and all the stories - and also the great accommodation! Will be back to South Africa for sure... 

Leena Kuhne