Entering Rosemary Hill on a Friday morning feels more like arriving at a holiday resort than a farm. Mountain bikers, runners and dog walkers hurry about, and groups of boisterous wedding guests make their way to the coffee shop, which is already teeming with a breakfast crowd.

Just a 30-minute drive from Pretoria, Gauteng, Rosemary Hill is an ideal farm-style getaway for city dwellers. It’s entirely bereft of the city’s noise and pollution, and instead, fresh farm air greets the visitor, bringing wafts of rosemary on the breeze.

Following the scent takes one to an essential oil distillation centre, where 1t of oils is produced annually from mostly rosemary, complemented by lavender, khakibos and common wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), among other crops.

The essential oil production is but one cog in a big wheel that is Rosemary Hill. Offering an event venue, accommodation, hiking and biking trails, a restaurant, kindergarten and Waldorf school, the Franken family has sought to create a business model where all the elements complement one another, with the overarching focus being the nurturing of land and minds.

Huibert Franken, the farm’s founder, always had an affinity for farming. Raised in Springs, Gauteng, he had a vegetable patch in the backyard and a few chickens running around. He recalls always having had a fascination with how different plants had their own unique smell and taste.

Therefore, being lured by fragrant plants like rosemary, and eventually becoming an essential oil producer, could not have come as a complete surprise to Huibert, and yet the business happened almost by chance.

In 1978, a Waldorf school was established on the farm. It being a private school that needed its own source of funds, Huibert started farming. A dairy was established and grass was cut and baled. Over the years, additional infrastructure was built to accommodate the growing school and the boarding house.

“One day a man in a wheelchair showed up on the farm and asked for a job. I was a bit puzzled, not knowing what tasks I could allocate to him,” says Huibert.

“We had just been given a whole lot of broken wheelbarrows, so I got him started on fixing them.

“But it wasn’t long before he was done. Four youngsters had to run to keep up with him and the pace at which he worked!

“He then asked for more work. At that stage I had just started building a nursery, and not having anything else for him to do, I showed him how to make cuttings from rosemary plants just to keep him busy. In no time he had filled thousands of seedling bags with cuttings.”

The rosemary, of course, needed to be either sold or planted sooner or later, and Huibert took the opportunity in 1998 to establish the rosemary farm that is still active today.

Fields of blue

With limited funds, Huibert set about preparing the fields where the rosemary would be planted.

“We were told we needed to install irrigation, but we didn’t have the budget, so continued without it. It rained in the evening of the day we planted the first field, so the seedlings got their water.

“The next day we planted more, and it rained again that night. It continued like that for four days until all the rosemary seedlings were planted.”

Today, the rosemary continues to flourish on the dryland farm, making do with the average of 300mm rainfall per year. Huibert notes that rosemary, much like lavender, does not like ‘wet feet’. This is why planting on ridges is beneficial, since it ensures better drainage around the roots.

The farm’s soil is predominantly made up of shale, with some areas that are more clayey.

Before planting rosemary, the planting row is ripped with a two-disc plough to break the earth’s crust. Compost produced on the farm using organic matter, kraal manure and bokashi is added, and then the seedlings.

No synthetic fertilisers or pest control are used. Huibert notes that having a diversified farm assists in keeping pests at bay, as does controlling water.

“Plants that receive too much fertiliser or water are placed under stress, and this creates an environment for pests to flourish. It’s also important that there is not a monoculture on the farm, and by having a wide range of crops and livestock, we find that disease pressure is less.”

Rosemary Hill currently has 100ha planted to rosemary. Twigs of around 100mm in length are cut from the bushes twice a year, in autumn and spring.

The first harvest was done by hand using pruning shears, but Huibert and his team quickly realised this wasn’t a feasible solution for getting through the entire harvest season.

“Our hands were so sore from cutting after the first day that productivity dropped drastically as the days went on. I then decided to bring in hedge trimmers. Now one person cuts and another collects the plant material in big bags, which are then transported to the distillery.”

Around 10 workers are needed per hectare to complete the harvest. It is important that plant material is distilled on the same day it is harvested to get the maximum oil from the plants. Wet bushes should be left to dry, since wet plant material can start fermenting when cut and placed in the bags, which compromises oil quality and yield.

With rosemary yields of around 10t/ha each season, 6kg to 9kg of oil per ton of plant material can be produced. Rosemary can be harvested within six months of being planted, and remains in production for decades before the bushes need replacing.

Oil distillery

To get maximum value for the rosemary, the Frankens built an essential oil distillery on the farm in 2000. Two distilling pots, each with a capacity for 1t of plant material, are used to produce the essential oils.

Plant material is compacted in the pots and, much like with a pressure cooker system, steam is forced through the material. The condensation is captured, and the water and oil are separated. The oil is bottled for essential oils, and since the water also has a fragrance, it is used for making linen mist and room sprays.

Powering the distillery is an expensive and challenging process. When the system was installed, a diesel generator proved to be the most cost-effective solution. Since then, diesel prices have risen significantly, making distillation an expensive process.

With load-shedding being an ever-present threat, Eskom electricity isn’t an option. Therefore, the farm is in the process of installing solar power to take it entirely off-grid. This necessitates a 1MW system, which is being installed in phases.

All of the oil is either sold in Rosemary Hill’s on-farm shop or used in the soaps, lotions and shampoo provided in their guest houses. Control over the whole value chain has been a necessary intervention for the Frankens.

Huibert’s daughter-in-law Theresa says that while there is good demand for essential oils locally and abroad, prices achieved on wholesale markets are low, and the organic certification process is wearisome and expensive, eroding margins further.

“Essential oils are used in so many products, from toothpaste and shampoo to medical products and massage oils. To obtain fairer prices, you need to be certified as organic, a long process that must to be undertaken annually. To get through the paperwork we would need to employ an additional staff member, which would erode any gains we made. We therefore took the decision to market our oils ourselves on the farm,” she explains.

The essential oils form part of an offering of farm produce that the Frankens use both as ingredients in the restaurant and in farm-style treats that can be purchased. The farm’s pecan orchard provides nuts for rusks, cakes and brownies, while lemons are used in various dishes in the restaurant.

Each division thrives

The nature of Rosemary Hill makes such sales possible, and it is the particular ecosystem created on the farm that allows each division to thrive. The farm atmosphere and outdoor activities make the farm alluring as a city-escape or wedding venue, and the constant stream of visitors creates a good market for the farm’s produce.

“We need feet on the farm to sell these products,” says Theresa. “We can house 142 people on the farm between all the different accommodation options, and we have 11km of hiking trails and 33km of biking trails. The events and weddings really fill up the place and bring in big crowds. If it wasn’t for the hospitality division, we wouldn’t have been able to farm and market the produce the way we do.”

The hospitality fulfils a further goal for the Frankens: job creation.

“My vision has always been to create jobs for people in the area. Initially, we thought we would be able to do that through farming. But with margins being so low, wages were low and I couldn’t see that as a viable solution. Adding the hospitality division meant that staff had better opportunities to upskill and earn better wages,” says Huibert.

Today, Rosemary Hill employs around 200 people across the divisions. Although farming makes up a small portion of the income, it is integral to the concept of Rosemary Hill, proving the value of diversification and fully utilising every bit of farmland.

Email [email protected].