Our Lucerne-Tree-Farm Business

When I started Practical Pages, I did not plan for it to be a personal blog.  And generally it isn’t … the names and faces of the innocent are protected , and some family members never feature. But as I’ve emailed, chatted to and met some of my readers (thank you so much for the visit),  I realized that it is personal. My passion is to inspire and encourage others, and that is personal.

Many of you may know these facts about me ~

• We live in South Africa, on a farm in the Klein Karoo, Western Cape where fynbos & protea naturally grow.
• We live on a very remote mountain farm, with fresh air and pure mountain water.
• We organically farm fruit trees, Dorper sheep, black Angus cattle and some free range pigs and chickens.
• We live simple, homestead lives, growing, harvesting, preserving and cooking much of our own organic food, hand-milking our Jersey cow which I use to make cheeses, yogurt and butter.
• And we grow Lucerne Trees

Now, I’m sure you’re thinking, “What is a lucerne tree?”

Tree Lucerne is also known as Tagasaste, (Chamaecytisuspalmensis), and originally came from the Canary Islands.  The Lucerne tree is a a member of the legume family, a highly nutritious plant, exactly like normal lucerne (alfalfa), except with no danger of bloat and it is a tree that grows for up to 40 – 60 years!

When our fields of lucerne trees flowered and yielded harvests of millions of seeds in pods, we officially launched our  business — the Lucerne Tree Farm. Our aim is to share our farming strategies and success with others so that farmers, bee-keepers, permaculturalists gardeners can also enjoy the wonderful benefits of these trees, 

We are all involved in our family business.  My hubby runs the farm, creates infra-structure and plants out thousands of trees, prunes and chips trees for fodder, and prepares trees to sell to clients.  We hand-pick, sift and package all our seeds.  We plant out thousands of seeds into seed-trays or potting bags and care for the seedlings. We cut and chip our trees for wet or dry feed.  I created our business blog and I do all the admin, marketing, orders and packaging and telephonically assist clients.

Please will you pop over for a quick tour of our little website. You can order, ask questions or request a quote on our contact form on the Prices & Orders page.

Thanks for letting me share a more personal peep into our farm life.

Blessings, Nadene