The season starts for exotic citrus fruit from South Africa
From June onwards we shall be taking delivery of fresh organic oranges, organic grapefruit and lemons in transition from South Africa. The fruit comes from André and Madeline Spangenberg's Farm Groenheuwel Boerdery farmed with the assistance of many other employees.
The name Groenheuwel Boerdery is Dutch and could roughly be translated as Greenhill Farm. The greenery is something special since the 6,000 or so hectares are is located on the edge of the hot and dry Kalahari-Savanna in the north of South Africa. But the region is fertile thanks to the Oranje river which flows through it and to the optimal irrigation management system practised. The site is therefore ideal for growing citrus fruit and soft fruit such as grapes, for example.
In recent years the Spangenbergs have managed to expand the land they have under organic cultivation further and they sell various varieties of grapefruit, oranges and lemons. This season we shall be supplied with Star Ruby grapefruit and Valencia and Navel oranges. The Lavelle is a new variety of orange – it is similar to the Midnight Valencia, but ripens later. Eureka lemons are still in the transition stage. They are yellow, juicy and have very few pips.
This April our Dutch BioTropic staff, Maurice Honselaar and Ronald Vianen, paid Madeline and André Spangenberg a visit in South Africa and discussed the coming season with them. The Spangenbergs are visited by our BioTropic staff at least once a year.
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Tags: Grapefruit (GB), Groenheuwel Boerdery (GB), Maurice Honselaar (GB), Oranges (GB), Ronald Vianen (GB), South Africa (GB), Lemons (GB)
