of
kleinood farm
de Boerin has been an integral part of Kleinood Farm from the beginning – before the buildings, the wine, the tasting room – she was there when it was just a small patch of land…
i. Pantry
ii. Florilegium
iii. Terroir Parfums
iv. Garments
v. Objects
The image, by Vincent van Gogh, representing de Boerin, is not of a successful and enterprising woman, but that of an unassuming peasant woman working the land, alone against a stark landscape – a humble being quietly going about her daily work. She is not down-trodden or pathetic, but grounded, authentic and unapologetically voluptuous. Her skirts are ample, and her hands firm and able.
Annetjie Boom was the first innkeeper and restaurateur in the Cape in 1665. She was the first female landowner – a capable and innovative businesswoman highly respected and well-loved by the community of the Cape of Good Hope. The Kleinood de Boerin was derived from the nickname, Annetjie de Boerin, as she was fondly called.
i. Pantry
Her acclaimed Extra Virgin Olive Oil was originally the only de Boerin product.
But, because of the nature of Kleinood Farm, where everything happens organically and often by pure coincidence, a Syrah Verjus soon followed.
The Kleinood gardens slowly grew and became more established and bountiful with each new spring.
Only when her bees were happily settled in here, did de Boerin start harvesting Raw Farm Honey.
ii. Florilegium
florilegium = a gathering of flowers
In a way, everything started with the gardens…
de Boerin was working in the gardens and with the bees, her hands were busy and she was happy enough.
But the natural scents of plants, flowers, soil and water brought the wish and opportunity to create objects and extracts that would, in a way, capture the enchantment and ever-changing seasonal beauty of Kleinood Farm.
The Florilegium became a gathering of flowers and scents and textures from the gardens of Kleinood Farm.
Now de Boerin makes scented candles from her beeswax, potpourri from petals, soaps from olive oil and so much more…
The more we made, the more we wanted to make.
iii. Terroir Parfum
The dream of making a perfume about and from Kleinood Farm developed over many years – something that would capture the soul of the farm in a scent that would truly express the terroir and heart of this small and precious piece of land…
On Kleinood Farm we have always put terroir first in the wine we make. So too, it is ever present in our olive oil and honey. Why then, if one could taste terroir, could one not wear it and smell it and smell of it?
A late summer afternoon on the dam wall, planted with indigenous fynbos, brought it all together. The scent was all around us – aromas from all these plant oils still suspended in the heavy February heat. In that moment we were seduced into making a terroir-inspired parfum, and de Boerin’s first parfum, kleinood i, was born. As with light and colours, places bear different scents at different times of the day and year. So this collection, an to the gardens, continues to grow as the gardens evolve…
But summer does not last forever and winter has its own charm. Down in the Kleinood forest, the Cape winter is at its most beautiful – rich with the scent of gushing mountain streams and fallen leaves and wet wood and muddy soil and new green grass and smoke from faraway fireplaces. This too is Kleinood – a quiet refuge, far from the madding crowd. These secrets of deep winter and exuberance of the cold quick-running river became a dark and mysterious parfum called winter water.
Working with illusive scents and oils that creep into your hair and clothes and very soul makes you want more ways of having them around you for longer and more ways of exploring their charm and beauty. Thus, more scents from different spaces and plants and soils and seasons on Kleinood Farm are quietly making their way into more parfum made of who we are.
iv. Garments
de Boerin needed hardy garments to work in and was inspired by van Gogh’s peasant women. She wanted to dare to leave the ordinary and discover a path less known – to allow women to reclaim their ability to be something more than “what should I wear”.
de Boerin is not a fashionable concept of a woman, nor do her clothes prescribe her movement or her shape.
Instead, the garments fulfil a purpose, and allow her to do what she needs to do and be who she needs to be.
The Calico Rail
by de Boerin
Clothes one could work in and be seen in.
The fabrics are natural, honest and strong.
The shapes are voluptuous yet simple and timeless.
A collection of garments for women who do.
Made to be worn and soiled and washed and darned and worn again and again.
Custom Pieces
by de Boerin
Soon de Boerin’s hands were busy embroidering and painting and quilting and dying and knitting… A small collection of one-off garments was slowly taking shape.
We are proud to be able to say that we design every single piece in the de Boerin studio. Naturally we continue to work with the purest fibres, and make sure that these are grown and harvested in a responsible and humane way. The printed fabrics are made one by one by hand as mono-or lino prints. We do the handwork on each item ourselves, mindfully. The knitwear is made stitch by stitch by hand too. Any offcuts become pockets or patches or bags for packaging. Each piece is washed, then carefully labelled by hand using eco-friendly materials, before arriving in the shop.
This way, each piece is in this ever-evolving collection is entirely unique.
Adornments
by de Boerin
Now de Boerin makes headwear and bags and brooches too, using the same natural fibres and textures, and our hands, of course.
A limited selection of silver poppies, cast from real flowers found in the Kleinood gardens, also found their way to the shop.
Visit de Boerin to see and feel and try them on.
Select items occasionally available online.
Made by hand matters, as does the honesty and mindfulness of each pair of nimble hands.
v. Objects
Referencing the organic shapes and textures found on Kleinood Farm, all of de Boerin’s ceramics are hand built and fired on the farm.
In her small pottery, overlooking the tasting room, de Boerin makes all the crockery for the seasonal platters, which is served alongside wines from Kleinood Farm.
She makes time to make soap dishes and candle holders and egg cups and such too. And, when the clay insists, bowls and ornaments in different shapes and sizes come out of the kiln.
A handful of carefully carved wooden pieces, made from fallen trees, sit alongside the ceramics in her shop – objects that speak of time and place, made to admire, to keep and use, or to gift.
An invitation to visit de Boerin
The Shop
In The Room of Curiosities, de Boerin trades garments, terroir parfums, adornments, objects and other goodly pretty useful magical things.
Here she welcomes you with a coffee, the view and all the time in the world…
de Boerin pantry items are available in The Cupboard of Curiosities in The Tasting Room on Kleinood Farm.
The Studio
Here, in the komposjaart, de Boerin makes and does all the things she loves.
Her studios are private. To visit her, book ahead.
Receive a monthly letter via email with stories, new releases, insights and other goodly things from Kleinood Farm.
de Krant
News & Stories about de Boerin
de Boerin has been an integral part of Kleinood Farm from the beginning – before the buildings, the wine, the tasting room – she was there when it was just a small patch of land… Autumn was slow in coming…
Kleinood Farm is not only about wine but, that said, it is never not about wine... Verjus is an ancient elixir made from green, unfermented wine grapes picked when the grapes are just starting to change colour on the vine. During this…
On the small farm called Kleinood, in the heart of the Stellenbosch winelands, in the Western Cape province of South Africa, there is a tiny shop in a beautiful little stone cottage in a very old oak avenue. Through the…
