of
kleinood farm
Goodly things made by hand, from times when people still had time…
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…
What’s
In A
Name?
Annetjie Boom was the first female landowner as well as innkeeper and restaurateur in the Cape of Good Hope in 1665. – a capable and innovative businesswoman highly respected and well-loved by the community of the Cape of Good Hope. who fondly referred to her as Annetjie de Boerin.
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 grounded, authentic and unapologetically voluptuous. Her skirts are ample, and her hands firm and able. She is de Boerin.
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.
de Boerin pantry items are available in The Cupboard of Curiosities in The Tasting Room on Kleinood Farm, and at select retailers.
ii. Florilegium
florilegium = a gathering of flowers
The Kleinood gardens are an ongoing process of dreams woven into pictures…
The gardens were created to wander in, to get lost in, and to simply be in – moving from room to room, far from the madding crowd. They constantly evolve along with the whims and discoveries of de Boerin and her small team of gardeners. They are guided by the terroir and the seasons, and the need to create small biospheres ideal for the wide variety of plants as well as creating a haven for the abundance of birds, bees, butterflies, frogs, insects and other wildlife.
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.
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 inspired by Kleinood Farm developed over many years – something that would capture, not only, the terroir of the farm and what grows on it and truly express, not only of the soil and sun and rain of this small and precious piece of land, but also its soul.
On Kleinood Farm we have always put terroir first in the wine we make. So too, it is ever present in our olive oil, verjus and honey. Why then, if one could taste and smell terroir, could one not wear 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. It tells a story of time and place with notes of fynbos, citrus blossoms and hay.
As with light and colours, places bear different scents at different times of the day and year. So this collection, an ode to the gardens, continues to grow as the gardens evolve. kleinood ii followed, with notes of pink peppercorn, rose, vetiver…
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 quiet refuge too is Kleinood Farm. From here, bearing the secrets of deep winter and exuberance of the cold, quick-running river became a dark and mysterious perfume called winter water.
There are irises scattered all over the farm. The wonderment they bring when voluptuously unfolding each spring, followed by their seductive, dark and slightly bitter scent… This moment inspired the fourth parfum in this collection – iris, “a tribute to my mother” – Libby de Villiers.
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. Slowly, but surely, more scents from different spaces and plants and soils and seasons on Kleinood Farm are quietly making their way into more perfumes made of who we are…
iv. Garments
de Boerin needed beautiful but hardy garments to work in. 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 wants 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 make and do and live.
Made to be worn and soiled and washed and darned and worn again and again.
de Boerin works slowly – her goodly things take time to make.
We carefully source the very best natural fibres for our garments.
The garments are made in small quantities.
From the fabric offcuts, de Boerin makes pockets and patches and packaging…
Each piece is washed and labelled by hand, before arriving in our shop.
The Singletons
by de Boerin
Surrounded by beautiful fabrics, de Boerin’s hands soon became busy with embroidery and painting and printing and quilting and dying and knitting… What followed is an ever-evolving collection of one-of-a-kind garments.
With this collection, de Boerin allows the fabric to take the lead. Each garment is specifically designed to honour the fibre. Each one, dreamed up and then made individually in the de Boerin studio. Throughout the process we rely on handwork, which we do ourselves, mindfully. The hands of skilled women meticulously cut and sew, quilt and embroider, paint and dye, wash and label each every piece, before it arrives in our shop.
Each garment from this collection is entirely unique in every way, and you’ll only ever find them here, on Kleinood Farm.
for candle-lit dinners
or walks in the woods
one-of-a-kind pieces
here today gone tomorrow…
Adornments
by de Boerin
Along came hats and bags and brooches made in natural fibres and textures, made by the same hands in the same way.
A limited selection of silver poppies, cast from real flowers found in the Kleinood gardens, made just for us, found their way to the shop.
v. Objects
Made by hand matters, as does the honesty and mindfulness of each pair of nimble hands.
Referencing the organic shapes and textures found on the farm, all of de Boerin’s ceramics are hand built and fired in our studio – soap dishes, candle holders and egg cups, bowls and ornaments in different shapes and sizes come out of the kiln. So too, the crockery for the seasonal platters, which is served in our tasting room, alongside wines from Kleinood Farm.
A handful of carefully carved wooden pieces, made from fallen trees, sit alongside the ceramics in the shop – objects that speak of time and place, made to admire, to keep and use, or to gift.
vi.
An invitation to visit de Boerin
The Shop
by de Boerin
In a secretive shop, affectionately called The Room of Curiosities, de Boerin trades garments and terroir parfums and adornments and objects and other goodly pretty useful magical things.
Here she welcomes you with a coffee, stories, the view and all the time in the world…
The Pantry
by de Boerin
de Boerin pantry items are available in The Cupboard of Curiosities in The Tasting Room on Kleinood Farm, and at select retailers.
The Studios
of de Boerin
Here, in the komposjaart on Kleinood Farm, de Boerin makes and does all the things she loves…
Her studios are private. To visit, book ahead.
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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…
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