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Image Gallery

Image Gallery

Stems being trimmed to the right length in the Fynsa packshed. This task is now done by machine but used to be done by hand.

An example of a bouquet at Fynsa.

An example of bouquet at Fynsa.

Alien vegetation in the form of pine trees swamping the fynbos.

The Fynsa packshed in Stanford.

Yacobus packing the bouquets for shipping.

Charlie moving the boxes of bouquets ready for transport.

A view of the Flower Valley farm, the main buildings and the grass amphitheatre are in the centre.

Bergflora operate a packshed in Stanford. They have recently shown an interest in sourcing and promoting sustainably harvested fynbos.

Labels for Woolworths at Bergflora.

A worker putting the final touches to a bouquet at Fynsa. Note the provision of health and safety equipment indicating that the worker is handling flowers which have had pesticides applied.

A sea of orange pincushions on the Flower Valley farm in December 2011. Some of these plants were burned when a planned burn spread out of control in March 2012.

Roger Bailey proudly presenting certificates to Flower Valley farm workers who have completed the sustainable harvesting training.

Pink everlastings (ASTERACEAE phaenocema prolifera), a popular fynbos flower.

ASTERACEAE edmondia sesamoides.

A mixture of beautiful Fynbos in the Fernkloof reserve, near Hermanus.

A yellow pincushion, Leucospermum cordifolium , coming into flower in the Fernkloof reserve.

A flower picker demonstrates the correct angle for cutting stems, 45 degrees.

A trial bouquet for the Christmas market.

Fynsa in their previous pack shed on the Flower Valley farm.

A landscape denuded of fynbos: the road between Napier and Bredasdorp where land has been long been converted to arable production.

A bouquet from the Hermanus country market, composed of sustainably harvested flowers, using a number of species that are not used in commercial bouquets.

Shari Daya with two pickers we had interviewed, who had many interesting stories to tell about a lifetime spent picking in the veld.

Another bouquet from the country market. Check out the video about the flowers in this bouquet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGzoXkbwHuo

Rejects and offcuts being taken away from a packshed for composting.

Worker housing on the Flower Valley Farm.

The PickaPin Cushion Open Day on the Flower Valley Farm.

Ambrose from Flower Valley Farm has been teaching visitor Ejaz how to pick.

David Bek applying sustainable harvesting principles in practice. It’s harder than it looks! Assessing which flowers meet market criteria is the first challenge and then cutting through the tough stems at the right angle can be physically challenging.

Nobesuthu chatting to a worker at the Fynsa packshed.

Our research assistant, Nobesuthu, holding a fynbos which has been dyed for the Christmas season.

Loading fynbos ready to take to the packshed after a day in the veld.n

A pincushion that has been rejected at the packshed because it has two heads and thus does not meet market criteria which demand uniformity. Some of us think it looks beautiful the way it is.

The Flower Valley sign on the farm which notes the contribution of PicknPay’s Foundation.

The sign on the visitor centre noting the contribution of the National Lottery.

In-store management of flower displays is often a problem. Here the fynbos bouquets have been placed under the main display at the back. In other cases bouquets are not provided with sufficient water and quickly wilt.

Rhoda Malgas chats to Fynsa worker Marthie Jacobs in the flower dying area at the old Fynsa shed on the Flower Valley Farm.

Elaine and Kunz Dunn (Infanta Flora) with their son after giving a tour of their farm and pointing out the many challenges of dealing with alien infestation.

Jonitha Swarts (CapeNature intern) with pickers from Nieuwedam.

Theresa Alexander (CapeNature intern) makes notes whilst talking with pickers from Nieuwedam Farm.

A display in the Flower Valley visitor centre illustrates the main fynbos species and provides botanical information as well as an indication of the species vulnerability. Species considered too vulnerable are placed on the ‘red data list’ and may not be harvested.

Gerhard van Deventer confronted by a pine tree on his land. Note how much bigger the alien pine is than the surrounding fynbos. Aliens quickly dominate the landscape, destroying the fynbos habitat.

Alfred from the Flower Valley Farm with Cheryl, Dave and Alex.

Researcher David Bek battling through the fynbos whilst observing pickers at work. It’s a physically challenging environment for people to work in.