In July 2014 De-Neasha Topkin and her family decided to sell their property in Bloemfontein and traded in the comfort, city lights, tarred roads and fast food for gravel roads, star light, silent nights and farming.
La Familia Farming and Projects is a family run farming company which is based on a farm near Oppermansgronde.
After travelling to Jacobsdal on tarred road, hitting a gravel road for 30km thereafter the following question arose: are we there yet?
De-Neasha Topkin, her husband Albe and two sons Ian and Ivan unanimously decided that the way forward in making a living for themselves was to go into farming; they then applied for prime farming ground in Winkelhaak near Oppermansgronde. They then made the big move.
The move was well thought out as De-Neasha grew up on a farm and was confident that the farm would thrive as she had prior knowledge, skills and experience to guide her.
“We first started planting potato skins in 2015, in order to provide some potatoes for household use. After the potatoes started growing we moved onto planting cucumber, pumpkin, chilies, mint, beetroot, carrots and later watermelons”, said Topkin.
The Topkin family chose their crops based on plants that do not need too much water to grow. They have also planted herbs on a small scale ranging from Italian Parsley, Mint and Basel.
They faced problems when it came to watering as they used flood irrigation which resulted in the dam being emptied in one fell swoop.
The water use was high and Mrs Topkin, knowing what the situation of water in the country was, immediately started thinking of ways in which she could save this precious resource.
“So in January we decided to try and save on water use. We bought a generator, swimming pool pump as well as some grade 2 pipe and sprayers and strategically placed them around the garden.
That same month when we watered (after the installation) we saw a drastic drop in water used from a full dam to only one-ninth of the dam being used,” Topkin said excitedly.
With this drastic drop they aimed to further lessen the water use and try and increase production. They therefore started watering from 19h00 at night when the temperatures are cooler and the wind is calm and in turn improved water usage again 10 fold.
In time they were able to extend the area where they planted vegetables extensively. “Currently we are practicing rotational farming, whereby we rotate the planting of crops thus sparing the ground and its nutrients as well as water in the process.
In our very first harvest our expectations were exceeded, especially with the watermelons which we had to sell off due to the huge production along with some carrots, beetroot, pumpkin and cucumber,” said Topkin.
Together with the Department of Agriculture they also plan to farm ostriches in the near future.
Mrs Topkin also belongs to an organisation known as South African Women Entrepreneurial Network (SAWEN), where she is exposed to various other organisations which invest in women who run and are involved in business.
She has won the 2015 CEO Global Award in the Agricultural Sector, Most Influential Women in Business SA, Inkanyezi Award, and Individual Women in Business for a wellness day held in Koffiefontein, as well as the Xhariep District Winner: Female Subsistence Farmer from the Department of Agriculture.
With her involvement in SAWEN she aims to assist women in the surrounding areas with their farming projects to be successful and make a difference.
Photo: De-Neasha Topkin (Supplied)
-Supplied
