Quarry Lake Estate

Hello everyone, I’m excited to write about the next farm we went to visit. This time we pointed our noses in the direction of Plettenberg Bay along the N2.
We backed our bags and hit the road. It took us about five hours to get there from Prince Albert, allowing time to stop and swim at the magnificent Meringspoort waterfall and enjoy the windy road through to Outshorn. It was really wonderful to see the sea as we rounded the last bend of the Outiniqua pass and breath in the salty sea air all the way down to the coast. Our hosts are the loving and dynamic Italian husband and wife team of Lello and Lisa Incindiario and their two super spunky (styling funky monkeys) children Ilaria and Lorenzo. Sure we were in for another feast of delights at their grand farm, Quarry Lake Estate.

The farm is about 14 km’s outside Plett in the direction of George. It borders on the Bitou river and lush indigenous
 forest. They have been there about four years, moving from the busy city life, an established array of businesses and a large family home in Johannesburg. After a few life changing events, Lello decided the country and farm was more embrassing of their spiritual and holistic life. They have not however slowed down as one may think when moving to the country. Infact there are so many things going down on this fantastic farm it was hard to keep up. Coupled with Lello;s extraordinary energy and enthusiam the farm is moving forward at a rapid pace.
The Incendiarios are vegetarian, Lello is vegan and some what of a culinary wiz, so its no surprise that they grow and sell their own organic vegetables. It’s a super large scale operation, as they are not only supplying themselves and the weekend Harkerville market, but Pick n Pay and other green distributers too. Lello’s secret to this organic success is his wife Lisa’s love for horses. Eh? Yes as read on you will see the symbiotic harmony that occurs between all operations going on at Quarry Lake Estate. However I’ll briefly ellaborate here, the soil was hardly ideal for the kaleidoscopic array of foods Lello wanted to grow, so he had to create his own. His top tip here was mulch, mulch, mulch and horse manure and then some more mulch and then when you done with that do it again. He also creates his own mulch and compost, chipping alien vegetation on the property and leaving it in massive piles to heat and compost. Big worm farms along with many other beautiful wooden pieces, furniture etc are created in the woodwork area, which is next to the metal work forge. So altogether with the manure, magic mulch, worm tea and dedicated hands of the Malawian staff, the vegetable rows, neatly composed and lovingly grown, are a site to behold.

We arrived at a very exciting time, almost ideal for myself, as the first Land Art site Specific Show was being held in Plett, and Lello and his Viking metal forger Farnie decided to participate. Lello which rhymes with cello is quite alike the instrument, whimsical yet solid, demanding attention and fulling the space with energy, so this Land art expo was a chance for him to go big and go wild and play with his super fun farm tractor to create the piece. Together with Farnies eye catching medieval art the installation called “fields of wisdom” was bound to be a hit. So off they went, raging into the middle of Lisa’s green oat field, with bags of saw dust, a ten ton wisdom table and an intension to make people more aware about planting trees.

That too was one of Lello’s top tips, plant trees, plant trees, you can’t go wrong planting trees, plant some more tree’s. I reckon it should be a law that every human on this planet must plant at least twenty trees a year, prisoners should spend their incarceration planting forests, and above every dead body a tree should be planted… Think about that just a moment please. Imagine every cemetery was a green fruiting forest. Imagine instead of cutting down a tree when someone dies and burrying it, imagine planting one for their departed bodies to feed on. THE WORLD WOULD BE A MORE BEAUTIFUL PLACE! Surely, instead of tombstones there would be cherries and pomegranates, and blossoms would fall apon the forest floor where the remains of your loved ones once were...
Any how just a thought. And a very good one for that matter, infact Lello has even turned it into an opportunity to give someone a gift, for example the birthday of a loved one, the birth of a child, plant fifty tree’s. Could there be a better gift them the preservation of life giving trees on this earth. Even you, you could tomorrow in your lunch break go down to the nursery and buy yourself a tree to plant. Make it a really special one, perhaps a fruit you love eating and plant it somewhere you love to go. Sounds good. If you one of those extraordinary people who plants trees, you are amazing and thank you.

So back on the farm, this very special place of peace, it's lovely inhabitants and all the wonderful goings on there. Once again we ate like kings all the beautiful produce from the farm, and again we felt the awesome connection and vitality one gets from being close to the foods we eat.

Many thanks to Lello and his amazing family, you all made us feel so at home and so part of your extraordinary adventure, and we will continue to plant trees.