Papillon Organics Farm

Papillon Organics is an organic farm specialising in the growing and supplying of organic foods such as organic vegetables, spices and herbs. Papillon Organic Farm, located between Jeffreys Bay and Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, is owned by Malcolm and Sha Devine, who bought the 100ha farm in 1998, being determined to change their lifestyle from city to country dwellers.

Papillon Organics started organically, as all natural things do. From a small kitchen potager, grew a diverse multicoloured quilt of leaves, herbs and veg. It grew with excitement and curiosity, and always with a vision to nourish, not harm ourselves or the environment in the process. From day one Papillon has been devoted to organic farming methods and remains convinced by this healthy and ethical means of food production.

We find organic farming to be a continuous learning and adapting process, and are delighted (and sometimes exasperated!) when nature reveals its magic or gives us an unforseen challenge, or ‘opportunity to learn’, often with great humor! Farming organically helps us provide much needed employment opportunities to the local area, brings our community the option of pure, nutritious food choices and connects us deeply to the land we love.

Each member of the team has a valuable and significant role to play in the day to day running of the farm and production processes. Being an organic farm means that we rely on a lot of manual labour. We do not blanket spray our crops with poisons to kill weeds, instead we pick each one out manually. A back breaking and very important job which really does help our plants thrive. Each job on the farm takes time and human effort to create the ultimate conditions for optimal growth. From seed to salad pack, weeding to watering, the work and contribution of a large number of people goes into making our product what it is. The nature of agricultural work sees many people come and go, although some people settle and stay for years. To all those who have helped Papillon flourish over the years, we thank you!

Since the purchase of our property in 1998, planting of indigenous trees, and clearing of invasive plants from waterways, the bird population has increased dramatically with sightings of over 80 different species. We have resident bush buck, wild pig, otter, civet cats, tortoise as well as monkeys ,various species of snakes, a fantastic variety of frogs, a bat colony, various beehives scattered around the property and a wide and diverse insect population from ‘friendly’ [ lady bugs and butterflies] to ‘unfriendly’ [leaf flea, locusts, aphids, Bagdrada Bugs and more!], not to mention our diverse spider population on the farm. We cherish this privilege and try to share it with as many people as we can.