After a sudden, out of the blue visit from an uncle of mine my life was turned upside down. I had spent a year studying Cost Management accounting and found that this was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. My uncle’s proposition was looking like a way out of this mess and a chance to build on an opportunity that was placed in my path.
One week later with bags packed he came to fetch me in Bloemfontein where I studied, and off I went to a small eastern Free State town called Ficksburg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficksburg
I knew this quaint little town well. My mom was born there and my grandparents were still living in town after farming many years on the outskirts. We spent most school holidays here with family and had the greatest Christmas celebrations at Grandma's house. One of my older cousins had also relocated to Ficksburg and it was easy to fall into a new friendship circle and I found my feet very quickly.
Ficksburg Hotel
Your early 20’s are most probably the most influential time of your life. Most kids of that age flock to big cities seeking flashing lights and nightlife. In Ficksburg we were forced to entertain ourselves. With only the local hotel for a destination in town to go have a few drinks and a night out, our house parties were legendary. A friend decided it was time, and about 30 km out of town he opened a pub called: “The Blue Gum".
Here we spent many nights playing pool, getting drunk, doing body shots off young girls from the area.
Many Friday nights became whole weekends stuck at The Blue Gum with huge bonfires listening to Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and Midnight Oil until the sun came up.
Rustlers view in Summer
Entrance to the farm
About 30 km from there another community was busy growing. The farm was called “Rustler’s Valley," and there people from all walks of life began new lives, leaving the corporate world for a fresh start. The hippy culture was strong and the whole place vibrated with love and peace. This venue introduced me to some of the most intellectual people I know, even until today. There, every year during Easter celebrations they had a music festival. It was an experience out of this world and I will never forget my very first night. Getting lost in the darkness between thousands of tents with bonfires and joining in some great mystical conversations about what’s good and what’s evil in this world. I didn’t make it back to my tent until sunrise on that first night.
Here is a great video to share the vibe.
That first year in Ficksburg was one of my greatest in terms of life experiences and the people that I got to know.
It was a typical small town with everyone knowing everyone. I found a lot of comfort in this as everybody had a common goal and that was making it work in a small town. If I was short on cash I’d just phone a friend at the pie shop, he would arrange a pickup at his factory in Maseru and off I went in my pickup with trailer hitched to fetch some pies. If he had nothing I would go sell some cabbage from my pickup and make an extra buck or two but there was never one moment of lacking or worry of where the next meal would come from. There was a support structure that would never let you slip through.
Rustlers view in winter
After a couple of years managing my uncle’s shop for him I started to realise that I wanted more. Initially we had grander plans of expanding to neighbouring towns and building a small empire, but the franchise he was in shot down his proposals for new shops, and after a while he had lost interest, leaving me stuck.
During this time I met Wiegand.
He was 18 years older and had a brilliant mind and we spent countless evenings with red wine designing the next big thing. He was a qualified Mechanical Engineer and his head was full of plans. His greatest accomplishment was a world speed record on water with a 60hp engine in Greece. His design changed the whole concept for RubberDucks design until today.
Wiegand was working for his father at their export company exporting asparagus to Germany. They were very successful and the market was booming. Lots of farmers planted the crop and it was a medium term investment so they were pretty comfortable. He had some extra cash after a few good seasons, and a plan was born to plant some crops, and a new partnership was formed. We rented some municipal lands and our first short term crops were planted together with chives for the medium term that could be harvested continuously.
Butternuts and beetroot were fantastic crops, and our first year turned out great. Bad luck had hit the northern territories, and while they were flooded and lost their summer crops, we were booming. Irrigating vegetables is no easy task though, and I spent many laborious hours moving pipes, and setting up our big water cannon.
The second year the natives from across the Caledon River which was the border between South Africa and Leshoto discovered we were planting vegetables. Here the constant fight to protect our crops started, and during the following two years we tried everything but failed. Even with armed guards patrolling at night, the lands were too big to watch everything. They just gave us the run around and we never even caught one. At harvesting time there were hardly any crops left on the lands and after year three we were taking strain.
My dad suddenly passed and there I was at a crossroads yet again. I said goodbye to Ficksburg after six years and moved back to my birth town Welkom to assist my mom.
Here we will break and continue on another day.
Hope you enjoyed the first part of the early years and will continue on this journey of discovery with me.
Editing assistance provided by @jrhughes through the Minnow Support Project