OF TEQUILA

washed up from the ballast of a passing ship or from a ship wreck. Being a farmer’s daughter, she noted that it was nibbled by goats and other domestic animals.”

The Rubidge girl packed three young plants and took them home to her parent’s farm, Bloemhof, a few kilometres north of Roode Bloem farm. The Rubidge, Murray and Southey families farming in this area eventually distributed suckers and small plants among themselves, finding Agave americana extremely useful. Their stoic bulk stopped erosion on contour lines. The poles they sent up were useful as pergolas and for fencing. They were perfect drought fodder.

The Murray family of the 1800s fed chopped-up agave leaves to their ostriches, giving them resilience and glossy feathers. Today Tim feeds it to his sheep and cattle.

The pickle enterprise started after the tequila business crashed. Together with Tim’s mother, he and Lisa worked out a dill pickle recipe for the buds.

“We found out people really liked it.”

For three crazy dill-scented weeks each December, Lisa bottles the pickles in their farm kitchen. Any buds that are damaged or imperfect are fed to delighted goats. They’ve slowly stepped up production and today they pick two or three tons of buds. They’re delicious on their own, with cheese or on top of pizza and bruschetta.

Why not just step up production? It’s not as easy as it seems, said Tim. The agave only poles and flowers once in its life, after seven to 15 years, just before it dies. And although drought-resistant, it does not pole if there have been no rains.

Agave has all kinds of potential. Tim has pioneered an ointment from Agave americana that takes away any itch. (Ironically, any scratch from an agave thorn itches like hell.)

But now his phone is ringing again, and it’s someone with yet another bright idea about how to make money out of agaves.

Contact the Murrays of Roode Bloem farm on rbd@intekom.co.za