Foraging in Ficksburg

Claire Keeton and photographer Marianne Schwankhart slow down for a bout of cherry-picking, gourmet chocolate and river-cruising

PICKING cherries is harder than you'd think. Try balancing on a ladder holding a branch with one hand so you don't tip over, while searching for ripe cherries with just one free hand.

If you do, then you'll know this Girls gone Mild activity has got at least an element of risk (more to the trees than to ourselves). But the good news is by the start of the Cherry Festival next weekend, in Ficksburg in the eastern Free State, all the wine-red and rosy yellow bunches adorning the orchards are expected to be ripe and easy to pick from the ground.

The festival may be the best chance for cherry fans to get their fill, since the fruit is likely to be scarce and expensive this summer. More than half of the Free State's cherry crop was wiped out in September by unseasonal frost, and not long after this, damaging storms and a tornado hit Ficksburg.

Ficksburg is the cherry capital of South Africa and orchards of Napoleons, Emperor Francis, Rainiers and Giant Hedelfinger abound on farms around the town and its nearest neighbour, Fouriesburg. But cherries are a temperamental fruit to grow, and only about eight farms in the region still have large orchards.

To find out exactly what cherry farming involves, we visited a flourishing farm with about 4000 cherry trees - as well as apples, apricots, peaches, plums and sugar prunes - in the shadow of the Loskop mountain, near Fouriesburg.

Weather-beaten with a hat, farmer Cassie van Zyl fits the image of a traditional boer, yet his farming methods are modern and he follows global trends in cherry cultivation.

Oom Cassie and his wife Marlene - they met nearly 40 years ago in Bloemfontein where he was studying theology and she was studying biology - inherited the farm when her father passed away in 1987.

Before we were let loose in the orchards, with trees he planted decades ago, he showed us around the sorting shed and explained how glacé cherries, cherry rolls and other fruit rolls are produced.

The man who deserves to be known as Mr Cherry Festival, Gavin Boy - who arranged our visit to Loskop farm - and Clarens chocolate-maker Calen Thomas, were wondering whether chocolate-dipped cherry rolls would be popular with visitors.

Dreaming of cherries and chocolate, we left the cool shed for the orchards to commence picking under Cassie's patient instructions. I assumed we'd walk away with buckets full of cherries that Marianne, myself and my five-year-old son had collected. But that's not how it turned out.

In early November, if you lack experience, like we did, you need time to find ripe cherries and we proved to be much better at tasting them than harvesting the fruit. All I know is that my desire for cherries has intensified after this hands-on experience, despite warnings of never being able to eat a cherry again following excesses in the orchards.

And if you're a person who appreciates the finer things of life, Ficksburg has another indulgence on offer for visitors.

The White Mischief is a cruise you can take with your friends - or to meet friends, according to Boy - along the Meulspruit River through a private game reserve.

Boy is the organiser, chef and gracious host of this cruise, which does breakfast runs, lunch outings and sunset excursions.

We were among his guests on the White Mischief on a still evening and found the cruise, with sundowners and snacks, a peaceful way to unwind.

The river snakes below golden and red sandstone cliffs, dropping down to bush and wetlands in which wildlife proliferate and human sightings are rare. Along the way we saw a diversity of buck and birds, and fish jumping out of the water.

After about 45 minutes Boy and his pilot moored the boat alongside a lapa belonging to the White Mischief, offering a chance to disembark and enjoy the scenery.

We had tasty finger-food platters, including cherries and asparagus, but the White Mischief also offers full meals to groups who book in advance. Once we were back on board, Thomas, who is originally from Alaska, surprised us with a range of gourmet chocolates for dessert.

l The Cherry Festival 2011 takes place in Ficksburg from November 17-19 . For details visit www.cherryfestival.co.za or call the tourist office on 051 933 6486.

To book a trip on the White Mischief

call 0829205551 or e-mail. gavin@thewhitemischief.co.za. The tours cost R95 per person plus R30 entrance fee to the private reserve.