The purchase of a farm/enterprise to support the work of Walk in The Light Ministries in Haniville, a township bordering onto the farming property.
From 2005 until 2010 with sugar cane produced on the farm this project worked well until a huge piece of the most productive land was expropriated by the government. This land was used to establish a fuel pump station for a new pipeline from Durban to Johannesburg. This had a devastating effect on the financial support base and decimated our cashflow for Walk in The Light and had to rely on loss of income payments while the pump station and pipeline were being built. The pump station and pipeline was completed in 2013 but little or no rehabilitation was done over the servitude area of the pipeline traversing the property
In 2014 a new enterprise started with the establishment of the first rose geranium parent stock for the establishment of an essential oil farming enterprise. Out of the ashes of the fire in 2014 a new enterprise emerged and below is a pictorial layout of the farm including the growing, harvesting and processing of Rose Geranium pure, natural and organic essential oils which has expanded to include rosemary.
We have created the whole value chain from having our own parent stock of Rose Geranium plants where we take cuttings and then root them in our own tunnels. Once the seedlings have been established and have a good root plug they are then transferred to the open fields, planted and grown organically.
Every 3 - 4 months all the leaves of the Rose Geranium plant are harvested and taken to our central facility on the farm for processing
At the processing facility the leaves are placed in 1/2 tonne stainless steel pots and steam distilled at 160 degrees celsius
Once this process is completed after 3 hours and the steam has passed through a cooling condensor
The steam is cooled to 40 degrees celsius and then the watery liquid with the essential oils enters a separator where the oil floats on top of the water and then extracted from the separator for processing into SONATUR - Natural Healing Balm products
Sonatur Skin Care natural moisturising cream range is made from natural essential oils that are farmed at source. Our products are made from organic rose geranium essential oils. Rose geranium according to Dr Axe have incredible rejuvenating properties for skin conditions like Psoariasis, Eczema, Acne and Anti-Aging.