A quiet and Relaxing farm West of Magaliesburg.

Wattle Wood Farm is a peaceful space that lies west of picturesque Magaliesburg town on the way to Koster. Away from cars, noise and just 12min outside Magaliesburg.  That is just over an hour away from either Johannesburg, Gauteng or Pretoria, Tswane. The farm is 88 hectares in size and a large portion of this consists of a Black Wattle forrest (+-50h), with paths meandering up the mountain beneath its canopy. The remainder of the farm consists of a mountain top with breath taking views of the Magaliesburg mountains, organic farming with herbs and seasonal vegetables, fields of planted grass (eragrostis and smutsvinger), a stream whose source is on the farm and grazing areas for the indigenous animals.

Accommodation is the main farmhouse and a large cottage available for weekend rentals. Visitors can either visit the farm for a day or stay over and enjoy wholesome organically grown farm food.

Contact WattleWood  for a Visit.

Close encounters with farm animals.

Currently there are 45 Nguni cattle, seven horses, four milk goats, twenty Boergoats, 8 geese, alot of free range chickens, four dogs and two cats for the perfect farm experience. All animals share a special bond and mix freely, dogs with cats, cats with chickens and chicks in harmony. We have a milking cow that is available to be milked when in milk that is.

Six riding horses are available if you're interested in horse riding in Magaliesburg. Well Koesterfontein actually, and you can go up the mountain thru the forrest or down to the fields accross the stream.

Wattle Trees and Wattle we do with them ?

The primary activity is the harvesting of black wattle for firewood and other wood products such as wattle screens and wood panels. Black Wattle ( Acacia mearnsii ) is an invasive alien species, originally from Australia and now rampant in South Africa. The aim is to remove the black wattle and introduce indigenous and bearing trees (fruit, nut etc), for the continued organic sustainability of the farm.

Removing Black Wattle without chemicals is a very time consuming and hard job because they have to be pulled out. Selling the wood products and firewood is how we fund the removal of this vigorous grower. Once cleared we plant grasses for animals and fruit trees for future harvests. 

Organic Farming Wattle Wood Way !

Organically grown vegetables and herbs come from our fenced off gardens which have to be goat proof !.  The output from our animals (horses, cattle, goats, chickens) is used with the addition of grass and greens to make compost heaps. This is left to brake down into a rich dark compost which is used as input for new vegetable and herb planting as well as the gardens dressings. This is how we go about organic farming, no chemicals and only organic fertilisers go into our gardens. The more that originates on the farm is the preffered line of thought, although organic fertiliser is also used. Beds are mulched with the scraps of grass left after bailing. This is dry and makes a very nice mulch.

Each year for the past five years we plant garlic, the smallish purple one. It is very strong has a long growing season, but is relatively easy to grow. In summer we plant a variety of different chilli's (some we were lucky enough to get rom India), which when harvested are used to make chiili and chilli garlic products.  Seeds, bulbs and beans are retained each time we harvest a crop. This is stored until the next planting season when it will be used. We try to keep the best of the harvest for the next planting in the hope that each crop / yield will be better because of it.