The Tierhoek Team
The Tierhoek Team are the backbone of our business and are essential to making our organic farm work.
For those of us that that live on the farm - the Fortuins, Segelaars and Sass families - we aim to provide a safe and secure environment in which we can bring up our families and grow ourselves in our community. We support education from crèche to college. We encourage personal growth and responsibility assisted by training where necessary. We provide land for growing vegetables and raising livestock and transport for events and weekend activities.
We also work closely with our seasonal team who come from old established families in nearby McGregor. They assist throughout the year with pruning, planting, thining, picking, packing and processing our fruit. We have worked with the same people, since 2006, which has developed close relationships and knowledge of the farm. This is reflected in the quality of the fruit and fruit products we produce.
In the office we have the invaluable help of Danielle who manages to keep the tsunami of paperwork under control and manages all the cottage bookings with great efficiency.
Finally there are ourselves, Bruce and Alison Gilson and our three boys Jamie, Harry and Patrick. Bruce is South African and previously worked at Boschendal Wine Estate / Rhodes Fruit Farms (RFF) before settling here in 1998. It was his vision which began Tierhoek Organic and under his steady guidance the farm, organic products and guest cottages have grown.
Alison grew up in England, graduated with an MA from Cambridge University, and moved here in 1992 after marrying Bruce. She did PR for Boschendal Wine Estate and then went freelance as a wine/tourism journalist writing articles for Wine Magazine, Wynboer/Wineland, Country Life and various web/blog sites. She has put writing aside to concentrate on growing Tierhoek Organic products and guest cottages.
