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Sunday, January 7, 2018

Part XIII - Medallion Mushrooms, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Monday, November 25, 1985. 
Eight nights in South Africa already and this morning we got picked up by Tim Crawley, one of the 3 original founders of Medallion Mushrooms.
In Part VII, I also mentioned his name as he did pick us up at the Cape Town airport.
This is me showing off some breakfast mushrooms from Medallion.
Photo from August 16, 1986 when Tim Crawley got to visit us at our former home in Dublin, Georgia.
All the way from South Africa they'd come to team up with Donald (Buster) Needham, who went with us to the South African Mushroom Conference.
SMALL WORLD
Medallion Mushrooms from Stellenbosch, SA
Pieter loved this sticker and had it in his Day to Day Planner, hence the hand writing showing through from the back.
In Mushroom Business I found this unique photo about Medallion.
Founded by Graham Boonzaaier, Charles Benade and Tim Crawly, mushroom growing started here in 1981.
Those were the people we all met!
We owe them a lot for making our stay in South Africa so very special!
Mr. Graham H. Boonzaaier and his wife Patricia took me that morning for a brief shopping trip in Stellenbosch.
That yielded a 3-cups French Melior cafétière; a Zulu knobkerrie and a tiny Zulu spoon; a wooden Dachshund for in my type tray; a leather P keyring for my Dad and that's it. Will show them in another post later...
We had lunch at the farm and I worked with Morina, the harvest supervisor on harvesting.
Outside, the making of mushroom compost, the substrate on which mushrooms grow.
Medallion packaging area for breakfast mushrooms.
It was time to say goodbye again!
Charles Benade went with us towards the airport of Cape Town for our flight to Durban.
By late afternoon, clouds already started covering Hottentots Holland Mountains...
A bit to the right, showing False Bayview at the foot of the Hottentots Holland Mountain.
We first went to Charles Benade's home, which was situated high enough for having a beautiful Bayview. His wife had done a marvelous job on interior decorating!!!
In the super fast Ford Sierra V-8 (see mention of it in my newspaper article) we went to the airport.
One last view of Helderberg from our plane... goodbye beautiful area with warm people!
Our flight to Durban took 1 hour + 50 minutes.

Thanks for your visit and stay tuned for Part XIV


Related links:
Part XII - Cape Malay Wedding in The Company's Garden, Cape Town, S.A. | previous post by me
Part XI - Rhodes  Memorial on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, S.A. | previous post by me
Part X - Cape Town, South Africa | previous post by me
Part IX - BLAAUWKLIPPEN Homestead in Sellenbosch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part VIII - Stellenbosch, S.A. with its Cape Dutch Architecture | previous post by me
Part VII -  Lanzerac Hotel in Stellenbosch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part VI - Interview at South African Broadcasting Corporation in Joburg | previous post by me
Part V - Tongaat Mushrooms in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part IV - INDABA Hotel, Spa & Conference Centre in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part III - Highveld Mushrooms in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part II - Pretoria and Sandton City, South Africa | previous post by me
Part I - Johannesburg, South Africa | previous post by me
My South Africa Publication Around Husband Pieter's Lectures at Congress | previous post by me



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17 comments:

  1. I love all your south African post.. I can know the life from there through your post.. thank you.. :)

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  2. Hello Mariette, I am enjoying this series, but I hope you can include a little more mushroom lore--for instance, are there any particular requirements or problems for mushroom growers in South Africa?
    --Jim

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    Replies
    1. Dear Jim,
      We are not aware of any particular problems in the S.A. mushroom industry aside from the usual hygiene discipline and availability of raw ingredients for compost and casing preparation.
      On purpose I did not want to bother my readers with the technical and scientific details in my blog...
      Have a good week ahead!
      Mariette

      Delete
  3. Liebe Mariette,

    ich freue mich immer. dich im Blog zu besuchen.

    Alles Liebe
    Elisabeth

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  4. Huge mushrooms. Lovely photos of the area and I like the aerial photo with the mountains, so pretty.

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  5. Heb je Zuid-Afrika posts allemaal met interesse bekeken, het lijkt me een erg mooi land om te bezoeken.
    Zou het een aanrader zijn om een vakantie reis daarheen te doen?
    En wat zou dan de best tijd zijn...b.v om die mooie blauw/paarse bloesembomen te kunnen zien..

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  6. Great mushrooms! Really interesting reading. Thanks a lot for Mariette!

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  7. un post molto interessante!!!!!! buona settimana e un abbraccio Lory

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  8. Such a beautiful place with the high plateau mountains in the distance. So interesting to see the mushroom farms. Wonderful memories for you and so nice to have your friends for a visit, too. I have some catching up to do, so am starting here and going backwards. Hugs xo Karen

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  9. I find mushroom cultivation so fascinating especially that you two were able to travel the world because of it. People don't often consider what it takes to get mushrooms on our plate. It's a very interesting process. And South Africa is a beautiful country. Amazing pictures as always.

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  10. Mooie foto's weer en het lijkt of de champignons steeds groter worden....

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  11. Again such beautiful places! I find those mushrooms in large size from medallion interesting.
    I think I have not seen here.
    Stay well,Mariette.

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  12. Dear Mariette!
    Mushroom Business in photos with Tm Crawly growing Join Piter's from 1981 in south africa in stellenbosch, Graham wife also a bring shopping trip also a brilf shopping trip.
    They had breakfast Mushroom nice next stated in Hollento to Mountains which was high enough marvelous deorating enough in my newspaper (Of course YES!Good bye Both of you)
    Have a good weeks!
    Michiko

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  13. Hello dear
    Very interesting post!
    Wonderful memories from your visit!
    Lovely pictures of the city!
    Love the picture with the view from the plane!
    Wishing to you and Pieter a happy week ahead!
    Much love!
    Dimi...

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  14. Oh those large "Portbello" mushrooms... I can still taste them from the barbecue!!
    Lovely post, Mariette, and the view of Helderberg from the plane is just fabulous!
    I wish you a great weekend and thanks again for sharing those memories with us :)))

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  15. Amei seu posta, Africa é um país lindo e um dia quero conhecer.
    Quero agradecer o carinho e amizade e desejar um feliz 2018 com muitas alegrias e boas surpresas.
    Hugs.

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  16. Oh the mushrooms look so big and yummy! :-)
    Love the photos with mountains. Such beautiful sceneries!

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Thanks for your visit and comment.

Mariette...