This initiative falls under the culture part of agriculture.
We are lucky enough to farm on the Spier Wine Farm which is in a stable of companies that are the biggest supporters of South African art. The umbrella for all the art is the Spier Arts Trust which houses many initiatives such as the 260 artists participating in the Creative Block, the HUB and is a gateway to diverse art from Africa. Their Instagram page is here.
Allow me to contextualise this initiative. Four years ago my mentor and farming inspiration Joel Salatin of the inimitable Polyface Farm in Virginia, USA came to the farm and in his kind manner questioned why none of the roads in our 30 hectare Eggmobile (a term that Joel coined) pasture are on contour. This sat uncomfortably with me for a long time until in May of 2025 when I had enough of hearing Joel’s voice in my head every time I went to the chickens and saw the erosion from the 12 years that we drove where we felt like, with no consideration for the landscape. (Having your roads on contour stops erosion and slows the movement of water down leading to water retention landscapes)
I could ignore Joel no longer and so we changed the entire modus operandi of the last 12 years and moved everything onto contour. It cost a lot more than I planned and took longer but it has totally improved our and our hens’ lives.
Some genius, I like to think it was me but it was actually my wife, suggested that as the Eggmobiles are now moving across the landscape and are silhouetted against the mountains we need to make them prettier. Farms need to be places of beauty.
We then did a trial with Erich and his team from Lynx Printing who can print on PVC.
The video above shows the proof of concept. Art by Xolile Mtakatya. (More on him and the three other artists below.)
The hens were happy and so were we and then the folk from Spier Arts Trust identified the other artists (we have 4 batches of Eggmobiles) and we have paid them for the copyright for the 6 pieces of art from each of them.
The prototype showed that we needed to make some changes which we did as per photos below and video at the top.
An average winter’s day on our farm. What does yours look like?
The four artists that we are privileged to work with are
Alfred Budaza. A brief bio of Alfred is here. Alfred Budaza – artist’s profile His Instagram page is here.
Asanda Kupa. A brief bio of Asanda is here. Asanda Kupa – artist’s bio His Instagram page is here.
Emma Aspeling. A brief bio of Emma is here. Emma Aspeling – artist’s bio Her Instagram page is here.
Xolile Mtakatya. A brief bio of Xolile is here. Xolile Mtakatya – artist’s bio His Instagram page is here.
You are welcome to come and visit the hens and admire the art on our farm anytime. Our hens love visitors.
Angus
14 July 2026