The pretty little green leaf garnishing your salad seems simple and unremarkable… until you follow its journey at The Vineyard Hotel.
From glass to garden: today’s apple trimming is tomorrow’s pea shoots
In our kitchens, we create as much as possible from scratch, including our fresh juices. If you’ve joined us for breakfast, you’ll know all about the cold, sweet, refreshing juices in all the colours of the rainbow. But with this irresistible end product comes scraps—and lots of them. Most kitchens would toss the stems, trimmings, and pulp, but here at The Vineyard, waste isn’t the end; it’s the beginning of something new.
The kitchen staff collect and separate these scraps, along with coffee grounds and other organic waste, to be made into vermicompost. The waste is placed into large wooden boxes filled with thousands of earthworms, and these hard-working creatures break down the organic matter, transforming it into nutrient-rich vermicast.
Often called “black gold”, vermicast compost is tilled into the hotel’s herb and vegetable gardens, replenishing the soil and fuelling the next cycle of growth. And before long, new microgreen leaves emerge, packed with nutrients and intense flavour, and ready to be carried just a few steps to the kitchen.
Growing more with less
Microgreens are notoriously difficult to source in Cape Town, often shipped in from Gauteng. But by growing them on-site, we’re reducing food miles, ensuring that our guests enjoy the freshest possible ingredients while significantly cutting down on transport emissions and costs.
A tray of pea shoots, for example, typically costs R80 from a supplier. But a whole bag of seeds that can grow multiple trays? Just R60. Our kitchen uses a lot of microgreens, and the savings add up! We’re then able to reinvest elsewhere —like hiring a full-time employee dedicated to the microgreens project.
The process is simple:
- Seeds are planted in small trays filled with the hotel’s own compost
- They’re watered, nurtured, and, within weeks, ready for harvest
The kitchen staff can now grow exactly what they need, when they need it, reducing food waste even further.
Striving for a circular waste system
It’s our goal to continue transforming our waste management approach from a linear system (where waste simply leaves the premises) to a circular one, where everything stays on-site and is repurposed.
Not only does this reduce our impact, but it also enhances the hotel experience. Guests taste the difference in their food, experiencing the flavours and freshness of homegrown, organic produce.
Our chefs are growing in the garden, in more ways than one
For the chefs and kitchen staff, creating a more circular system is also about reconnecting with food in a way that’s often lost in modern kitchens.
“Get your hands dirty,” says Senior Sous Chef Sven Adams. “Understand where food comes from. It gives you a whole new appreciation. If you burn a carrot, that’s three months of work you’ve just destroyed.”
Beyond sustainability, there’s something deeply human about this practice. Chefs step outside, walk past the river, breathe in the fresh air, and return to the kitchen with renewed energy. In an industry notorious for stress and burnout, this connection to nature brings a new perspective.
“We have to be here for the next generation. I urge the staff to walk the garden and bring that energy into the kitchen. We need to preserve this and pay it forward. I want to do that for the next generation of chefs looking after chefs for the future,” says Sven.
And so, the cycle continues…
A spinach leaf is picked, juiced, and its scraps returned to the soil, fueling the next generation of leaves. Microgreens sprout, nurtured by the waste of yesterday’s meals. Chefs step outside, breathe in the garden’s scent, and return to the kitchen with a deeper respect for the food they prepare.
This is sustainability in action—not a corporate initiative, but a way of life. And at The Vineyard Hotel, it’s proof that when we work in harmony with nature, we don’t just sustain the environment; we sustain ourselves.
The next time you take a sip of green juice or bite into a crisp microgreen, know that it’s not just food. It has a purpose, and it has a story—a journey—of a circle unbroken.
WATCH: How sustainability takes root