Smithfield farmer Elmarie van Aswegen made history when she exported 50 of her carefully chosen dairy ewes to Angola this week. They represent her life's work, she says, and much time, love, effort, tears and happiness. Elmarie, of Patria farm outside Smithfield, recently told Farmer's Weekly about the long journey she's made from being a civil servant to the specialist breeder of dairy sheep: Awassi rams for Free State milk sheep flock ~ By Mike Burgess ~ For Elmarie van Aswegen, returning to the family farm, Patria, near Smithfield in the Free State in early 1997 went hand in...Read more

FRESH from the Franschhoek and Richmond book festivals, Chris Nicholson and Nick Norman arrive in Smithfield this weekend. Nicholson, a retired high court judge, has written a number of books on topics ranging from cricket (one of his real passions) to political trials, and the relationship between Hitler and Wagner. His latest, No Sacred Cows, is Nicholson's debut collection of short stories and deals with subjects and issues from his career in the law. Norman is no stranger to Smithfield and was here last year bringing his book, Geology off the Beaten Track. It features Smithfield and...Read more