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Silphy Farming
After Jan Versluis stopped keeping livestock, he started growing fibre crops on his land in Meerkerk (NL). Taking part in the 'from land to building' (van land tot pand) project, Jan was one of the first farmers to start growing the relatively new fibrecrop Silphium Perforliatum (Silphy).
He farms regeneratively, which means that he focuses on building biodiversity and soil health to produce consistent yields. Without relying on synthetic inputs like herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers.​ Silphy is therefore free of toxic input during its lifetime...
Raw Silphy Honey
Odile Olfers is a shepard, certified bee keeper and honey judge from Meerkerk, just meters away from our Silphy Farmer.
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Late flowering plants, like Silphy provide pollinators with food in abundance to go into winter well fed.
Odile keeps about 10 bee colonies that produce the honey you find in your mini-jar. You can order her raw summer honey here:​
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Sowing Silphy Seeds
Plant the seeds indoors in peat free biological potting soil (!) in February. After ice saints, from mid-May (or when it is no longer freezing) you can plant the young plants outside.
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Silphy takes about 2 years to fully develop its root system. After that, it wil grow to its full length of 3-4 meters and stays for over 20 years. It hardly needs any maintenance, but harvest the plants annually. Chop in finer pieces to use as natural fertiliser and form a humus layer.
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