Buchu has been harvested on the Skimmelberg farms in the wild for the better part of a hundred years, originally in bags carried down the mountain on foot or by donkeys. Rooibos joined Buchu more recently as a crop, when it became popular early in the first half of the last century.

Today Buchu and Rooibos are cultivated rather than wild-harvested on the farms, in a sustainable way to ensure an adequate supply, and simultaneously protecting it from over-exploitation in the wild.