Posted By THE AMAZWI VILLAGER
May 8th, 2008 | Published in Green Talk
Written by Bongekile Mhlanga & Thandi Mkhatshwa
On 30 April 2008, at Mdluli High School, in Hluvukani, Buffelshoek Trust and Food & Trees for Africa launched a permaculture garden. Permaculture is an organic, environmentally friendly, and inexpensive form of sustainable land design and food production. A year ago, the two organizations began helping the school with their gardening. On this day, they were officially giving the permaculture garden to the school, so that the school would be able to sustain the garden on its own.
The project started in February 2007 when Food & Trees for Africa was approached by the Buffelshoek Trust to facilitate the development of a permaculture garden. The whole of 2007, students were taught permaculture: designing different shapes of garden beds for vegetables, conserving water, managing soil, harvesting and plant propagation—creating a new plant from another plant using branches.
Wednesday, 30 April, was a windy day, but a large tent provided relief. The launch was a big event: Local school principals, and the circuit manager from Manyeleti circuit attended, as well as teachers and learners from Mdluli. Different leaders spoke at the even, including the circuit manager, the principal of Mdluli High School, Mr. Chitungo—the Project Officer of Food & Trees for Africa—and a representative from Buffelshoek Trust.
“We encourage people not to use fertilisers bought from the shops as they have toxic chemicals in them, but to use animal manure, excluding human, dogs and cats, as these animals have fats in their droppings,” Chitungo said while speaking to the crowd, and waving his hands in the air. When it comes to permaculture design, he explained, vegetables are planted together in a specific way, so that they can repel insects with their different smells. “Insects are like human beings, they have different tastes,” Chitungo said, laughing. The vegetables in the garden include green peppers, chilies, spinach, tomatoes, cabbages, lettuce, onions, and different types of herbs like thyme, basil, and mint. Chitungo explained that water-retaining crops, like beans and lentils which also grew, were very necessary.
The speakers motivated the members of Eco club, a group made up of Mdluli High school students and members of the surrounding community who plant trees and tend vegetable gardens. Chitungo said that Mdluli High School was fortunate because it was the only school in Mpumalanga that is currently benefiting from the permaculture project created by the Food & Trees for Africa organization. Other schools, he explained, don’t have enough water to sustain the project. He said that hopefully there would be more schools involved in the future, pleading with the Buffelshoek Trust to extend the same gesture to other Manyeleti Circuit schools, which could get water if assisted.
He explained the importance of the project is that people start eating healthily when they eat food that they grow themselves. “We must have a culture of producing our own food. Remembering our body is knowing what we put into our mouths,” Chitungo said to the crowd.
After the speeches, Mr. Chitungo and two teachers from the school handed out certificates to the school learners and the women from the community who volunteered to participate in creating the garden, since any person from the community willing to help work in the garden can do so. Afterwards, it was time for the ceremonial tree planting. The mango tree was planted firmly in the ground with the help of the learners, the teachers, the principals, the circuit manager, as well as Mr. Chitungo. It was then off to item number seventeen—food. All the food that was served, including the spinach and the chillies, had been grown in the garden.
Mdluli is not the only school that is busy creating sustainable living. Funjwa, a primary school in Acornhoek, has a permaculture garden along with a few other energy-saving projects. The permaculture garden started in 2003, and is now growing well. Upon beginning as principal in 2003, Mrs. Mhaule, saw there was a big chunk of unoccupied land next to the school buildings. Since a lot of school learners are orphaned due to AIDS related illnesses, she took it upon herself to provide healthy food for them.
Teachers Elmon Malapane and Patrick Madibe facilitate learners’ activities in the garden. The vegetables, they said, are planted all year round. “By doing this we are trying to sustain the garden,” said Madibe. When planting, the crops are covered with grass to prevent excessive evaporation, and grass is used as compost after it begins to breaks down. The vegetables in the garden are the same as in Mdluli’s garden: green pepper, onion, cabbage, spinach, chilies and tomatoes, though lettuce and herbs don’t grow at Funjwa. All the food from the garden is used in the feeding scheme at the school.
Funjwa projects do not only consist of planting vegetables. The students also collect cans, which they sell to a recycling company in Bushbuckrigde. Sometimes the kids make the cans into candleholders and plastic bottles for irrigation. They punch holes in the bottom of the plastic bottles, fill the bottles with water and put them in a hole in the dirt in between the vegetables. This kind of method is used to conserve water. The school also does water harvesting during the rainy season, so they can use it during the dry season. A pipe is connected to the roof, and goes straight to the tank, so that when it rains, the water can flow straight into the tank.
With this kind of produce in our communities, who needs to go and buy food contaminated with chemicals? Why not start your own permaculture garden, and start eating healthily?
How to start your own permiculture garden:
• Before planting, do soil management by adding compost and mulch, which consists of grass cuttings, leaves, newspapers and cardboards.
• When the soil is rich with nutrients, plant the seeds.
• Mix the crops when planting them, so they can help and protect each other.
• In winter, don’t water the crops in the morning, or late in the evening, as they will freeze and not grow well.
• In summer, water plants in the morning to prevent evaporation, which happens in the afternoon.
Plants that grow well together:
· Beetroot with onions
· Carrots with peas, lettuce, onions, or tomatoes
· Onions with beetroots, strawberries, tomatoes, or lettuce
· Eggplant with beans
· Cabbage with potatoes, beetroot, onions
· Green peppers with all vegetables
· Lettuce with carrots, radishes, strawberries, or cucumbers
· Pumpkin with mealies
· Swiss chard with strawberries, spinach
· Tomatoes with onions or carrots
· Mealies with peanuts, peas, beans, cucumber, pumpkins, or potatoes
· Sunflowers with cucumbers
· Beans with potatoes, carrots, cabbage, or most other vegetables
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