The grow getters: These earth mothers live vegetable gardening

14 August 2016 - 02:00 By Hilary Biller
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We meet three woman who are making a change by growing vegetables

Refiloe Molefe, with Nkanyezi Dlamini and Amahle Molefe at Bambanani Food and Herb in Bertrams, Johannesburg.
Refiloe Molefe, with Nkanyezi Dlamini and Amahle Molefe at Bambanani Food and Herb in Bertrams, Johannesburg.
Image: Alon Skuy

Ntombenhle Mtambo

Mpophomeni Conservation Group, KZN

 

We meet three women of the soil: "Permaculture gardens can do many things to uplift the community. I would like to address the issues the community faces in a practical and sustainable way - show them how to recycle, save water, eat healthily, make money and improve the environment. We are here to do magic. I am humbled and very excited. My dream is coming true."

- 'The Great South African Cookbook' published by Quivertree in association with PG Blackwell. R450

 

Abigail Dawson

Siyakhana Food Garden

 

Part of an inner city park has been turned into a sustainable vegetable garden. Hilary Biller went to visit the green oasis

Siyakhana (meaning building each other) Food Garden was established on a barren piece of land in Bezuidenhout Park in the Johannesburg suburb of Bezuidenhout Valley in 2005. Initially it was developed to grow vegetables for NGOs that provided home-based care to HIV/Aids patients.

In an effort to become self-sustaining and help empower those who work for Siyakhana, over the past five years it has shifted towards becoming a social enterprise project. The food garden is used as a research and demonstration site to showcase the advantages of agro-ecology, permaculture and the conservation of green spaces in cities, and how these elements can help to feed the hungry.

The food garden employs nine full-time farmers and produce is sold to local households at subsidised rates. It is beginning to develop enterprise models, including an organic-box delivery system and the sale of seedlings and compost, and is promoting consumption of fresh produce as a route to better health.

The garden, using permaculture principles, produces a bounty of seasonal vegetables and medicinal herbs.

It is currently full of various leafy vegetables and root crops. These include chard - the biggest seller - cabbage, beetroot, carrots, peas, beans and kale. Trees providing both shade and food include pecan nut, citrus and peach. Vegetables can be purchased from the farm in Bezuidenhout Park. - Abigail Dawson

Dawson spent six months assisting the Siyakhana project and working the land. She shares recipes using the fresh produce.

- Hilary Biller

 

Refiloe Molefe

Bambanani Community Development farming project, (Food and Herb farm in Bertrams , JHB)

 

Refiloe Molefe battled to raise funds for her crèche until she went farming downtown, writes

Farming is not just a job, it is a passion and lifestyle for small-scale organic farmer Refiloe Molefe, who runs the Bambanani community development farming project in downtown Johannesburg.

Planting and harvesting keep Molefe alive and full of hope. She dedicated herself to farming after all else failed eight years ago.

Molefe ran a crèche for poor children in Bertrams where she lives, but found it hard to get funding. So she joined the farming project, which is used to feed the children. She now combines her love for children and farming by offering farming lessons to children.

"I started this because of the children in the community and I feel I should leave this legacy with them. They are our future farmers. They can do it. All I have to do is train them from a young age," she said. Molefe has won the Department of Agriculture's MaTshepo Khumbani Award three times, and used her prize money each time to equip the food garden.

Raised in Alexandra by her aunt who was a nurse, Molefe recalls how her love for growing food began in her aunt's garden. "I knew there was love in planting food. I saw it with my aunt. She would come home every day, change her clothes and say, 'Let's go to the garden.' I never saw her happier than when she was in her garden."

Molefe pointed to a part of the farming land that she has named the Garden of Promise to feed and change the lives of many.

"When the elderly walk in here I know they sometimes can't afford to buy the produce and give it to them free. The beauty in farming is that it will always grow again," she said.

Although the garden is in the middle of the city's hustle and bustle, Molefe says she still finds it therapeutic.

"When I plant something and I see it grow and feed someone, it fills my heart with love and hope, its like rearing a child," she said.

Sharing  her farming secrets, Molefe said one must have passion and love to plant something and see it grow.

"I don't believe in using chemicals to grow my food. I let it grow and wait patiently. We have to be ecofriendly and enjoy food grown naturally and organically," she said.

People from other parts of Africa bring her seeds from their countries to plant, teaching Molefe different farming methods. Members of the public are always welcome to visit her garden.

She has a weekend stall at the BluBird Market in Birnam, JHB, selling fresh produce and making fresh juices and smoothies using her organic produce. Her kale and ginger juice is life changing.

- Shenaaz Jamal

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