Today, World Food Day, we introduce the first in a series of practical garden activities for anyone wanting to start a garden.
Today, World Food Day, we introduce the first in a series of practical garden activities for anyone wanting to start a garden.
They come from Feeding the Self, a public benefit organisation which is active in Grahamstown, in partnership with the Umthathi Training Project.
On its website, Feeding The Self describes itself as an innovative food security, education, and community development project. "We started off in university providing student support services and lecturing, before we realised that the problems in education were much deeper down; students were not interested in what they were learning, did not know how to learn, and had serious problems that needed to be addressed before they could concentrate, like not having enough to eat.
"In response, we developed an integrated course that requires no resources aside from labour, land and seeds, adaptable to any environment it might find itself in." The organisation started from the idea that people need to see quick results, and to be interested and social in their learning.
"Without these, no project could sustainably succeed." Feed the Self aims to provide participants with what they need to expand the garden, first around their school, then at their homes, then into the community.
The organisation's workshops and courses find simple, practical solutions to food security, education, community development and environmental problems at schools and workplaces. What makes them different? They say their success lies in synergising the school, home, child, teacher and community.
Go to their website (feedingtheself.org/) for gardening and teaching resources. For more information e-mail chirag.patel@feedingtheself.org or call 074 903 1332 /073 557 8909
Testing the soil and filtration 1)
How do you tell if the soil is good?
Soils are composed of sand, silt, or clay. You can do a simple test to find out about the soil the garden. Repeat this test with different soil samples from around the garden. Fill a jar to full with topsoil then add water until almost full. Screw on the lid and shake until all the clumps have dissolved. Place the jar on a windowsill.
After… … two minutes, the sand will settle; mark this level on the side of the jar. … several hours, the finer silt will settle onto the sand. This layer is a different colour. … sitting overnight, the layer above the silt will be clay. Mark the layer. If the water is not murky with floating organic material then add compost to improve soil fertility and structure. Too much sand or clay is bad, to fix add red/brown soil or compost to the mix.
