Soil for Food Security in South Africa

In South Africa the restrictions and impact of Covid-19 are having a direct effect on millions of children. 5 000 000 school children rely on government school feeding schemes. Since school closures and disruptions due to Covid-19 protocols and social distancing, millions of children are now going hungry. In a grassroots response to the ensuing food crisis and job losses, many local community members have set up soup kitchens from their own homes. Establishing food gardens creates an opportunity to feed into these soup kitchens with fresh, nourishing, healthy vegetable. Growing gardens restores a valuable sense of purpose and teaches a skill set that can help people to provide for themselves and their families´ basic needs. It also provides a place to connect, share seeds, recipes, nutritional advice and stories!

Of course, at the foundation of these food gardens is the soil! Especially in a small, intensive space, soil fertility and nutrient cycling is essential. Thanks to the sponsorship from KILT (The Knysna Initiative for Learning and Teaching) a training was run focused on soil fertility strategies and seed saving.

All the participants are currently employed as gardeners in the school gardens which KILT supports. They learned to make compost, how to use and make vermicompost and organic cumfrey fertilizer.

Participants learned that soil is alive! And that in order to grow healthy food in abundance, we need to feed this soil food web that feeds us. Vermicompost - a closed compost system using earthworms, kitchen scraps or manure is also a wonderful, free fertilizer creator that the participants were encouraged to start.

Written by Kate Curtis, Soil4Life Trainer

Comments

SOIL4LIFE Webinar: JOINING FORCES FOR SOIL PROTECTION IN THE EU'S GREEN DEAL

The webinar will take place in 5 March - 1 0 . 3 0 - 1 2 . 3 0 ( U T C + 1 ) on the Zoom video platform. The main topic of the workshop is the achievement of a preliminary alignment of positioning among the EU environmental NGOs with respect to the priorities on soil protection, the required rules at supranational scale, and the way to make them more effective. Click here to register for the webinar

Read and Sign The Soil4Life Manifesto

The time to act is Now! Please read and sign the Soil4Life manifesto to show your support! https://ccivs.org/soil-manifesto/ Sign the petition here: https://form.jotform.com/212072578209052 Our planet and the beings who reside here and make up the complex, whole, living system on which all life depends are under serious threat. Life functions are being threatened by exploitation, short term thinking, and a worldview that values economic and financial growth over the continuity of life and living systems. The complex, interconnected systems through which life on our planet has been able to flourish and grow over millennia have been misunderstood, misrepresented and ill treated for too long. We, as humans, have attempted to detach ourselves from the web of life. We have created a hierarchical worldview and placed our species at the top, instead of playing an integrated part in its life processes. This attitude and behaviour is destro...

The Crossing - honouring our soil rather than profiting from it!

The Soil in this community garden in a field in Sussex, UK, is full of life. We know that because it’s had 8 years of care and attention helping turn it from over grazed clay pasture into rich loamy soil. The succession has been from initial double-dig, to no -dig, plenty of bio-char added and now since becoming a full blown community-led project in the last year, bio-dynamic preparations and techniques are now being used also. Meanwhile, in the surrounding 7 acres of land, those in the local community interested in animal husbandry have been able to initiate goat, sheep, pig and chicken co-ops as part of a broader regeneration land practices. This is all thanks to the land owner who recognized the growing need for deepening community bonds and producing healthier soils and thereby food, and offered the use of his land for a small membership fee. The Crossing is an example where exchange with and honouring our soil, rather profiting from it is at the heart of this. This expr...

Soil4Life

Search This Blog