Off the grid community project to feed local community a success
Several failed attempts had previously resulted in the community garden project being abandoned.
Oliver’s Village in the Zenzele community in Daveyton is a non-profit organisation that recently boasted a successful community garden project that resulted in around 400 people being fed by the produce thereof.
Situated on more than four hectares of land, the village offers a soup kitchen, early childhood development centre, a learning centre where high school learners get extra mathematics and physics lessons, a computer training centre and the food garden.
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A further feature of the organisation is that it operates off the grid.
The benefits of operating off the grid are:
• A photovoltaic power station generates its electricity.
• Ground and rainwater are harvested for use in the garden.
• Biogas is produced from sewage, garden waste, manure and other organic materials.
• The village aims to be self-sufficient and is achieving this by operating totally off the grid.
• Municipal sewerage services aren’t used. Dry sanitation toilets are used and don’t require plumbing.
“Although one garden, it consists of three parts; an educational section tended to by pre-schoolers, a productive garden run by a group of volunteers and a fruit forest consisting of 200 trees,” explained Oliver’s Village administrator Michelle da Costa.
“It produces tomatoes, peppers, cabbage and an array of other vegetables and fruit.
“The garden work develops our pre-schoolers’ fine motor skills, stimulates their senses and most importantly, teaches them to share.
“Not only do they have to share the garden tools, but they also, as young as they are, share the produce with their community.”
The educational garden was planted less than a year ago.
This was accomplished with the help of seedlings from the Checkers’ Little Garden promotion.
The garden began to flourish again after Checkers and its implementation partner, Food and Trees for Africa, assessed the garden and found it ideal for support in the form of permaculture training and the provision of seedlings and gardening tools.
“We sell the high quality produce to the Zenzele community,” da Costa added.
“The bulk of the produce, however, gets used to feed the more than 400 people – pre-schoolers, high school learners, volunteers and other community members accessing services from Oliver’s Village.”
A recent bumper harvest yielded 137kg of butternut, 70kg of tomatoes, 40kg of beetroot and 4kg of green peppers.
“In a case like this, where there’s a lot of surplus produce, we give away the vegetables to community members.”
The garden forms part of a plan for Oliver’s Village to be financially self-sufficient one day.
“We’re keen to start producing enough vegetables and fruit to provide a stable income for us.
“Checkers’ role in helping us establish the garden could not have come at a better time.”
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