THREE learners represented Roseway Waldorf School and won an award for their work at the EduPlant finals in Johannesburg recently. Alexander Merle (Grade 11), Ntuthuko Ntinga (Grade 9), Oliver Belcomb (Grade 9) and the school’s teacher and avid gardener Rohinee Govender were excited to take part in this year’s competition. EduPlant is a national schools permaculture food gardening and greening programme and is a competition that is initiated and run by Food and Trees for Africa, in partnership with the Woolworths Trust.
The programme teaches schools how to grow and cultivate their own food in an ecologically sustainable manner. Through the permaculture techniques, communities are recognising the value of recycling waste, creating their own compost and employing biological agents in place of harmful pesticides and fertilisers.
The school won in the emerging category in 2014 and this year won the advanced category.
“In addition to the invaluable experience the learners gain on the farm, they’re sharing the benefits with the entire school community. The farm is providing a platform for engagement and debate around the crucial topics of food sustainability, nutrition, pesticides and gmo, the benefits of bio-dynamic and organic farming versus commercial farming and the challenges encountered with different methods,” said Carla-Jess McDonald, marketing officer at Roseway Waldorf School.
“The learners are exploring any and all ideas from the engineering of hydroponic agriculture to coming up with new ways of developing more sustainable means of planting food in the future with regard to the shortage of land and resources. They have looked at urban rooftop farming practices as well as different types of vertical gardening systems in small areas. The students have also learnt that by using a mixed bed approach and companion planting methods, they are able to eliminate the use of harmful pesticides and chemicals on the Roseway farm,” she added.
