A PINETOWN gardener is happy to share her gardening skills and produce to other people in the community. Natalie Rowels developed her growing skills from the age of five.
Telling her story, Rowels said she was with her sister, returning from purchasing vegetables at a roadside stall, when they got a lift from a farmer in their area. “He was a chicken breeder and invited us to view his day-old chicken farm. I asked if I could take 100 day-old chicks from him, asking him not to kill the ones that were not perfect but rather to give them to me.”
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From those humble beginnings, Rowels started her first food garden to feed the chickens and later her family, too. The garden chickens supplied eggs and meat to them as well as a constant supply through breeding.
“The chicken bio-waste was used as compost for my food garden. I used home remedies, like cut aloe leaves, in the chickens’ daily fresh-water supply and black or brown shoe polish on their faces and legs for any disease, etc. This ensured a healthy flock of hens,” said Rowels.
“My mother helped me in the beginning so I could later continue on my own doing this enjoyable chore. Even now, I still enjoy working and harvesting more than 60% of my edible food crops from my own gardens,” she said.
Fast forward to adulthood, about 32 years ago, after resigning from her last employment, Rowels got into the swing of growing food crops for her own use and also wanted to share her secret with others, especially disadvantaged people.
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“A couple of years ago, my friend and I and her assistant started teaching around Durban and farther afield – we taught the rural people at their homes how to grow their own crops for four weeks, doing 20 gardens a week, with as many men and women as possible from each garden assisting and learning so they could continue to grow on their own.
“We gave each of them containers of worms filled with my Eisenia Fetida composting earthworms, which we teach them to use and grow more worms from. I told them that this would be their ATM machine where they could now make money by selling any excess worms to friends and neighbours cheaply. I told them they could also help in creating worm compost from their bio-waste to be used in their food gardens, too. Also to use my motto, ‘each one teach one’, and pass on all we have taught them and not die with the knowledge still inside them but share this with everyone as much as possible,” she explained.
Rowels has also visited schools to teach learners how to grow their own food as well as how to create topsoil using the worms. She has also been a speaker at conferences, promoting the wormeries’ vermi-compost which can even be used to help grow roses.
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