NEW GERMANY couple Ghelema Easton and Tawhid Dentow are encouraging people to plant and bank seeds as the world is faced with the possibility of food shortage. With a yard turned into a garden of vegetation, the couple are plant enthusiasts who have also been food-growers for the better part of their lives.
Living in New Germany for just a year, Easton and Dentow have revived the community they share and swap seeds with. The Covid-19 pandemic saw a need for the couple to outsource their passion for food growing, and there was never a better time to share their skills. Even though they started in Cape Town, they continued with their mission after relocating to Durban to get close to their family during the National Lockdown.
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“The first lockdown created both the need for immediate action with food security becoming worse by the moment, and the opportunity because the streets were deserted.
“One morning, we started on the verge outside our home in Cape Town, armed with spades, seven fruit trees and a do-or-die belief that something needed to happen. We cleared the grass, enriched the soil and planted the trees all in one session. Now came the expansion with chard, beetroot, turnips and carrots. The whole verge was now planted, complete with our homemade signboard Creating Eden.”
The couple said that when they got to Durban, they continued with Creating Eden. Their first harvest was donated to an old age home for a Christmas lunch four months after their relocation.
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The couple’s aim is to not only donate their harvest but to impart the skill of food-growing through seed-banking. “We believe in taking action, so we teach, passing on knowledge, experiences and support to create a real community powered by its own force and love for one another,” they said.
The couple said they do not accept sponsorship and consider their independence as critical to achieving their goal.
“Our big passion is to teach and promote growing food, simply, with minimum cost, to feed all those around us whom we care about and have responsibility to look after. It’s sustainable independence freeing ourselves from the need to buy anything when we can easily grow, create, re-use or re-purpose what we already have. We teach zero-cost techniques, so that everyone can grow food, and reducing waste because we throw nothing away and re-use everything,” she said.
The community of Creating Eden had their first gathering this year in August where they invited people to share their seeds, and in return, they shared theirs.
Through Creating Eden, the couple said they are creating and encouraging the joy of growing food. “The communities will grow naturally from the shared passion and the realisation that the futures of children and grandchildren will depend on their ability to do a very simple and enjoyable thing – plant a seed and watch it grow.”
Easton and Tawhid said they plan to have seed swaps every month with the next one set to be on September 4. The community is invited to bring their seeds to swap with the rest of the food-growers.
