WATCH: Growing love for organic food

IT was a day filled with opportunities for plant enthusiasts and small local businesses at the seed and plant swap in Hillcrest. The event was hosted by Creating Eden, a community of plant growers that gathers regularly to exchange different kinds of seeds and plants. Ghelema Easton of Creating Eden said they were happy to meet again as their last meeting was in September. She said their newly formed community is built on their love for naturally growing food.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Creating Eden

The community is a brainchild of Easton and Tawhid Dentow who were looking to outsource their passion to grow organic food. “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 is 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 reduce waste because we throw nothing away and re-use everything,” she said.

The plant enthusiasts’ and small business owners’ stalls had seeds, plants, vegetation and baked goods. One of the small businesses that were present was the Hhayi Baba Primary Corporation. The team of six members have different gardens in the Upper Highway area, where they grow their food for selling to different people and markets. Speaking to the Highway Mail, Mbongeni Mpulo said they started their business after attending part of a two-year programme. “The programme is still ongoing – we are being taught about plantation and gardening. The first part was general knowledge about gardening, and the second year is learning about businesses. With the knowledge we have attained so far, we were able to start our business, and we are still looking for more markets,” he said.

ALSO READ: WIN: Tickets to Botanic Gardens’ Trail of Lights

Another small business owner, Faldiel Gafieldien, who sells organic honey, was present. Gafieldien from Waterfall has a beehive at his home where he gets the honey from. “The honey you see here is 100 percent organic. It takes about three months to get the honey from the beehive. This saves a lot of money and is also healthy to consume,” he said. Young plant enthusiast Kirani Dessai demonstrated to the Highway Mail how they grow cotton.

Easton said it has been lovely to watch their community grow, and they are planning to meet at least four times a year going forward.