Denise O’Callaghan first started a vegetable patch in the flowerbed outside her house in 2010.
When the Rosebank Killarney Gazette, first published her story, she received widespread interest from several media outlets and members of the local community.
For the past couple of years, O’ Callaghan has maintained her food garden and remained consistent in providing people with free vegetables.
The concept first started when O’Callaghan had a few seedlings left over, and decided to plant tomatoes on the side of the pavement. She invited a passerby to help himself to the crop, but he refused noting that it wasn’t his to take.
She subsequently put up the signs ‘free and healthy’ and ‘help yourself but leave some for your brothers or sisters’.
“I spend about R100 on seedlings, and I don’t use pesticides on the vegetables. Because there is shade [in the area] spinach grows best, and tomatoes don’t grow in winter. You have to have a rotation of crops or else the soil becomes deluded, “she said.
Among the other vegetables O’Callaghan has planted along the pavement are beans, lettuce, ‘bright lights’ red spinach and butternut.
She noted that maintaining the vegetable garden has offered her an opportunity to connect with people, many of whom are homeless or in need.
O’Callaghan recalled meeting and getting to know the personal stories of people who didn’t want to be on the streets.
She emphasised that the vegetable garden was not meant to solve the overarching problem of hunger, but instead it is more of a gesture of goodwill.
“It’s about building bridges, I’ve learnt so much from it.”
Another community member in Craighall followed suit by planting a vegetable patch of his own in 2013.
Click here to read: Pavement veggie patch feeds passers-by
O’ Callaghan indicated that she would be interested in finding out if other local residents have taken on the initiative.
