In efforts to create and maintain an urban ecosystem, Ecosolutions joined volunteers at the Parkhurst Community Garden to install an owl box. The owl box and educational sign board were installed on June 10.
Ecologist at Ecosolutions Sara Orchardson said someone had donated an owl box to the community group of volunteers called Incredible Edible Community Garden. She said Ecosolutions were there to install the owl box which would be serviced once a year.
Volunteer at Incredible Edible, Tracey Cooper said Incredible Edible is an international urban food growing movement and they started to try and do something similar in this part of the Parkhurst Recreation Centre’s unused public space. So they started a community food-growing garden in 2007 and since then it’s grown into a much bigger space.
She said the reason they installed the owl box is because their community food garden is very popular and over the years they have started to build compost heaps and make their own 100% organic compost. “We however noticed that it’s a nice place for rodents to live in winter because it’s nice and warm. So the next step in terms of the evolution of the garden was to use natural rodent control which is by introducing owls,” she explained.
She said after the owl box was donated, they raised money to get Ecosolutions to come and do a professional installation. Ecosolutions spoke to residents about using natural methods of rodent control instead of poison. This is because animals, pets, and small children suffer from the poison used for rats.
Co-ordinator and project manager of Grow Parkhurst, Pauline Barton, said she had been driving past the Incredible Edible’s Community Garden for a couple of years. Last year in December she then went in and chatted to Cooper who told her she could volunteer and that is where Barton started. She said they decided that this year they will gradually change the name of the garden from Incredible Edible to Grow Parkhurst because that represents a therapeutic space where personal growth can happen as well as a space for learning how to grow your own food.
“Ecosolutions comes in because when you think about an urban ecosystem you want to invite as much biodiversity into the garden as possible and also have natural ways of controlling pests and that’s where the owl box comes from. So we will be installing an owl house and the next step would be for us to name this box and integrate it into the garden and learn more about the owls while watching and observing them,” said Barton.
Parkhurst Sport and Recreation officer Alessandro Petrus said he mainly looks after the facility itself and since Parkhurst Incredible Edible run the garden, he makes sure all things are running accordingly.
Have any community projects happening? Invite us by email to naidine@caxton.co.za
Related articles:
