Wild Coast Sun’s garden project exceeds expectations
Surplus vegetables are donated to three schools.
THE vegetable gardens at the Wild Coast Sun Hotel and Casino Resort are flourishing.
In fact, the harvests are so abundant that the gardens do not only provide fresh vegetables and herbs to the resort’s kitchens, but also help to nourish young, underprivileged children at three nearby schools.
The expansive garden spans a considerable area. Vegetables successfully grown there include cabbages, broccoli, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, beetroot and green peppers. The herb garden is fragrant with thriving rosemary, sage, sweet basil and parsley.
The Wild Coast Sun’s culinary team, which makes a point of using fresh, seasonal produce in dishes, sources a considerable portion of the vegetables from the garden. All surplus vegetables and herbs are donated to Serhasheni Primary School, Ebenezer Junior Secondary School and Bright Future Pre-primary School, which together have an enrolment. of about 1 500 children.
“The Eastern Cape is one of the poorest provinces in South Africa. Many schools in the region of the old Transkei and Ciskei still have mud classrooms and lack basic facilities such as running water, electricity and toilets. Coming from very poor homes, children are sent to school without lunch boxes and have to walk far to attend school,” said the Wild Coast Sun’s environmental manager, Sonja Stroud.
She pointed out that Serhasheni Primary School had 200 pupils and only two classrooms, but that the principal was pleased to report that each child received a cooked meal at school every day. The meals were cooked outside in traditional cast iron pots over an open fire. A small building served as the serving area and scullery. With food in their tummies, the pupils of Serhasheni could concentrate and get through the long school day, she said.
Through becoming more self-sustaining, the Wild Coast Sun is also able to contribute to the local community by creating jobs, she added.
The vegetable garden was an environmental project aimed at reducing carbon emissions, fuel consumption and waste to landfill. It was a natural extension to the resort’s very successful natural compost project.
“As part of our environmental sustainability efforts, we started producing our own compost using food waste from the restaurants’ kitchens instead of sending it to landfills. The project has been an amazing success, with the result that we are producing enough natural compost to dress the sprawling lawns at the Wild Coast Sun, as well as to feed our vegetable and herb garden,” said Sonja.
Through becoming more self-sustaining, the Wild Coast Sun was pleased to find it was able to make a contribution to its local community as well, she added.
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