130 people have benefitted from the Family Food Garden programme with all learning to manage weeds, save seeds, grow food and make fertilisers.
South Africa (03 June 2022) – One of the skills many people wished they had learned at school was to grow vegetables. In the hopes of boosting food security, some programmes now help school learners grasp the skill of growing food and then so much more!
Greenpop started the Family Food Garden programme to teach people how to grow food in their communities. These skills can then be implemented at home too, where they bring the whole family together to grow food.
The Family Food Garden project, a collaboration between Greenpop and Urban Harvest, aims to provide a solution to this persistent problem. Designed to be both sustainable and scalable, this project supports individuals and groups through an in-person home food gardening workshop, distribution of Family Garden Pods, and 12 months of food gardening training and support via WhatsApp.
The programme has been teaching the parents of Christel House South Africa how to grow food, save seeds, and make natural fertiliser teas. They got to showcase everything they learned recently.
The Family Food Gardens project participants harvested lettuce and spring onions. They were also taught about many weeds and how to control them.
“They also learnt how to harvest seeds from marigolds and from the veggies they regularly buy from the shops, in order to grow their gardens even further. Some amazing recipes were cooked and shared and, to top it all off, participants started making comfrey tea fertiliser once their comfrey harvests came in.” – Greenpop
The programme is one of many of its kind, working on teaching South Africans how to grow food. Some of the people involved in the project shared how it has helped them make a difference.
“Thank you so much to everyone who came up with this idea it really opened our eyes – next year this time I won’t be going to the shops to buy veggies. The knowledge you have given us is beyond what we knew.”
– Zukelwa“I have learnt much more about the ins and outs about gardening – how to grow veg and eating out of the garden. Spending time in the garden, thinking of ideas about how to make it better and sufficient to maintain, even inspired me to make a portable garden that will look beautiful. I have helped out people less fortunate, so that they can put food on the table. Thanks to Deon, Greenpop and Christel House for giving me the great opportunity so that I can take the knowledge and teach others what I have learnt.”
– Warren
So far the project has helped train 130 people with a further 20 people still receiving training. Along with the training, Greenpop has installed 130 food garden pods. The Family Garden Pod is a compact, self-contained vegetable gardening system that includes a composting worm farm and a vegetable garden.
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