Past and present students from Camps Bay High School came together to build and plant phase one of their school’s Garden of Hope.
Camps Bay, South Africa (08 September 2021) – To coincide with Arbour Week, Camps Bay High School launched the first phase of their Garden of Hope – a food garden for the future with roots in the past.
The first phase of the Garden saw the planting of eight fruit-bearing trees and 8 vegetable planters. The Garden of Hope was designed and is being implemented by Camps Bay Past Pupil Ben Getz from Urban Harvest, who gave an introduction to edible gardens and helped learners plant the first vegetables yesterday. Also present to plant the first vegetables in the Garden were Camps Bay High School Principal Louis Mostert and Camps Bay Ward Councillor Nicola Jowell.
Getz’s company, Urban Harvest, has been involved in a number of successful edible garden projects across the Peninsula including Gardens in Khayelitsha, Tafelsig, Woodstock and Wynberg.
“We believe that by enabling people to grow and harvest their own food, we are ensuring a healthier, happier and more sustainable way of life for everyone. We make food gardening fun, easy and hugely rewarding.”
“It feels like I am coming full circle now with an organic Edible Garden at my old school. I am looking forward to working with the Camps Bay students and community and passing on my knowledge, creating future gardeners.” – Ben Getz, Urban Harvest
The garden was fully funded by the school’s Alumni Association and the families of he school students. The next phases of the garden will be funded by a remembrance garden where people can honour loved ones lost.
“We will be creating opportunities within the Garden for past pupils to remember classmates and friends who are “Gone Too Soon”. Our past pupils and current families can donate towards the funding campaign which is hosted on Quicket. We still have over R100 000 needed to complete this project. If anyone would like their donation to go towards remembering a certain past pupil, they mention that pupil’s name when donating so that we can ensure they are remembered in the Garden.” – Mrs Cara Kahn, Head of the Camps Bay High School Alumni Association
Phase one of the garden has seen the sowing of red lettuces, green lettuces, beetroots, turnips, table celery, spinach, leeks, green cabbage, broccoli, carrots, radish, yellow pear tomatoes, black cherry tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, sweet basil, rosemary, marjoram, oregano, common thyme, curly parsley and flat parsley.
“For this first phase, we have planted high yield vegetables which will be able to be harvested in a relatively short period of time. As the garden develops, we will be able to add further vegetables and herbs that are best planted at different times of the year. We want to create a garden with a good variety of vegetables, herbs and fruit so that the students are kept interested and excited by their project.” – Ben Getz
With the first phase of the garden complete, the school is now working on completing the next 3 phases.
Added Kahn, “We still have a further 3 phases to complete our Garden and so appeal to our community to please donate towards making it a reality – every R100 makes a huge difference and all sponsors will be acknowledged. The next phase we will be working on is the very important wind break to buffer the garden against the harsh Camps Bay South Easter. In Phase 3, we will be planting a further 8 fruit trees and 8 vegetable planters and in our final Phase 4, we will be finishing the garden off with an outdoor classroom as well as some integrated planter benches.”
Concluded Mostert, “We have no doubt that the Garden of Hope will become the new outdoor heart of Camps Bay High School. We are excited about the opportunities it presents to our learners who will be able to learn about sustainable and organic food gardening, a valuable skill in any community. We are also looking forward to using the harvests from the garden to support members of our community who have food security issues.”
If you would like to remember someone in the Camps Bay High School Garden of Hope and to donate towards the project, click on the link to go to the funding page here.
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