For the uninitiated a permaculture garden might appear to be an eyesore with its irregular soil mounds and layers of grass providing cover to the soil, but it is being used to successfully provide schools with much needed food gardens.
One such school is Toronto Primary school in Mankweng near Polokwane inLimpopo. The school has two huge gardens which are an oasis in the dusty and dry area. The gardens use the principles of permaculture to supply their feeding scheme and the local community with a vegetables, fruit and even medicinal plants on a sustainable level.
The permaculture system allows for agriculture to take place in a way that mimics the relationships found in natural ecologies to create a sustainable alternative to industrial-agricultural methods.
The system is designed for sustainability and uses natural methods such as complementary planting, mulching to promote water retention and planting all crops on sloping mounds of soil to channel water and get the maximum benefit of this precious commodity.
The school started its permaculture in 1998, with just two planting beds, with the aim of supplementing its feeding scheme with vegetables such as beetroot, spinach, cabbage and onions. The garden has since grown to include two huge plots and a poultry project.
“Our school services more than 1000 learners, many of whom come to school without having eaten anything so this project is really important to us and the rest of the community,” says Alwin Kgopa, the teacher who started the project and continues to run it to this day.
“We grow a bit of everything,” she says with a smile. “We have vegetables, herbs, fruit and even medicinal plants.”
The learners have become actively involved in the project, and when the Teacher visited the school, their excitement and commitment was evident. The learners braved the scorching midday son and were merrily digging away in the gardens.
“I have lots of fun in our garden, especially with the earthworms, and it is fascinating to see how a plant grows from a seed into something that can be eaten,” says 11-year-old Eric Seabela.
“Ms Kgopa has introduced us to the world of natural herbs and medicinal plants and thanks to her I have now started my own little vegetable garden at home using permaculture techniques. It’s a great feeling to eat something that you have grown yourself.”
Kgopa also sees the gardening project as an opportunity to engage with learners who are not very keen on the traditional way of learning, especially those who struggle to maintain interest in the classroom.
“We try to find ways of incorporating the garden into our lessons and surprisingly we are able to do so in most of the subjects offered at this school,” she explains.
“For example, lots of our produce is sold to the local community and in this way we are able to teach the learners entrepreneurial skills. The garden is obviously also a very useful teaching aid for a subject like natural science and we can make use of it to teach basic concepts such as addition as well.”
The garden is also useful in making learners aware of the connection between the earth and the food they need for nourishment, whereas before they might not have considered where the veggies they buy at the supermarket comes from.
The schools good work has not gone unnoticed, and under Kgopa’s guidance has won several awards, including the 2008 Limpopo School Environmental Award and the 2008 Woolworths Trust Eduplant Mentoring Category Award for the guidance it provided to other local schools who have now established their own permaculture gardens.