Permaculture for schools - fresh food, full stomachs, alert minds

Permaculture, including organic food production, recycling, water conservation and energy conservation can make such a difference. All these activities can be as simple as growing your own carrots, recycling your Coke cans, catching rainwater in oil drums and making a trowel out of an old milk bottle. Every little helps. In the context of this week's National Environment Week focus on climate change the environmental mantra of the moment these types of initiative may seem small but significant changes such as sustainable ways of growing our food can make all the difference at a number of levels. Projects like the EduPlant initiative, a Woolworths Trust social investment project co-ordinated by Food & Trees for Africa, are of this nature. Geared towards making a difference by building food security in a sustainable way within township and rural school communities, it consists essentially of an annual education programme and competition which together reap a whole basket of ongoing community benefits. It works like this: the trained educators teach the children to design and establish food gardens in the school grounds. That includes setting up recycling, water harvesting, companion planting, creating natural pest-repellents, composting, energy-saving and attracting birds and other useful creatures to their school environment activities all in line with the principles of permaculture. Permaculture is short for permanent agriculture. It involves the design and maintenance of sustainable, ecologically sound, energy-efficient agricultural and horticultural systems. It's a radical approach to food production particularly in the context of an increasingly branded, packaged, quick fix, microwave-zapping, consumerist society. And it produces more energy than it uses largely by recycling all nutrients and waste. This, then, reduces carbon emissions and assists in arresting global warming. In line with this, says Zinzi Mgolodela, Woolworths Trust Trustee is its core tenet of following nature's natural patterns, which thereby maximises natural biodiversity, conservation and habitat protection, as well as social well-being and stability the harvest is when the harvest has always been, the food that is in season is the food that is eaten and no chemical fertilisers or pesticides are used on the vegetables and fruit grown. In essence, the scheme produces organic foodstuffs on a small scale at community level. The benefits are many: Permaculture food gardens provide nutritious food for school children fresh food, full stomachs, alert minds* School environments where waste is managed, water is conserved and soil is enriched are cleaner and healthier The gardens are living, learning laboratories where experiments and lessons can be delivered to meet Outcomes Based curricula criteria across a number of learning areas The design, nurturing and harvesting of the gardens imparts and revives the traditional life skill of producing one's own food in harmony with nature Fresh, organic food increases awareness of the positive impact of good nutrition on health, especially with regard to HIV/AIDS The gardens have led to a range of additional outreach projects for instance, teaching other schools, parents and community members how to develop their own permaculture food gardens. And it is also fun, encouraging the youth to adopt responsible environmental practices early without the need to force the issue: no need for a big stick when the end product really is a sweet and juicy organic carrot. * 1.5m South African children aged 1-9 suffer from malnutrition: the National Food Consumption Survey V SA 1999 Vitamin Information Centre, April 2001) NOTES TO THE EDITOR: In 2007 EduPlant has trained 5430 educators through their attendance at the free April workshops. Competition entries will be narrowed down to 63 for the Competition finals, which will be held at the end of September 2007. The Assessment Event will be run over three days in Gauteng and will consist of the judging, workshops and networking. Each finalist school will receive R500 and a substantial amount more will go to nine provincial and three category winners �V Emerging (new entrants), Intermediate (previous finalists) and Advanced (previous winners) garden categories. EduPlant is co-ordinated by well-established environmental NGO Food & Trees for Africa and the Woolworths Trust has been its major sponsor for four years. Contact DetailsJackie BuschWoolworth's021 424 1530/08