We have also made progress with the establishment of our ELC vegetable and fruit garden. The garden has been terraced using stones, collected by hand, and wooden poles left over from the building of the classrooms.

The terraced garden

So far, we’ve managed to plant a selection of fruit and nut trees and a variety of veggies. Young shoots are now visible for carrots, butternut, beetroot, spinach and tomatoes. And the banana trees have taken root beautifully.

Apart from providing fresh veggies for the nutrition programme, the garden will be integrated into our educational programme. Today, the children from the Grade R class planted sunflowers and nasturtiums – learning to prepare the soil, and water the newly planted seeds (you can see our eco toilets in the background).

Learning through doing

We’ve also established a compost heap alongside the garden. Fruit and vegetable peels and offcuts (from our nutrition programme) are ‘recycled’ here.

Our compost heap

Special thanks to the Ford Alumni Association for their support of our garden!