Cape Flats schools visit Hout Bay
organic vegetable enterprise
Promoting Environmental Action for Sustainability
Green PEAS
is a project of Envirochild
Non-profit c/k
2007/020456/08
Press release 21/7/2008
Date of event:
18/7/2008 Time: 9:30 – 15:30
Facilitators:
Kirsten Zsilavecz & Talfryn Harris
Participating schools:
Fairview Primary & Kannemeyer Primary (Grassy Park), Montagu
Drive Primary (Mitchell’s Plain), Primrose Park Primary (Mannenberg)
3 Learners from each, four teachers and two school
caretakers.
Venue:
Persephone Park, 25 Riverside Terrace, Hout Bay.
Sponsors:
-
SEED Organic classroom Program
(www.seed.org.za)
-
Woolworths
Hout Bay (ref Aisha 021 790 10130)
-
Café Labyrinth, 62 Victoria Avenue, near
cnr Oxford Rd (Ref Sam 078 853 0716)
Teachers
and Learners from four Cape Flats schools visited Hout Bay
to learn about the organic vegetable growing enterprise
started by Kirsten Zsilavecz of GreenPEAS
(an Envirochild
Project).
Kirsten grows vegetables at the Persephone
institute, where she has created an outdoor classroom under
the oak tree for workshops. The Learners spent time in the
garden where they harvested vegetables and prepared them for
delivery to Hout Bay restaurants.
The participating schools have food gardens
planted by the NGO SEED (www.seed.org.za ), and the workshop
was part of their Economic and Management Sciences Learning
Area. The recent food price increases have made it more
feasible for local organic growers to compete with food
brought in from large farms. The workshop was intended to
show the schools a real-life example of a sustainable
enterprise, and a glimpse into how a thriving business can
be started with locally available resources. Kirsten feeds
her organic gardens with compost made from Hout Bay’s horse
manure and straw bedding, and also uses earthworms, chickens
and pigs to improve the soil.
“Organic farming is all about feeding the
soil – the vegetables are almost a by-product of a healthy
soil” says Kirsten. Local restaurants (The Health Path, The
Greenhouse, La Cuccina) buy the vegetables and collect
food waste for feeding the farm animals. Vegetables are also
delivered by bicycle which maximizes income and reduces
carbon emissions.
The visiting learners researched prices on
the internet for organic produce, at Café Labyrinth in
Victoria Avenue (which sponsored access to the internet).
Learners
also visited SPAR in Victoria Avenue and Woolworths to
examine fresh produce and critically assess pricing, value
and quality.
At Woolworths they were met by Aisha Splinter
and Manager Leon Erens, who presented the visitors with
fruit and snacks for a picnic lunch along Chapmans Peak
Drive.
Another highlight of the day was a visit to the Republic of
Hout Bay Consulate where the learners and their teachers
were presented with Hout Bay passports by Consul Andre
Jacobs.
“Our intention was for the visiting learners
and teachers to have fun and experience what a sustainable
business look like. They left with a very positive
impression of Hout Bay and I’m sure they will return with
their families to visit Hout Bay’s other attractions” says
Talfryn Harris of GreenPEAS.
GreenPEAS would like to run a similar
workshop for Hout Bay schools and invites interested
sponsors to contact them (greenpeasco@gmail.com or
www.envirochild.org).
