Celebrate World Soil Day on 5 December 2015 at Soil for Life’s beautiful organic gardens in Constantia, Cape Town. Open from 9am to 4pm this working garden is an ideal environment to experience the abundance of a healthy soil. Watch demonstrations, tour the gardens and buy books, equipment, vegetables and rich, living compost. Be inspired by how this pioneering non-profit uses waste and everyday items to build a beautiful, productive garden.
Soil for Life’s mission is to teach people how to grow nutritious food at their homes, using low-cost, earth-friendly methods. They believe that everyone has the potential to grow healthy food, whether they live in a leafy suburb or an impoverished township. They run regular courses at their training centre in Constantia as well as teaching individual home food gardeners in resource-poor communities. To date Soil for Life has helped more than 1,600 people create home food gardens at their homes in Delft, Khayelitsha, Philippi and other areas on the Cape Flats.
All profits from Soil for Life’s Open Garden is ploughed back into their development work, to help provide the training and tools that enable families to grow their own food.
Soil for Life’s gardens and training centre is situated just off Brounger Road, (off Spaanschemaat River Road), Constantia, Cape Town (behind the Constantia Waldorf School and Peddlars). Entry to the garden is R10 per person.
Six soil facts:
- Healthy soils are the basis for healthy food production.
- Soils are the foundation for vegetation which is cultivated or managed for feed, fibre, fuel and medicinal products.
- Soils support our planet’s biodiversity and they host a quarter of the total.
- Soils help to combat and adapt to climate change by playing a key role in the carbon cycle.
- Soils store and filter water, improving our resilience to floods and droughts.
- Soil is a non-renewable resource; its preservation is essential for food security and our sustainable future.
(Courtesy of the United Nations FAO)
