The Biodynamic Agricultural Association of Southern Africa will be hosting a monthly webinar via Zoom: 25 July - Session 1: Farm organism and the origin and role of biodynamics in agriculture. 29 August - Session 2: A phenomenological approach to soil, plants and animals. 26 September - Session 3: Farm fertility, biodynamic preparations and compost. 31 October - … [Read more...]
Cape Town mayor donates much-needed equipment to soup kitchens
Mayor Dan Plato has donated to nearly 150 soup kitchens across Cape Town. Last week, the second phase of handovers to capacitate neighbourhood soup kitchens began in Hanover Park, Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha. ‘We are nearing an important milestone in our drive to feed communities affected by the national lockdown. Today’s handover in Strand means we are reaching even … [Read more...]
Growing in the now
When the news broke it hit me in the chest. I have a high-risk child on immune suppressant drugs. Have fought so hard for him. My own lungs are damaged from embolisms. My other 2 smoke. Brutal. Yet all of life is at any given moment perched on the tip of a pin. Life had taught me that many times. The news unfolded in waves of shock… then the conflicting stories… matched by … [Read more...]
Supporting farm workers with food baskets during lockdown
The Covid-19 crisis will also be a hunger crisis. The PHA Food & Farming Campaign are deeply concerned about the impact the lockdown will have on their farmland communities. The PHA Food & Farming Campaign is initiating a drive to support 1550 vulnerable families in the Philippi Horticultural Area with food baskets during the Covid-19 lockdown. These families are … [Read more...]
Let’s turn the corner on food wastage
If you take a moment to digest the statistics around the amount of food we waste today, it can be pretty overwhelming. It is thought that around one third of the food produced around the globe is lost or wasted. Richer countries waste something like 222 million tonnes per year, in Europe and North America that equates to 95-115kg of food per person, per year. The numbers are … [Read more...]
Langa garden helping to feed future sports heroes
“Siya Kolisi” enthralls spectators in the streets of Langa, Cape Town, with his tackles and accurate passes, but this is not the 28-year-old Springbok captain. It is in fact 13-year-old Luxolo Ntsholo who has adopted the moniker. The Grade 7 pupil will be jetting to Tokyo, Japan, next year to represent South Africa at the 2020 Olympic Games. A learner at the Mokone Primary … [Read more...]
Can I be vegan and biodynamic?
Whether someone wishes to eat meat or not is a very individual decision. Some people feel the need to eat meat regularly while others become ill if they so much as smell it. It can be for reasons of personal health and it can be a matter of principle. Either way being a vegetarian or a vegan is a very noble aspiration and one which need not conflict with biodynamic … [Read more...]
SA’s most environmentally responsible restaurants to be recognised
Entries have opened for South Africa’s most prestigious accolade for restaurants contributing to more socially and environmentally responsible practices. Introduced in 2016, the Eat Out Woolworths Sustainability Award acknowledges the restaurant that brings its customers seasonal, local and ethically sourced produce with minimal impact on the surrounding environment while … [Read more...]
Cool clean tech to tackle climate change
South African entrepreneurs are taking climate change seriously: Water filters made from macadamia nut shells, a mobile solar-powered kiosk for charging phones in off-grid areas, vegetable growing systems using recycled plastic bags, and a machine that turns any type of waste into energy (gas) or diesel. At the SEED South Africa Symposium held in Pretoria recently, … [Read more...]
Which party to vote for our children?
Our short month ends with political parties’ manifestos being published for all to see. First thing I look for has to be how will they preserve our habitat so that our and all children can make a future here? No matter how much the focus zones into other matters, if we don’t have sufficient and clean water, food and renewable energy all that talk will be wasted, for we … [Read more...]
No protection for Cape Town’s breadbasket even after drought
The Philippi Horticulture Area (PHA) Campaign - who host hundreds of UCT and foreign students a year and was presenting at this year's conference - has withdrawn from the Agroecology for the 21st Century Conference in Cape Town this week. The event is taking place at the Centre of the Book, Queen Victoria Street, Cape Town CBD 28, 29, 30 January 2019. The PHA Campaign and … [Read more...]
Pushing the edges to a new frontier of medicine
The medical world and patients alike are searching for new solutions to chronic diseases that will not only mask symptoms but lead to full recovery. The place to find these answers is at the second SA Congress of Integrative Medicine from 17 – 18 November at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West. “At this stage of Integrative medicine (IM), each one of us is still a … [Read more...]
Food store employees assist with local schools’ food gardens
In celebration of this year’s World Food Day’s theme – ‘Our Actions are our Future’, volunteer groups of Woolworths employees from across the country have rolled up their sleeves and gone to work with learners in local schools permaculture food gardens. For most employees it will be the first time that they are participating in an EduPlant volunteer day. The schools were … [Read more...]
