10 years ago, Somerset West Village Garden, was established on an unsafe, derelict park in the centre of Somerset West town. The land belongs to the City of Cape Town who offered a 5 year, renewable rent-free lease. Since then, the garden has grown from strength to strength, with all available land now planted up. Our ‘workers’ are homeless, unemployed people, who come to the garden for 3 hours a day to assist with watering, planting, weeding etc. While there, they learn gardening skills and enjoy a sense of purpose each day. They also learn that working with soil and vegetables in the garden is safe & therapeutic. SWVG works in conjunction with Thomas House of Hope – another NPO close by. Here the gardeners have lockers, they can have showers, do their washing and enjoy breakfast and lunch. The tokens they earn from working in the garden may be exchanged for shopping, clothing and assistance with their ID’s.
Apart from rows of healthy vegetables, over the years we have established a seedling house, a composting and a bokashi area. We sow our own seeds, make our own compost, then harvest and sell vegetables to the local community. We do not use any chemicals sprays or fertilisers and our vegetables are entirely organic.
Every Tuesday morning, we offer the community freshly picked, seasonal organic veg at our market. We now have a covered area where we can hold our markets on rainy or windy days.
Crates of vegetables, especially spinach, are also donated to the feeding schemes in the area.
Thankfully we have some wonderfully generous companies who sponsor SWVG with products. Kirchhoffs kindly supply us with seed for each seasons planting. This year we’ve had some bumper crops of onions, carrots and radishes. During winter we had delicious turnips, broccoli, cauliflowers, parsnips, cabbage and kohlrabi, even though the veg battled with the wet conditions. Spinach and kale are grown throughout the year on a pick and grow basis.
It is now the end of November and we have harvested crates and crates of plump onions, which we’ve hang out to dry. The carrots are bright orange and sweet, salad packs are full of various leaves, herbs and flowers. Beets are being harvested along with courgettes, gem squash and beans. We have planted out brinjals, tomatoes, beans, peppers, chillies and okra in the beds, ready for summer harvesting. All the beds have been covered with a thick layer of lucern, which will act as a mulch to assist with keeping the moisture in and the heat and wind out.
It is wonderful to hear that during this year, 6 workers found permanent employment, showing that a hand up and not a hand out makes a difference.
Thanks again to Kirchhoffs for assisting in making the difference at SWVG and to the many homeless people who benefit from it.
