Nursery
Subsistence farming is a common practice across rural areas of Southern Africa. Growing some of your own food must be part of life for survival. Many schools in developed areas run food programs for the children who will only eat what the school could afford to give them, yet schools do not include it as part of their curriculum.
Viri’s grandfather was a farmer in Mozambique before the revolt against the government of the time. Viri started learning about plants and growing food from his grandfather and others who also grew much of their own food.
Living on a slope results in a lot of natural wind and water erosion which Permaculture stops and reverses at minimal costs and effort.
Learning about the various ways to propagate plants led to a very healthy and full garden with too little place for cuttings which have rooted or seeds which sprouted and grown into healthy young trees which will have to go into the ground at some point.
What started off as an experiment to restore the garden’s health and fertility ended up looking like a nursery, which led to the idea of selling off surplus plants to help MESHOA.
Our garden is now more of a fruit forest with vegetables and other edibles planted in between the fruit trees which consistently yield avocados, bananas, chillies, delicious monster fruit, dragon fruit, figs, guavas, lemons, loquats, mangoes, mulberries, olives, pears, plums, quince, sugar cane and walnuts. Bay leaf, lemon grass, rosemary and other herbs, grasses and shrubs is harvested all the time, while seeds for annual vegetables are sowed and planted in time for their seasons. Sweet potato vines make for a beautiful ground covering which people mistake for Ivy and very few people know that day lily bulbs, flowers and leaves are edible, as are other decorative plants in our gardens.
We have quite a few trees of the fruit we listed which are ready for new homes.
We will do the same on the training centre’s grounds in Mozambique to help save money on fruits and vegetables while also helping the community do the same through our permaculture workshops. We are also eager to work with and help schools start up permaculture and edible landscaping on their grounds in order to supplement their own food programs which children are dependent on.