Food Commons Projects

We grow vegetables (winter and summer crops) organically using Permaculture methods. We sell to our local organic market weekly as well as to local community members. Our Permaculture Gardener Simbarashe Mubaiwa (trained by John Nzira of Ukuvuna Urban Harvests) has indigenous knowledge as well as Permaculture training in growing food. He is passionate about growing and is an enthusiastic teacher, passing on his knowledge to other gardeners as well as teaching young children at the local Nursery School about food. Simbarashe has trained 2 gardeners at the local school in exchange for his 4 year old sons schooling.

Currently we grow lettuce (4 different types), kale, spinach, celery, soup onions, Egyptian walking onions, garlic, green peppers, chillies, sage, mint, horned melons (spiny cucumbers) cucumbers, turmeric, carrots, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, peas and madumbes.  In summer we also grow potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, beans, African maize, brinjals, marrow, pumpkin and butternut.

The weight depends on the type of veggies (lettuce and leaf veggies weigh much less than potatoes for instance) however we sell about R600-R800 per week. Our food growing area of our current small holding is about a quarter of a hectare (estimated).  We are PGS certified.

We are trialling our farming methods currently as we will soon be selling our property to fund a farm, where we will focus on growing fruit and vegetables and our goal is to provide a holistic approach as well as knowledge, skills and coping strategies for improving food security, alleviating poverty, supporting health, managing biodiversity, creating employment and more importantly self-employment, creating entrepreneurs and teachers of Permaculture systems and ultimately, successful farmers.

Our goals directly align with and support South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP) for eliminating poverty and reducing inequality by 2030. In addition, Future Seed can help the Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries reach its goals related to poverty alleviation, increased employment, improved food security, and climate-smart agriculture

(http://futureseed.co.za/)