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About 15 months after planting, our veggies & herbs are ready to harvest. With a little water and sunshine and minimal weeding, the plants have been growing strong! The spinach, onions, mint, and herbs have really done well. The shade house is completed and so now there is a protected space to grow from seed. The new term has started with some return students and some new faces. Our first tasks are to harvest and bring produce to the school kitchen and the students will start eating it next week. A restaurant owner down the road has offered to give us space to sell veg & herbs to her customers, at no charge! Hopefully between selling to the restaurant and to parents at school, we will make a little bit of money to put back into the garden for current needs.

Two students took time to share their experiences with creating sustainable agriculture.

March 2009 saw the start of the Permaculture at Maru-a-Pula School in Gaborone, Botswana.  Started in conjunction with the MaP Green Drive, Perma-culture is aimed at creating a sustainable agriculture source.  With 2 patches of land in the gardens of Maru-a-Pul, an oasis was created where luscious greens prosper in a series of flower and vegetable beds.  The experience of creating something like this has been unique; to get out of ones busy schedule for doing something healthy for the environment.  Not only is this for a short time but this activity was created to continue and be a provider of basic veggies to the Maru-A-Pula boarding kitchen.  With all the forests being cut down and rising food prices, creating such a garden is a green solution to these economic and environmental problems.  This is the start of a greener, more efficient and healthier way of living; a Green Perma-Future!

We learned so much and in very little time. I found everything I learned interesting and cool. Edible permaculture is a cool, new innovative way of gardening.  I also enjoyed designing the beds. When we did this we got to use our imagination and creativity. Everything we did was easy to do and learn. I’m sure we would be called pros by everyone if they saw what we were able to achieve in such a short time. All in all it was fun, a way to keep fit and as one girl kept saying on and on and on…..it was therapeutic…ha ha!

Want to help folks like Andrew and Tshegofatso continue growing community and a sense of civic responsibility in Botswana?  Click here to donate.