Sisonke Durban Garden

09/05/2024

There definitely must be a place for locally produced food that creates micro-enterprise and health giving opportunity in the activity, reduces food miles and provides fresh produce for the good of all its eaters. And provides opportunity to create compost in the gardens to divert up to 40% of this 'waste'=resource stream, for the good of local soil
regeneration. Let's keep gardening and making compost!

# urbanfarming Compost Awareness Week

Not that we ever doubted it, but this is very encouraging to read given the work that a lot of you are doing out there in South Africa and beyond, be it on vacant city plots like here at Sisonke Durban Garden or rural smallholdings!

Bear in mind however, the results of this study will be influenced by the high yields of urban hydroponic produce, which is not inherently sustainable or regenerative (conventional hydroponics relies on extracted or synthesized nutrients). But with the power and resilience of agroecology, anything is possible 💪

Read more at the opensource link below, or search online: 'How Much Food Can We Grow in Urban Areas? Food Production and Crop Yields of Urban Agriculture: A Meta-Analysis'. Payen et al, 2022. Earth's Future

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022EF002748



📷 Sisonke Durban Garden, KZN 2023.

10/04/2024

We’re thrilled to introduce a groundbreaking initiative that aims to empower a small startup farm just outside Bloemfontein, South Africa. Our crowdfunding proposal seeks to raise $12 000 to establish a sustainable egg production system that promotes ethical pastured poultry and regenerative a

17/01/2024

New opportunities.....Sisonke is looking for two passionate and committed growers to join the team. If you enjoy growing food, working outdoors and want to be part of an urban food farm please be in touch. Ideally to live in central Durban too, as would make your travelling time easier.

04/01/2024

Happy new year from Sisonke Durban Garden! One person we are so grateful for is social worker Zodwa Msuthu who helped particularly with setting up banking for the growers....and continues each month. Thanks Zodwa, for being a crucial part of the team. Here's to good growing, increasing markets and continued earnings for the garden, in 2024!

14/12/2023

Sisonke and Davenport Park gardens have got new signage to add to their new wheels! Our thanks to Graphic911 in Overport for gratuitously printing some of the lovely signs for the trailers, as well as Drew Hyett of the R100 Buck company, for doing the rest. And to the Savanna Foundation for providing the funding.

05/12/2023

https://youtu.be/hyT-6qiubd0

05/12/2023

07/11/2023

Rainy day happiness ...getting a composting pile in order. What a difference a jcb makes ....and many willing hands. All that plastic litter gotta get out the woodchip pile before we go any further ....

03/11/2023

Exciting day today as both Sisonke + Davenport Parks got sets of wheels donated by eThekwini Transport Authority and GO!Durban Cycle Academy - meaning autonomous deliveries to those slightly further afield. And thank you to Savanna Foundation for cargo trailer for Sisonke, Davenport Park was able to buy its own using income earned from veg sales. Saving time for faster deliveries and making growers independent in deliveries. Healthy exercise riding a bike, healthy lifestyle eating fresh produce - and no pollution with our zero waste deliveries. This is paradigm shift in motion/ great green economy exemplar, for Durban!

26/10/2023

This week the three urban food gardens have been blessed by a donation of seven x 210 litre drums for water collection at Sisonke, Davenport Park and an entrepreneurial garden start up on the Berea. Our humble thanks to Krishen + Avikar of Drumpal who responded so favourably to our ask. In gardens with only 1 tap between them all (!) this will be a game changer for local collection of water over the rainy season. Thank you Drumpal!

19/10/2023

So nice to have an overseas visitor again ...Alli Duane, International Relations graduate from the US ...thanks for reaching out! Seen here at Davenport Park Garden ...and we did visit Sisonke too. We are proud of the over R15K earned in fresh produce sales in just over six months since first harvest at Davenport Park, the second urban garden to Sisonke...despite minimal water + limited planting. Thanks as always to our regular supporters ...Glenwood Bakery, Arts Cafe, Saviour Cafe, the Coffee Tree ...whose food miles footprints are so reduced by buying our local produce. Viva local production for local needs!

30/08/2023

Thanks to Jody, Kennedy and ladies from Parks department today who spent a couple of hours helping to clear castor oil plants at Sisonke Garden and some bristle grass. Thank you for your tools and time. Anyone got advice now what to do with the cuttings, with huge green seed heads that need to be destroyed? Any advice on solarization/ will black (or clear?) plastic work?

25/08/2023

14/08/2023

Positive placemaking in Glenwood - a great collaborative morning with all stakeholders in the hood - where Davenport Park urban food garden is quietly growing as a sister garden to Sisonke. Working with multiple partners in Glenwood there will be opportunity to co-create many more positive opportunities and exemplars. We hope the ten One Planet principles might help frame the holistic action planning process that is now to happen. Well done to all involved.

24/07/2023

24/07/2023

What a wonderful 67 minutes we had on Mandela Day July 18th at Sisonke Garden. Huge thanks to Thompsons Africa + Cullinan Holdings Ltd as they donated 7 crates full of tomato, rocket and spinach seedlings for both Sisonke + Davenport Park gardens ...and did a little planting while on the job too. Many hands TOGETHER make for a better Durban.

18/07/2023

Our thanks to Colin and team from Gold Circle who kindly donated a huge bag of compost to the garden ....with more in the pipeline. Our plants are tickled brown, as you can see : ) thank you Gold Circle 🙂

11/07/2023

Black gold being made in the garden today ...how rich is our compost looking! Certainly the mustard greens are loving it 🙂

28/06/2023

Day out today to visit the iTrump roof top garden in Monty Naicker Rd, as we wave goodbye to this semester's group of final year DUT Horticulture students. All the best to you guys for a fun filled, green and regenerative future! Thanks for all your contributions to Durban's urban gardens - Sisonke and Davenport Park.

23/06/2023

New harvests from the garden for Sisonke - turnips grown for Sibocali Foods who are turning these winter roots into low carbohydrate flour and delicious vegetable crisps.

We have also been harvesting lettuce seeds to replant again ....and thanks to a donation of a disused bird cage from Umgeni Bird Park we have been able to make our own compost screen ....good reclamation and reuse of materials team! Thank you Umgeni Bird Park for being wise enough to not throw the materials away.

07/06/2023

Our thanks today to Dr Jonathan Foley from DUT Horticulture department who organised the donation of some lovely indigenous ornamental plants for both Sisonke and Davenport Park communuity gardens. Pictured is Sicelo from Sisonke and Andile from DUT Nursery when we collected the boahinia's, plumbago, tecoma's and two trees. Thank you gentlemen!

06/06/2023

Another lovely day in Sisonke Garden ...with an aloe about to flower, juicy lettuces growing, some rocket in quiet flower while mulching happens behind. And a kind donation of papaya trees, nasturtiums, fennel and more...thank you Clive, Victoria and Coral for your visit today!

31/05/2023

All hands on deck today, as the Sisonke Garden Hort students chose to spend a day at the second urban community garden in Davenport Park, helping to create more beds and an extension to the pathway. In between the rain, some sun....and good work done. Thank you to all.

10/05/2023

Wednesdays are delivery days ...look at all that lovely spinach going to ! This time from our sister newbie garden in Davenport Park ...local production for local
needs, after all.

Our two DUT final year students gaining work experience in this garden too ...Ngcebo and Lucy ...thank you guys for your wonderful enthusiasm and hard work at Davenport Park. You two rock!

Here is a pic, too, of the flowering ribbon bushes (Hyopoestes aristata) in the park currently...great for pollinators like butterflies and bees and oh so pretty.

07/05/2023

Hooray for 'girl power' in the Sisonke Garden ...we have final year DUT Horticulture students Gugu, Thobile, Lindelwa and Sindi, doing work experience in the garden. Thank you for your great work ladies! Hopefully some enjoyable learning happening too!

21/04/2023

Early morning garden this week, and the early bird catches the worm .... can anyone see the thrush in this photo? (or could be a chat I wonder, hmmm ....). And an overall view of how the garden looks currently ... still more beds to fill!

12/04/2023

Sisonke means “We are Together”. We join together as a community to grow and support one another🥰 Together we put our hearts into our garden 🪴

Our team mimics the ebb and flows of the tides… we share our learnings and farming with volunteers, community activists, final year horticulture students and others. Students tend to do their practicals in our garden…once they grow they move on to new challenges & we’ve been grateful for their time spent. Who you see here are the main steadfast pillars of Sisonke…From left to right is Sarah, Gabriel and Sicelo.

Sarah has been supporting us from the end of 2021 and is from Bioregional South Africa. She initiated our Bokashi composting initiative to produce on-site compost for us, by using food waste from the hotel🍠. The idea is to establish a circular economy by having surrounding hotels and restaurants buy back the vegetables.

Gabriel is a Permaculture educator and mentor who trains the staff in our garden, and has been invaluable in identifying natural rhythms within our city garden and preserving water flows and usage. Gabriel also trains at other community gardens and hosts permaculture workshops🌿

Sicelo, saving the best for last, is our heart. Modest, quiet, kind and patient he is the drive of change and action at Sisonke. Sicelo’s one of the few people who after spending time with them leave you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated! He has the same effect on all the plants it seems as everything he tends to rises us with vigour 🌴

28/03/2023

Tuesdays mornings at our Sisonke Garden in the city are dedicated to our weekly compost production 🤎

Here you see Sicelo, directing the process. Sicelo is the drive and heart of the garden 🪴 All that you see and everything we harvest and sell from our garden today is looked after and tended to by him and a bigger team 💪

This includes our compost! Our close the loop source of nutrients and soil life for our plants roots!

The food waste that we collect from the hotel has been treated with bokashi and left to ferment in sealed drums for a week. We have shallow trenches along the border of our garden that we use for this purpose. An empty trench gets filled with dry grass, leaves and any material from the neighbouring sports field. Then goes in the food waste, predominantly decaying fruit and veg. Mix mix mix, water water water. Then cover with dry grass, allow to sit for a week and turn again. The weekly turning / mixing is repeated until the compost is ready to apply to the garden at 8 weeks.

We’re keen to share our garden with you, so send us your questions and we’ll be honoured to have you join of our journey 💚