VICTORY4All Projects turned over a new leaf – bringing new life to an oil-drenched, unused piece of land while feeding hungry tummies.
Already beetroot, lettuce, onions, spinach, tomatoes and carrots have taken root in the organically-prepared soil.
According to Victory4All Projects founder, Johan Vos, the garden was started to meet the nutritional food requirements of the learners at the Rainbow School, the Rainbow Skills Centre, the Rainbow Arts and Crafts Centre and the Rainbow Foster Homes in Kruisfontein.
“The learners will go through the process of planting, watering, growing and harvesting the vegetables, also learning, developing and acquiring valuable life-skills and experience through the intensive vegetable farming training programme and will be filled with hope, a sense of self-worth and value,” says Vos.
Avid gardener
Avid gardener, View Jonas (38) from Victory4All Projects, manages and runs the nutritional vegetable gardens, as well as training the learners at the Rainbow School.
He recently received Organic Farming God’s Way vegetable farming training from the Bountiful Grains Trust.
Farming God’s Way is a simple, but highly-effective, high-yield organic farming technology resource to train, equip and create profitably sustainable small scale emerging farmers to escape poverty and provide for their families and communities.
“It restores soil fertility and results in increased healthy organic crop yields with lower input costs,” says Jonas. “It has a lower carbon and water footprint than conventional farming methods, and furthermore uses 100% mulch covers (God’s blanket) and micro-drip irrigation to produce fresh, disease-resistant and tasty organic vegetables.”
According to Jonas, the now abundant garden was once a mechanical workshop – with old car oil, rubbish and glass everywhere.
Future plans
According to Vos, the long term goal of the vegetable garden is to teach, train, equip and empower learners in the highly-effective and productive way of organic vegetable farming.
“When leaving school, learners will have acquired the necessary agricultural and management skills, as well as discipline, to run a small-scale productive organic vegetable farm,” says Vos.
“Additional land, serving as a business incubator, will be procured for profitable organic farming. Here, school-leavers with a passion and aptitude for farming will be able to farm and manage a portion of land commercially.”
Farming God’s Way training workshops are also in the pipeline.
This follows after 72 residents – men, women and children – from Kruisfontein and surrounding areas, recently attended a three-day intensive practical and theoretical workshop.
“There are many elderly women, widows and vulnerable children without sufficient food to eat,” says Vos. “It is hoped that the workshops will enable them to grow their own vegetables and thus sustain a more healthy lifestyle.”
Vos says that the KougaMunicipality had approved land for a similar organic vegetable garden next to King’s College in Ocean View, Jeffreys Bay.
More information
For more information, contact Johan Vos at 082 821 4291 or send an email to info@victory4all.com.
Alternatively, visit the Victory4All website at www.victory4all.com.