Seedlings Almost Ready for Planting

The establishment of a nursery to grow vegetable and herb seedlings for distribution to urban farmers, is imminent. That was the good news from Brendon Martens, our speaker at the Zoom meeting this week.

Brendon, who heads the Urban Agriculture Initiative, is an economics graduate with a Masters degree from Rhodes University in Makhanda (Grahamstown).

                        Brendon Martens during the virtual meeting on Wednesday

Two members of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn will join the committee overseeing the project.

Funds for the seedling nursery will come from the Rotary International global emergency grant originally for a taxi sanitising campaign that came to a dead end, and corporate sponsorships to the UAI. The Rotary money adds up to almost R350 000 and Brendon says the UAI has raised a further about R600 000.

The UAI is a project of the Johannesburg Inner City Partnership.

                        A spinach farm on the roof of the FNB building in downtown Johannesburg

The seedling nursery, which will be established at the National School of the Arts in Braamfontein, will be the second seedling farm at that school. Vegetable gardens championed by New Dawn members will be amongst the beneficiaries of the project.

"We can hire ten young people from the Makers Valley project who will be trained in urban farming by Afgri, as part of the agricultural company's CSI efforts," Brendon told the club. Afgri will help to upskill the operations in terms of horticultural expertise. This would help to make the project sustainable.

Brendon said the UAI was at present finalising quotes for equipment and installations at Seedling Farm 2 and hope to get the process completed within the next two to three weeks. Planting will take place once this has been completed and the first harvesting of seedlings can be expected about four weeks later.

The team at Makers Valley have already conducted a survey of households in the area to determine the amount of food each household needs and what type of vegetables.

                        Planting a pavement garden in the Makers Valley area east of Johannesburg

The UAI is focused on the Johannesburg inner city area, but does not exclude similar projects in other areas. With Rotary on board, a number of clubs in the district have already shown interest in the urban farming initiative.

Brendan said there are very few reputable and consistent suppliers of seedlings in Gauteng, hence the decision to extend the nursery at the NSA.

                      Picking a healthy looking cabbage at Victoria Yards

He invited club members to visit the NSA to see for themselves how the seedlings are grown.

Brendon had to do his first school run on Wednesday morning and was only able to join the meeting after the halfway mark, so there was a bit of time for club business.

This included an update on the Disaster Aid proposal from the previous week. PDG Jankees Sligcher said a fire that had destroyed shacks in Bertrams, Johannesburg, could be the first opportunity for Rotary to get involved by finding out what the community needs are and trying to co-ordinate help for those specific problems.

                        Members of the fundraising committee discussing the Golf Day

The fundraising committee reported that the Golf Day is going ahead at the Parkview Golf Club on 11 March, the coronavirus notwithstanding.

Our resident virus expert, Lucille Blumberg, said March would probably present a window of lockdown opportunity as the current second wave of Covid-19 infections should be over by then with a possible third wave, depending on the rollout of a vaccine, not yet in evidence, being expected in April or May.

Fees are R700 per player or R2800 per 4-ball. This includes green fees, a light snack and a cool drink halfway, and a pizza supper afterwards.

For obvious Covid-related reasons there will be no official prize giving as in the past, but the winners in the various categories will be rewarded. We're also planning a Barrow of Booze as the main raffle prize, so please get your spare bottles ready for when the ban on alcohol sales and distribution is lifted.

Members are asked to urgently recruit players and solicit prizes and sponsorships. The club coffers have been depleted during the long lockdown months and this is an opportunity to raise some much needed funds.

Mike MacDonald, an avid golfer himself, is leading the arrangements for the Golf Day. The Parkview Golf Club has been very accommodating and supportive of the arrangements. As with most golf clubs, they've been hard hit by there various stages of lockdown and welcome the activity at the club.

If all goes according to plan, New Dawn should be able to host another golf day this year, in the traditional November slot.

Next week: There is a board meeting online on Monday, which will be followed by a business meeting next Wednesday.

A Thought for Another Lockdown Week: Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend. - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809 - 1894)