Monthly Archives: August 2016

Community involvement at Pirates

Published August 29, 2016 | By admin

One of the definitions of community is that community is ”a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals”. Some will have heard this cliche’…. “the sense of community that organized religion can provide”. I would like this garden to create that kind of sense of community.

Trevor Thouroughgood from an 18 year old family business called Thourogood Gardens donated almost 4 cubes of topsoil and grass from a clients garden in the area last week. Thourogood Gardens specializes in landscaping, maintenance and clean ups. They do alot of work in the Northern Suburbs, but can reach all of Johannesburg. And, to top it off, they can sort out your koi pond, water features, irrigation and take out a few trees too. I hope Trevor will drop off some logs or stepping stones too at some point. This particular gift from the Universe (as I call it) was very special to me, it came as I was waiting a few days to confirm soil coming for pirates and kinda stuck without it. Thank you Thourogood Gardens <3 and thank you to Cultura too for delivering. Contact Trevor on 082 319 4214

IN the previous garden, my tap was installed by a family from Boksburg, and in this one the new tap is from the man I work with in the mountains. I see people from the Owl People group in Greenside come by, and old customers from the market. At the market I get vegan soap with hibiscus and rose water, avo and cucumber cream and potato flour bread. I smile. I see you speak with each other, I see the new market growing and the fences restored, all sorts of things have come together within this community I no longer fathom defining.

I have traded for and been gifted with many plants from the Kitchen Garden Company in Greenside, and pots and trays from Pirates and bokashied food waste from someone who goes to the market regularly.

<3<3<3

Thank you to all of you.

I believe that this Pirate garden will at some point become a more interactive space, bringing together a community of people who trade with and support each other. I have vented online about how community simply does not exist, yet still worked toward it and within it, and I am deeply humbled looking back on this journey. A community might not always be your neighbor or a family member. In this garden, people from Honeydew area or Boksburg have assisted, even people from as far as Germany, just passing through

In a book Ive started reading, by M. Scott Peck called The Different Drum – the creation of true community – the first step to world peace. Yes, I do giggle at the thought of me finally starting to read again, and it happens to be about creating world peace

…. anyway, it says we believe ”If we can resolve our conflicts, then someday we shall have community.” Could it be that we are wrong and that the real belief should be in that, “If we can live together as community, then someday we shall be able to resolve our conflicts.”

I would still like to get a bench or some kind of outdoor kitchen area going, and a wendy hut, definitely more soil for around the perimeter and more fruit trees. Please let us know if you wish to trade or donate something toward it by email nntreasure@gmail.com as I am not around signal alot.

Do come enjoy the space, say hello to us and each other more often.

Thank you for respecting the space we grow our food and medicine in

Food Foresting & Tea production in Lebombo / Ingwenya mountain range

Published August 1, 2016 | By admin

For those following my story, on this blog, I have been deterred so many times just trying to be self -sustainable off the land I traded for using various systems of trade and proxy. I figured what I loved doing the most when I worked in the company I resigned from, was actually the simple act of foraging in the garden for leaves and flowers for a tea and sharing it with my fellow workers So, when I resigned, I decided to trade for the land I use at Pirates and to firstly, grow my own food, and then my medicine or teas and share that.

Along this journey, I sold out in before the first summer of the first garden came, and had to relocate the garden, just as I was getting the tea plants to grow more, and start again. I started again, which brought new people into the garden. One of them is now my boss or investor or mentor, time will tell. He has an interest in self-sustainability and living off-grid comfortably, and has invested, not only in the Pirates garden, but also out in the Lebombo / also known as the Ingwenya mountain range near the Oshoek border post of Swaziland and South Africa. It is still on the South African side of the border, so no need for a passport if you are South African These are some images from my first trip out there.

The accommodation include a gas powered stove top and shower, with toilet.

My accommodation is set in the cliff-side on a wooden deck, with draping tents as walls and a corrugated rooftop. I have a comfortable big bed too with storage units under it. We will be needing volunteers to assist in building more of these platforms for accommodation for a while, as this is quite an impressive few hectares of land to food forest. Please contact me if you want to assist. 072 146 9017

Here is already sugarcane, papaya, mango, olive, litchi, berry and more growing for a few years… and the gardener has done a PDC course – which I have not, so this will be interesting as I will be farming the plants I used to make teas and teaching the people about my teas and how to connect to the garden, well hopefully, that as well, as we grow together. Firstly, the land has been in drought for over 2 years, so we dig alot and take water from the mountain literally I am learning alot about the earth I have danced with for so long, and deeply grateful that so many of my favorite fruits can already be tasted in December.

This is Yarrow – used as an antiseptic in soaps and teas, can be used as a wound wash as a tea or ingested and very safe for anyone, including children

The Lebombo Mountains, also called Lubombo Mountains are an 800 km long, narrow range of mountains in Southern Africa. They stretch from Hluhluwe in KwaZulu-Natal in the south to Punda Maria in the Limpopo Province in South Africa in the north. Part of the mountains are also found in Mozambique and Swaziland. This is mostly still tribal land

Plantain – on of the edible weeds at pirates is found growing next to the river here…

THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ARE OF THE FOUNTAIN GARDEN I WILL BE USING TO GROW MY TEAS AND HERBS IN. I will need volunteers here too – please contact me if you are interested in spending some time learning and growing in this space with me,

love and light

Netanya

0721469017

nntreasure@gmail.com