From wasteland to vegetable farm

Published Jun 18, 2013

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Cape Town - When organic farmer Mario Graziani returned from Europe last year, he noticed that many neighbourhoods in the city had luscious sprawling lawns, but hardly any gardens.

“I’d been looking at all these patches of green wasteland in Cape Town and kept thinking what a waste,” says Graziani, who believes that land should be used to produce fruit and vegetables.

He began asking around to find out what he could do to address his concerns.

He eventually met former head of Cape Town Tourism Sheryl Ozinsky, who in turn introduced him to Kurt Ackermann, an American who has been living in Cape Town for 14 years since leaving his home in Ohio.

The trio identified a piece of land for organic farming in Oranjezicht at the foot of Table Mountain.

The site was once home to the largest farm in the Upper Table Valley, established in 1709 to provide residents and passing ships with fruit and vegetables.

It was converted to bowling greens in the late 1950s, but later abandoned to become neglected and derelict.

“It was an eyesore, a rubbish dump, and there were vagrants,” says Ackermann.

The Oranjezicht Higgovale Neighbourhood Watch paid for the grass to be cut and some people walked their dogs there, but in general the heritage site had no use.

“City Heritage and City Parks were very supportive, but we had to jump through all the hoops to get the land,” explains Ackermann.

Since their proposal to start the Oranjezicht City Farm was approved in August, they’ve had to work hard to get the depleted soil ready for planting and deal with other challenges. “It took months and months of back-breaking work,” says Graziani. “We found a lot of trash like old shoes and a lot of cement which we upcycled as paving.”

Their biggest hurdle came as a surprise to the team, who never expected that their first harvest would be munched up before they could reap it. “The squirrels took out the baby marrow, the wild geese ate all the salads and the porcupines ate the pumpkins,” laughs Graziani, who says he doesn’t mind the porcupines because they only snack on the decoy orange pumpkins.

“One of our (other) biggest challenges is dealing with an affluent (neighbouring) community that doesn’t have to worry about food shortage,” says Ackermann. “We just try to raise their consciousness.

We’re still in the testing phase. We’ve got to figure out what the neighbours need.”

The team, which also includes a landscape architect, a creative director and assistant farmer Cecil Rossouw, hosts a market every Sunday to sell their produce and use the market to gauge what is in demand.

 

Born and raised in Swellendam, Rossouw first wanted to be a pilot but ended up studying law at UWC. When tuition funds ran out in his third year, he took retail jobs. He stayed in retail for 16 years.

“I did think of going back to complete my studies, but by then my credits had expired,” said Rossouw.

Now he spends his days tending to seedlings and turning soil, stopping only to chat passionately to those who visit the farm.

“Cecil came to us through the Straatwerk project,” says Ackermann. The project, which provides work for poor and homeless people in Cape Town, was asked to bring workers to help ready the soil for planting.

“After three weeks, they asked me to stay permanently,” says Rossouw, beaming.

Now he meets people from different countries and hopes to exchange ideas on farming with them. Rossouw feels that his whole life has been preparing him to work at the farm. He grew up with nine other siblings and his family never had to buy vegetables. “Although my father was a truck driver, he had a farm and I used to watch him through the window when he planted,” says the father-of-three. “It’s in our blood to make things grow.”

Rossouw’s wife died of cancer last year, but he feels optimistic about his family’s future.

“I can only go forward from here,” he says, looking across the land he’s poured his love into.

- Cape Argus

* View the farm’s website at http://www.ozcf.co.za/.

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