Help our Eco Village get off-grid and sustainable

At Nourish eco village nothing goes to waste this term was full of activities that  were encouraging to our team and community members to reuse their recyclable materials and resources.Triad our farm manager collects Ash (which is a good source of potassium,Phosphorus and Magnesium) from the grannies kitchen to add it to compost because wood ash is a good source of many micronutrients that are needed in growing plants.

One of the activities that took place was a perma-culture workshop where Trygive Nxumalo the facilitator was teaching community members the importance of using grey water, how to make their own compost and how they can use items around their homes that are either broken or of no use to plant their crops and veggies.

During the workshop we got to see a toilet pot used to plant spinach and empty bottles and rocks used as demarcations in the new garden. We must say that we are even happier that all that was learned during the workshop was put into practice at the eco village because our garden is looking greener than ever. 

And our Grannies kitchen is now able to harvest veggies like Spinach,Greenpaper and Chilly for Green Kidz and our creche.Which enables us to save on our donations.And for the future we are planning on keeping the garden fully functioning so we can continue harvesting for all our feeding schemes and save on donations.

We as Nourish team we are grateful to every support that we get from each and every one of you,Thank you!!

Little actions might not seem like a big step towards going "off-grid" but each little action is more than an action, it is a change in the way that the Nourish team thinks, the way we see litter (as a resource), the way we view problems, and the way we use systems-thinking approaches to turn the waste from one project into an opportunity or resouce for another. It is collectively as the team at Nourish looking at the small steps we can take (without much money or funding for this goal) to be lighter on the earth, and a little more sustainable, in terms of our water use, in terms of how we manage our own waste, and in terms of our own financial sustainability (like growing our own seedlings). 

• Actions include rainwater harvesting and using tyres to stop erosion, and planting in the tyres so they are function, but green and aesthetic. 
• Growing from seed to seedling for our own vegetable garden as well as to be able to have extra to distribute during community workshops. 
• Using concrete rubble from chipping up a pathway as erosion control to prevent loss of vital topsoil. 
• Using reclaimed/salvages signboards/metal as our own welcome sign at the front gate of the Eco Village. 
• Utilising hyroponics to try to be more water-wise in our growing plans!
• We also continue to make bottletop earrings, harvest chillies and make our own chilli sauce, and slowly replace light bulbs with more long lasting power-saving lightbulbs. 

Thank you to those who have supported our slow transition and evolution to a more ECO village!