Fresh produce from the community garden

October 16 is World Food Day. A day proclaimed by the United Nations in 1979 to draw attention to all aspects of nutrition. For us, the subject of nutrition is naturally also very important. After all, we grow delicious and healthy fruit and vegetables all over the world. But we don’t just want to offer our customers the most delicious fruits. Our farm inhabitants, for example in South Africa, should also be able to supply themselves with unprocessed food. And that was very difficult until recently. Because the Rooihoogte citrus farm and the DeHoek grape farm are located in the middle of South Africa’s beautiful nature. And so it is almost impossible for the farm’s inhabitants to go shopping every day and stock up on fresh vegetables. So we looked for a solution. And found one! On our farm Rooihoogte we created a community garden together with an expert.

This garden is designed to create a stable and self-sustaining ecosystem. Since then, the residents have been harvesting their own fresh fruit and vegetables. A part of the harvest goes to the kitchen of the farm’s own kindergarten. The vegetables are used to cook delicious meals for the youngest children.

This is great, because the earlier the awareness and taste for healthy, fresh food is formed, the better! The other part of the harvest is then sold at cost in a community store to the farm residents.

And since this garden at Rooihoogte is a complete success, we wanted it on our grape farm DeHoek. With the support of the »Träume werden wahr e.V.« (Dreams Come True) support association, we have also created such a garden here on a fallow land together with an expert. At first, a fence was erected to protect the garden from hungry animals. Then herbs, beans and bulbs were planted. They grew magnificently and with them, the ambition of the farm inhabitants. Now they plan to grow tomatoes and spinach and to cultivate an area of 3000 square meters. The next step would be a community store where they can sell their fruit and vegetables to the farm residents. So now, at Rooihoogte and DeHoek, people are busy sowing, weeding, watering, harvesting and cooking fresh food much more often. We’re very pleased about this: healthy nutrition is an important building block for a healthy life.