From the Heart of the World

Exploding Cinema and Cafe Ganesh present another documovie screening this Wednesday, 30th November. From the Heart of the World: The Elder Brothers' Warning is being shown as part of this season's documentary screenings.

This beautiful, sobering documentary from 1990 carries a strong warning from a remote South American tribe that cautions us, the “younger brothers”, to give up our self-destructive ways and honour the planet, before it is too late.

After four centuries of seclusion

Jenny Louw talks paradise gardens at Erin Hall as part of the series of Superfoods free talks.

Jenny Louw: horticulturist, garden designer and writer

Jenny Louw is the owner of a wonderful farm garden in Constantia that boasts a lush assortment of vegetables, fruits, flowers, birds, bugs and, of all things, weeds. She shares with us her passion for ‘toiling the soil’, emphasising that we too can succeed in creating our own garden paradise.

‘Picking and eating food straight from our own garden is a sensual experience that cannot be compared to buying food from the supermarket,’ Jenny believes.

A week or so ago she told an audience of around 300 about her dream of beautiful jungle cities, emphasising that bio-diversity is the key to creating a paradise.

‘Nature is my most truthful teacher,’ she explains. ‘I have learnt to embrace every caterpillar, every aphid as a respected part of my garden.’

fresh organic veg on sale
Despite the recent freaky weather, spring is most definitely in the air and the time is perfect for markets, of which Cape Town has many. One of the most fabulous is the new Gaia food market in the leafy suburb of Constantia. Gaia is another name for ‘mother earth’, and so echoes the natural ethos of the market: natural, organic, healthy, yum and fun!

Perfect for those with gourmet taste-buds and a tendency to sup on nought but vegetables, as well as a great day out for those new to the ‘organic-and-natural’ food scene, this Sunday event is a must for all Cape Townians and tourists alike.

10 great reasons to unleash your inner chicken farmer!

Buff Reds

No farm is really a farm without a few hens scratching through loose hay in the yard and the iconic rooster crowing to the sunrise upon his picket-fence pedestal… It just wouldn’t be right! Although most farms are a far cry from what they used to be (you only need to type CAFO or chicken farm into Google to confirm this), the chicken still does, and has always represented the quintessential farm. There is something simple, sunny and inviting about chickens wandering a property in search of something tasty. But chickens need not be a feature of faraway farmlands and way-out rural regions - the urban chicken has earned its rightful place within the city limits of many capitals around the world.

So why are chickens such good urban companions, and why should we keep them in suburbia? Here are 10 great reasons!

A wonderful mosaic stands at the door

In the quiet Cape Town suburb of Plumstead a listed national monument building houses a vegan/vegetarian friendly restaurant that specialises in fresh and fantastic lunch buffets.

Michelle Carelse, the owner of Organic at Heart, took us for a walk around the kitchen garden - a space that was car park only 8 months back, now a thriving veg patch - where we discuss companion planting, worm-composting and the joys of eating as fresh as the last pick.

‘I like the idea of sustainable living,’ says Michelle. ‘This garden inspires people to start their own vegetable gardens. It’s not difficult to start growing your own herbs and salads – if everybody could just grow a little bit we could be well on our way to becoming a more self-sufficient society.’

Hout Bay Green Faire - Sat 29 Oct 10am

One of our favourite events on the green calendar. The Hout Bay Green Faire 2011 has something for everyone. You'll be able to find information and products for greening your lifestyle and lowering your ecological footprint, gifts and entertainment for the kids and yummy local and organic food, plus a whole lot more. An authentic green exhibition in the open air! (remember sunscreen, depending on weather).

There is a REALLY COOL line up of talks on the day, view the Hout Bay Green Faire Programme here.

Some highlights include:
Sue Visser showing you how to make and use probiotics for garden and human health.

Andy Le May on sustainability as the new norm the "realisation that what each of us does is essential in forging the world we want our kids to live in.”

Anthea Torr providing insight into living in peace and harmony to heal ourselves and the planet.

Rod Tritton uncovering some mind-expanding mysteries in his new book Exploring Mystery, Changing History, Taking Responsibility

Tony Budden on the process

Peter Clarke demonstrating different types of honey

“It’s been my experience that beekeepers grow old”, says 90 year old Peter Clarke to the crazy folk who have decided to attend his bee-keeping course. He can’t explain why it happens, all the stings , all the goodness of propolis and raw honey, but most of the beekeepers Clarke knows live well into their 90s. And thus he introduced to us one of the many things we could look forward to by the end of the class in May next year.

For now I’ll tell a story to illustrate a few safety tips. I think this should be the beginning of every beekeeping course – though my class learned these lessons the hard experiential way. This is the story of our first ever ‘suit-up’, after weeks of talking and learning about it – our first ever interaction with the bees:

greenpop one year old this monthIt's amazing what can be achieved in a year, just received this in from the Greenpop team:

Dear volunteer - legend - person we love,

Greenpop turned 1 last week on 1 September and we would like to say a gigantic THANK YOU for your support during our first year. We couldn't have done it without you and we're so grateful.

We can't believe it's been 1 year and so much has happened.
In the last 12 months, Greenpop has:

• planted just over 7000 trees at more than 100 beneficiary locations
• hosted 2 successful Education Days in collaboration with SANBI and Kirstenbosch for our beneficiary ground staff and teachers
• started up a grey water system which sees school children watering and caring for their trees
• had 723 volunteers signing up through our website
• been chosen as one of the winners of the International
  

This set of city garden pictures, captured by artists Julie Henry and Debbie Bragg, records the rise of community gardening in post-industrial locations, as residents attempt to 'bind the community together and improve their environments'.

Send us your pictures so that we can compile similar for South African city gardens to sprouts[@]urbansprout.co.za

Or post it on our facebook page.

Images can be of community gardens, rooftop gardens, pavement gardens, your own veggie garden at home, container gardens, pond gardens, windowsill gardens! If you're into gardening (vegetable, indigenous, exotic, whatever) and live in one of SA's great cities (extended metropolitan area's too!) then share your photo!

The welcome sign at iQhilika Meadery

In an old abandoned power station on the outskirts of Grahamstown, a wacky scientist has something brewing in his lab. With a touch of technology used to modify an age-old recipe, the concoction is set to solve problems of sustainability, biodiversity, unemployment, and help us have a good time while we do so. It is something quite undeniably magical that comes in the form of a bottle of honey mead.

The iQhilika Meadery (named for the isiXhosa mead) in Grahamstown was started ten years ago as a part of Dr Garth Cambray’s PhD research project, and now produces about 15 000 bottles of mead a year. I spoke to Cambray about mead, constructive economics and the innovative systems at iQhilika…

Mead production in decline
Mead is an age-old recipe of fermenting honey to make wine. With the declining bee populations in Europe, mead production in