Lesley's Story

Tell us a little about yourself!

I’m Lesley, married to Mark, and we live on a private nature reserve on the Limpopo border with Botswana. We’ve lived here most of our married life.

I grew up in Durban in the 50’s where most houses had at least one fruit tree in the yard. The most common, (avocados , mangoes, guavas and bananas), all produced a crop without much effort, which could then be swapped with neighbours for different produce. We lived close to very successful market gardeners who would arrive weekly with trucks laden with their harvest, selling door-to-door. A very valuable service in those days of limited cooling facilities and no freezers. And a privilege to be able to eat freshly grown local food. 

It was quite a culture shock to arrive as a young bride in the hot dry arid bushveld in the early 70’s……..with no electricity, no phone, no shops that sold fresh bread, let alone fresh veggies or fruit…….

How did you start growing?

Well, if  we  wanted to eat any fresh produce, we had to grow our own……and then also learn how to process it for leaner times. 

Fortunately, my husband and I had a background in the biological sciences, majoring in ecology, so we appreciated how essential it was to maintain the interconnectedness of all living things and their physical environs. To show me how to achieve this on a practical level, there was Sargent, the housekeeper who had his own small veggie patch where he grew Swiss chard, onions, beetroot, carrots and tomatoes….and a few citrus, guava and mulberry trees. I leant a lot, and very quickly. Also most important was the inspiration and encouragement I received from my neighbour in Botswana, who was in a similar position.  

From the beginning, our veggie garden was based on organic principles…centred around the compost heap. Marie Roux of the Organic society of SA pioneered the “trench method” with the slogan, ”Don’t feed your dustbin feed your soil.” This was my guiding light, as was  “The Self Sufficient Gardener” by John Seymour, even though he wrote about the northern hemisphere conditions. 

So we have always kept free range chickens for their manure, and scratching for pests, but over the years, have expanded to keeping worm farms, bokashi buckets and even making biochar. 

And for the last ten years or so, we have begun incorporating  permaculture principles which fit in well with our ecosystems training, and with living on a nature reserve.  I particularly like the emphasis on energy efficiency….(not to undertake unnecessary effort)….with chop and drop techniques, and planting perennials immediately coming to mind! 

What are you most proud of? 

The soil has definitely improved over the years……has more structure…..more organic matter, fewer eelworms and other pests, and prone to fewer diseases….and as a result is more productive.

We have been able to expand our fruit orchard, adding a greater variety of  trees (tangelos, pampelmoes, limes, figs, mangoes, avos, litchis ), …..all of which in turn have had spin offs for rest of garden, providing shade, protection against wind and frost, and returning  more organic matter to the  soil….as well as providing food for us.

In addition to the usual veggies mentioned above, we have also planted many traditionally eaten/indigenous  veggies ……..such as dinawa  (cowpeas or black eyed beans) , ditloo (Jugo beans or Bambara nuts), (thepe) amaranth, sweet potatoes, New Zealand spinach …..…which are all a lot  easier to grow too. This has been a popular move with our staff who now are more motivated, with a greater interest in the harvest. 

I do believe all people need full bellies ……..not just full of high carb cereals such as mealie meal or sorghum, but with a variety of nutrient dense foods, eaten daily.  In my ideal world, every household would have its own vegetable patch and the necessary skills to make it as  productive as possible for them and their families. SA, as we all do,  needs to be food secure. I do hope that in some small way, we are contributing to this. 

Where do you see SA going/ growing? 

From the many FB groups I follow, I am really encouraged by the increasing interest in growing one’s own food, whether it is in containers, in backyards, in school or in community gardens….from Venda, to Orange Farm on the highveld, to the Eastern Cape and Cape Town. 

I am  also very impressed with the promotion of indigenous foods by people like African Marmalade and Ancient African Foods (Jurie van der Walt) whose very informative free to download e-booklets are highly recommended…..as well as those by the National Academy Press: “Lost African Crops” (3 volumes…grains, fruits and vegetables.) I am convinced it is the way to avoid the modern lifestyle diseases that are increasing as we adopt the Western way of eating ultra processed, pre-made and fast foods. 

On the other hand, I get very despondent with the clearing of more and more pristine bushveld for the irrigation of monocultures, and the need for spraying for weeds, pests, whatever.