Mazotsho village 6th November 2012 - Tim Wigley
We started with a session looking at pictures of gardens in Cala area where people have been practicing Natural Farming for some time.
We then watched a video of interviews with some of the people in Cala, sharing how the practice of Natural Farming had impacted their lives.
The experience of the people in Cala was inspiring for the group in Mazotsho and they saw it as proof of what they would be able to achieve.
We then went to the community garden and marked out and dug a swale. Above the swale we made a double reach mulched plot as we had agreed to do on the previous visit.
In the afternoon we visited 13 gardens in a part of the village we had missed on the previous visit. People had complained about being left out. There did seem to be a bit of a gap between people who had attended the meetings and those who had not but were now having their gardens looked at. One man in particular looked quite defensive when a whole group of us arrived to look at his garden but he did mellow when we explained what we were doing. The gardens varied but in general the households we visited are producing a significant amount of food. There is potential for people to become self-sufficient in food.
On the previous visit people had expressed an interest in planting sweet potatoes. I only had one plant to bring with me and Mrs Nogantsho (at whose house we met) carefully planted this in her garden and agreed to propagate runners from this plant. It would be good to get more runners to distribute, as it will take a long time to build up a supply from only one plant. Mrs Nogantsho also planted some Keurboom seeds that I had brought with me and will share the seedlings she produces.
We then watched a video of interviews with some of the people in Cala, sharing how the practice of Natural Farming had impacted their lives.
The experience of the people in Cala was inspiring for the group in Mazotsho and they saw it as proof of what they would be able to achieve.
We then went to the community garden and marked out and dug a swale. Above the swale we made a double reach mulched plot as we had agreed to do on the previous visit.
In the afternoon we visited 13 gardens in a part of the village we had missed on the previous visit. People had complained about being left out. There did seem to be a bit of a gap between people who had attended the meetings and those who had not but were now having their gardens looked at. One man in particular looked quite defensive when a whole group of us arrived to look at his garden but he did mellow when we explained what we were doing. The gardens varied but in general the households we visited are producing a significant amount of food. There is potential for people to become self-sufficient in food.
On the previous visit people had expressed an interest in planting sweet potatoes. I only had one plant to bring with me and Mrs Nogantsho (at whose house we met) carefully planted this in her garden and agreed to propagate runners from this plant. It would be good to get more runners to distribute, as it will take a long time to build up a supply from only one plant. Mrs Nogantsho also planted some Keurboom seeds that I had brought with me and will share the seedlings she produces.