Sompondo village 7th November 2012 - Tim Wigley
Along the west side of the Sompondo communal garden is a small stream that flows down from the Hogsback Mountains as shown in the top picture on this page. The villagers have been using a small gasoline-powered pump to get water to the garden. They asked if we could help pipe in water from the municipal water supply. Unfortunately - this is not permitted. But Charlie did suggest installing a dam further upstream and piping water down using gravity. See the note at the bottom of Tim's report.
Visited with Winnie Fourteen people were at Mrs Nokwanda Skenjani’s house to meet us.
Here too we started with showing the pictures and interviews with people from Cala and here too people were inspired and motivated by this.
We then went to the home of Mrs Dlanga (one of the members present) and did a demonstration of mapping out and digging a swale. This was a very appropriate place to do the demonstration as the garden is on a slope and there is evidence of water flowing across the garden when it rains. There were erosion runnels between the potatoes where we made the swale. There was also a lot of soil deposited in the lower part of the garden up to the fence. So it is clear that a lot of water flows across the garden and carries soil away with it onto the road below the garden.
After digging the swale we discussed how this would do much more than just prevent the soil erosion that had been occurring. It was turning a problem into an opportunity as now the water will be kept in the garden. The swale will catch the water and soak it into the ground. So if fruit trees are planted just below the swale their roots will be able to benefit from this stored water. Their roots will penetrate deep into the soil and so increase the soils capacity to store water. I suggested that Mrs Dlanga plant beans along the soil bund below the swale to stabilise the soil. They will also fix nitrogen and so help any trees she plants. Another plus about this swale is that the water it will catch is flowing from the livestock enclosure so it will be providing a lot of fertility to the garden.
After digging the swale people were shown how to make and A-Frame so they can make their own and mark out swales for themselves where they are needed.
After the practical demonstration we went back to the house where we were meeting and people gave feedback to those who had not come to the garden with us. This feedback showed that the principles of what we had been doing were well understood. We discussed the important role of trees in a garden. A number of people want help buying trees. Winnie made a list of who wants trees and I agreed to get prices for the trees required. People will give the money needed for the trees to Winnie and when they have collected this money I will purchase the trees and deliver them on a future visit.
I had brought some Keurboom seeds (a useful leguminous pioneer tree which is very useful to plant around fruit trees). Mr Ncamisa agreed to take some of these seeds to produce seedlings that can be planted in gardens.
We also discussed the water supply to the community garden. Apparently the municipality will not supply water to the garden as the supply is intended for domestic use only. I agreed that on a future visit I will take levels and investigate installing a gravity fed water supply from the stream near the garden.
Visited with Winnie Fourteen people were at Mrs Nokwanda Skenjani’s house to meet us.
Here too we started with showing the pictures and interviews with people from Cala and here too people were inspired and motivated by this.
We then went to the home of Mrs Dlanga (one of the members present) and did a demonstration of mapping out and digging a swale. This was a very appropriate place to do the demonstration as the garden is on a slope and there is evidence of water flowing across the garden when it rains. There were erosion runnels between the potatoes where we made the swale. There was also a lot of soil deposited in the lower part of the garden up to the fence. So it is clear that a lot of water flows across the garden and carries soil away with it onto the road below the garden.
After digging the swale we discussed how this would do much more than just prevent the soil erosion that had been occurring. It was turning a problem into an opportunity as now the water will be kept in the garden. The swale will catch the water and soak it into the ground. So if fruit trees are planted just below the swale their roots will be able to benefit from this stored water. Their roots will penetrate deep into the soil and so increase the soils capacity to store water. I suggested that Mrs Dlanga plant beans along the soil bund below the swale to stabilise the soil. They will also fix nitrogen and so help any trees she plants. Another plus about this swale is that the water it will catch is flowing from the livestock enclosure so it will be providing a lot of fertility to the garden.
After digging the swale people were shown how to make and A-Frame so they can make their own and mark out swales for themselves where they are needed.
After the practical demonstration we went back to the house where we were meeting and people gave feedback to those who had not come to the garden with us. This feedback showed that the principles of what we had been doing were well understood. We discussed the important role of trees in a garden. A number of people want help buying trees. Winnie made a list of who wants trees and I agreed to get prices for the trees required. People will give the money needed for the trees to Winnie and when they have collected this money I will purchase the trees and deliver them on a future visit.
I had brought some Keurboom seeds (a useful leguminous pioneer tree which is very useful to plant around fruit trees). Mr Ncamisa agreed to take some of these seeds to produce seedlings that can be planted in gardens.
We also discussed the water supply to the community garden. Apparently the municipality will not supply water to the garden as the supply is intended for domestic use only. I agreed that on a future visit I will take levels and investigate installing a gravity fed water supply from the stream near the garden.