Organic Food Blog

Join Estelle Willemse as she wwoofs at Khula Dhamma eco-village near East London to learn the ins and outs of eco-friendly, sustainable living… [for part 1]& [part 2]

Saturday, 6 December 2008

It is Saturday evening, and I’ve returned after a relaxing gathering around the fire. Some visitors have arrived today, and we’re sharing & getting to know each other and contemplating our life experiences.

I have been experiencing a lot of changes during the past few weeks. Physically & mentally. It has been a month since I arrived & I’m feeling very intrigued with the notion of extending my stay here.

Physically, I have been partaking in many activities that require quite some muscle power, & getting down and dirty working on much needed projects around the community. I can feel my body adjusting to the new environment. My hands are not quite as delicate as they used to be, my feet have been thoroughly re-acquinted with the bare soil beneath them & I can feel my muscles and back strengthening by the day.

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Join Estelle Willemse as she wwoofs at Khula Dhamma eco-village near East London to learn the ins and outs of eco-friendly, sustainable living… [for part 1]

Saturday, 22 November, 2008

It’s Saturday, and I’ve been here almost 2 weeks. This week has gone by particularly fast as there’s so much happening around the community. Everyone is working hard to complete different projects, from building houses to digging in the garden.

It’s 4pm and I’m lying in a hammock overlooking the farm and the valleys beyond. I’m enjoying the sound of birds and the faint murmurs of a group of residents talking & sharing while completing some work on the grass in front of the house. I’ve finished work for the day. It’s a good feeling, having put in a conscious effort & seeing the results of the work you’ve done. It’s the perfect atmosphere in which to learn responsibility and discipline, because here, if you don’t do something yourself, it simply won’t get done.

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World according to MonsantoI have watched a lot of documentaries on GM foods and Monsanto and although they each have their own style and there is always some new information, they generally cover a lot of the same material. This recently released documentary is not like that. It takes a very different angle, looking at the history of Monsanto and the way it operates, rather than focusing specifically on GM foods.

Proponents of GM foods are always suggesting that GM foods are rigorously tested. In fact, an article in the September 2008 issue of Shape magazine said exactly that (read my thoughts here). The testing that they are referring to is done by the Biotech companies themselves. This documentary tries to establish whether we can trust the Biotech companies or not. It looks mainly at Monsanto, which is the biggest Biotech company of them all...

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Join Estelle Willemse on her journey to the ecovillage of Khula Dhamma in the Eastern Cape, where she has joined the community to
wwoof for them.

Monday, 10 November 2008

It is 5:30 in the morning and I’ve been on the road for 14 hours. Coming from Cape Town, this is the longest trip I’ve ever taken. My legs are feeling a little numb, though I’m feeling quite content watching a beautiful yellow-red sun rising in front of me…

I’m passing windmills and fields of dry land, so beautiful in the morning light.

Thoughts are casually drifting by…will they recognise me at the station? How will we experience each other? What will the facilities be like?

I’m contemplating life without a hairdryer, or the basic systems we’ve come to rely upon in the 21st century. Cars, fridges, televisions, computers… Is it possible to go back to living without these things? I am sure it’s possible, we just have to get our minds around it; the global eco-village movement is doing it already...

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The down turn in the economy is making us all second-guess what we buy. In the US, a market research company revealed recently that organic food sales rose only 4 percent in the four week period ending October 4th, compared to 20 percent a year in recent years. What's keeping shoppers from purchasing organic food? Cost. No question.

Just why is organic food usually more expensive?

First, organic food is more expensive to produce. Without cheap fertilizers and pesticides, farmers have to do a lot more manual labour, and people are much more expensive than petrochemicals. Additionally, organic farming operations aren't big enough to achieve economies of scale.

Secondly, demand has outstripped supply -- there simply are not enough people growing and producing organic ingredients. And when demand is greater than supply, prices are higher.

But don’t give up on the health of your family. You do not need to give up on organic - just curtail your organic spending and focus on the area where you get the biggest return for your money...

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I recently attended the Superfoods Elements of Health Raw Food Course after wanting to do it for some time. We've been juicing, sprouting, and making smoothies, on and off for a while now, but I was interested in taking it to a new level, and to see whether we can add more variety and interest to what we eat. There is after all only so much one can do with muesli, surely...

The course is not a cooking course, but rather an introduction to a whole new approach to doing food. If you have an interest in nutrition, want to improve your health, and still eat delicious food then this is the course for you. In short it is a mind expanding, consciousness altering kind of course - it will change the way you think about food. Peter and Beryn's positivity and passion for their subject is infectious, and because everyone attending the course has a shared interest, it makes for a great weekend of learning and interaction.

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I never get round to reviewing Hollywood movies I see, not that I watch many of them any way. There just doesn't seem to be much point. Basically all you need to know is the basic plot, who is in it and whether it is worth watching or not. But I love reviewing documentaries, they always provide new information and get one thinking.

Last night I watched The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil and it was very interesting. Peak Oil refers to the time when oil will become scarce and expensive and we will have to change the way we live because of that. When you realise how much of our lifestyle (food, transport, agriculture, etc) relies on oil, you understand the massive changes that will have to take place.

It's hard for us to predict how this will happen, but Cuba has already experienced it because of the embargo against it. In previous years they relied on the USSR, but when that fell, they had nothing except some Latin American countries to trade with. They had to deal with having almost no oil. It was very interesting to see what happened.

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pic: johannesburglive.co.zaWe all want to avoid the manic mall mayhem. Scurrying around under strobe lighting with the rest of the pre-Christmas flurry is hardly conducive to calm, and there are so many wonderful markets at which you can pick up home-made fare for your Christmas meal; goodies, crafts and gifts that are local and handmade, in an unhurried atmosphere. We've made it even easier, by selecting those at which you're sure to enjoy yourselves and find hidden treasures.

Markets we love

Top 10 markets in & around Cape Town
The two stalwarts of Cape Town have to be the Neighbourgoods Market and the Porter Estate Produce Market, both of which have a strong focus on responsible and local foods, and some crafts. The Neighbourgoods Market held a Christmas market last year, which they’re sure to repeat. New to the Cape Town scene is ...

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Footprints Environmental Centre is closing at the end of November! They have to leave their premises, as the property owners need their land for another use. Footprints plays an enormous role in recycling in Cape Town and friends and supporters are more than a little distraught to see it close. Some supporters are already mounting a campaign to try and find new premises for it, and we will keep you posted.

First community Market - an organic community market is set for tomorrow, 25 Oct, at the Owl Shelter, 9 Polaris Road (off Blomvlei Road) in Lansdowne. The market is part of the MENNGOS food garden programme, which has several projects in the Eastern & Western Cape. They fall under the ambit of individual food gardens for food security and surplus to sell, organic nutrition gardens to feed people affected by AIDS and HIV and high school children. All preparation of the land is conducted by the community project participants themselves and individuals who operate their own vegetable and herb gardens.

Woolworths offers fellowships to help the environment. If you are about to register for a full-time Master’s or Doctoral study at UCT, and want to do research in the areas of – pesticides, seafood sustainability, water usage, waste water, energy/climate change or biodiversity – Woolies is offering fellowships that cover tuition and subsistence, research costs or conference travel. Want to know more? Email pgfunding@uct.ac.za

Green retail space up for grabs. If you’ve a green business and you’re looking to share space with green conscious retailers, then a newly renovated mall at the top end of Long Street might be for you. They’re looking for clothing retailers, jewellery, shoes, décor etc. A minimum of 10% of your product needs to be sustainable, recycled or the like. Contact stacey@210onlong.co.za

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Whilst many have scoffed at organic farming as little more than a Western lifestyle fad, a major UN study, released yesterday, shows that these traditional practices can break the hunger cycle.

An analysis of 114 projects in 24 African countries found that yields had more than doubled where organic, or near-organic practices had been used. That increase in yield jumped to 128 per cent in east Africa.

The research conducted by the UN Environment Programme, suggests that organic, small-scale farming can deliver the increased yields which were thought to be the preserve of industrial farming, without the environmental and social damage which that form of agriculture brings with it.

The study found that organic practices outperformed traditional methods and chemical-intensive conventional farming. It also found...

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