SHARING their passion for organic food growing with the community was the best interest of their heart when they started the seed swap. Hosting their fifth seed and plant swap since their inception in 2021, Creating Eden went from seven stalls of seed and plant growers to 21 in their recent plant swap that took place this past Sunday, May 7.

Hosted quarterly at the 1st Hillcrest Scouts Hall, the Great KZN Seed and Plant Swap by Creating Eden is aimed at seed growers to exchange different seeds and grow their passion for growing plants. This is the brainchild of Ghalema Easton and Tawhid Dentow whose vision was to outsource their passion to the community of the Highway area. Moving from Cape Town almost two years ago, the duo has been happy to continue with their community in the Upper Highway area and surrounds.
The community are also plant enthusiasts who are either uplifting other community members, including charity causes, or making their own living from the nature around them. The Highway Mail spoke to a few new members who are avid food growers.

Also read: WATCH: Creating Eden

Jacqueline du Plessis found the community through her passion to empower people by growing their own food. Growing Hope is one of the ways this food grower has come up with to reach people who need this empowerment.

“The Growing Hope Movement arose out of the ashes of civil and social unrest in South Africa in July 2021. Realising food insecurity is a national security risk and that climate action is having an impact on food sustainability, we chose to plant food gardens and teach permaculture wisdom. This is to inspire food self-reliance as a courageous peace-building initiative.

”The organisation is working with experienced community partners and NPOs to teach sustainable, organic food growing and permaculture-inspired principles to children in under-resourced communities.

“Mission 2022 was an initiative to teach a hands-on educational class in under-resourced South African schools, while seeding the beginning of a permaculture-inspired food garden at the school, focused on soil regeneration. The goal was 52, and we achieved 22,” she said.

Also read: WATCH: Growing love for organic food

Mother of four Simone Laing has fed her family with the plantation from her backyard. “I am very passionate about growing food for my family as much as I can. I do permaculture-style gardening. I have managed to grow different vegetables that make many meals for us,” she said.

Young couple Dylan and Stephen have sustained their lives through bee farming. Beehappy is their brainchild that has seen them grow more than one farm in Botha’s Hill but in other provinces, as well.

Easton said it has been inspiring to witness the growth of their community and the growing interest from the community seeking knowledge and advice on how to become self-sufficient.

“Plants, seeds and fresh produce exchanged hands, loads of information and advice was shared, and a lot of us learnt new things and saw plants and seeds we’d never seen before.
“Every seed swap offers new knowledge as new and regular visitors come through the door. We’ve already received loads of requests from visitors who would like to join the Seed Swap Group for the next market day,” she said.

For further information regarding the seed and plant swap events and workshops and to join the plant-grower groups, you can contact Ghalema Easton on 072 421 1334.

For more from the Highway Mail, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.