Work officially started on the Organic Vegetable Garden Project on Tuesday, February 10. The garden is a joint effort between Willowbrook, Ruimsig, Amorosa and Poortview (WRAP) Residents Association, The Toolbox Empowerment Hub, and Toyota CFAO Mobility.

A team from the Toolbox was on site, preparing 60 garden beds for the first vegetable seeds. The project has been in the works for over two years and recently received all the approvals and funding needed to go ahead.

According to the hub’s manager, Andrew Holdsworth, this is a community-focused garden that will provide fresh vegetables to more than 60 schools and organisations in the area when it’s up and running. It will also teach residents how to grow their own food in a sustainable way.

Jonathan Bremner from Farming God’s Way Northern Region explained the purpose of the garden.

“We’re here to teach people to grow a small garden that would be enough for one household,” he said. “The gardens can be planted at any house, and they produce enough vegetables for four people to have a food parcel right at their door.”

He said the project aims to help families rely less on buying food from outside.

“They don’t need to go anywhere to get food,” Jonathan said. He added that the vision goes beyond WRAP.

“We want to put at least 10 million of these gardens across South Africa so that 10 million households have a food parcel at their door.”

The Bethany House Trust is one of the organisations that will benefit from the garden. Its operations manager, Gerrit-Maritz Jonker, said they are excited to be part of the project.

“We are very excited to be beneficiaries and to take part in this project. It will make a real difference for the children and staff here,” he said.

The garden will also act as a demonstration site to show residents how small gardens can be grown and cared for using eco-friendly methods. Community members are encouraged to get involved as the project moves into the planting phase, which is expected to start as soon as the beds are ready.

Project partners say the garden shows what can be achieved when local organisations, residents, and partners work together. Beyond providing fresh food, it also teaches skills and sustainable practices that can be adopted in other communities to better people’s lives.

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