"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
Garden In A Sack
In 2007, the post election violence that hit Kenya was deeply felt by residents of the Kibera informal settlement (read urban slum). One of the biggest slums of in the world - certainly the biggest in Africa - Kibira houses almost 1 Million of people. About 20% of the slum has access to electricity. Most Kibera residents get their water from the Nairobi Dam which is not clean and causes typhoid and ch***ra. Most of Kibera there are no toilet facilities - hence its dubious claim to fame for using "flying toilets".
But as they say, from challenges, opportunities arise. A "garden in a sack" program was started in Kibea in 2007 following the elections violence. With this program, each family was given 1 to 3 sacks filled with earth. One single sack can contain 50 seedlings of kales or spinach and 20 tomatoes plants. Vegetables are used directly and indirectly by the household to obtain food, access cash when needed and educate children. Today, over 6000 families are growing tomatoes, onions, kales or spinach.
I have started my own Garden In A Sack and will post pictures soon - instructions for how you can start your own can be found at here.
Views: 50
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Comment by Alex Stovell on March 11, 2010 at 8:27pm
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Hey Shakwei :) The Garden in a Sack sounds like a great idea. Did the materials supplied in the sack directly help people to continue growing vegetables after the initial seedlings had matured and veg was harvested (were people encoraged to keep back some of their harvest to re-plant for example), or was it the idea itself which spread and encouraged people to grow things, regardless of whether people actually received a sack?
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Comment by Shakwei Mbindyo on March 11, 2010 at 9:13pm
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Hey Alex, a nursery was established in the slum. Some people are in charge of the management of the nursery whereas another group is in charge of training the beneficiaries. The project was run by Solidarites a french non-profit who would ike to expand it to other slums and other coutries.
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Comment by Jen Shaffer on March 11, 2010 at 11:33pm
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This is another great idea. Do you know if these were the burlap sacks like the WFP uses? This might be an awesome project for the canicos of Maputo.
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Comment by Patricio Buenrostro-Gilhuys on March 11, 2010 at 11:40pm
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WOW! Such a simple idea and yet so effective!!! Great blogs Shakwei!!!
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Comment by The Garden Earth Project on March 13, 2010 at 8:21pm
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I am looking forward to photos and a more complete description of the method. I would like to know more about the soil and fertility methods used. Like Alex, I am curious if seeds are being saved for subsequent crops. Are there any perennial kales being planted - any permanent plantings such as strawberries? (or something similar that works in the climate)
We do something similar here with bags of planting mix that come from the garden supply store. We poke h***s and plant through the sack - this is great for water conservation as the bag holds the moisture in the soil, although it is not permanent and must be replaced each season.
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Comment by Linda Holt on March 13, 2010 at 8:33pm
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I have also been pursuing this as I think it could be utilized globally and even as a campaign to promote awareness of urban gardening, sustinance & even provide income.
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/solidarities-humanitarian...
Here is info and a diagram of the sack from the RUAF site:
http://www.ruaf.org/sites/default/files/UAM21%20p.38-40.pdf from
http://www.ruaf.org/node/2011
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@Linda Holt Nice links. Thanks. TGEP has a seeds and starts planting work party tomorrow morning. We will be planting both for the field and for urban gardening containers. I will share this info with the participants!
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Also great video at http://vimeo.com/7264277 with instructions from a Ugandan girl on how to grow your own garden in a sack.
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Comment by Caroline Meeks on March 14, 2010 at 3:16pm
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I love this! I want a sack garden!!
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Shakwei- I live the video!!! It´s so cool!!! http://www.amref.org/ does amazing work!!!
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