{"id":437,"date":"2019-06-14T08:49:45","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T06:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/?p=437"},"modified":"2019-06-16T20:40:30","modified_gmt":"2019-06-16T18:40:30","slug":"turnip-the-beet-su-students-get-planting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/turnip-the-beet-su-students-get-planting\/","title":{"rendered":"Turnip the beet: SU Students Get Planting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the rising\ncost of living and healthy food already being so expensive; students often\nresort to the cheapest food options, which usually have relatively low\nnutritional values. This problem came to the attention of Lisa Matthews and\nCarla De Beer, and through a collaboration between the AgriScience Student\nAssociation (ASA) and Facilities Management, they have found a solution; The\nGarden Grid<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both serving on\nthe ASA\u2019s executive committee for 2018\/19, Matthews and De Beer wanted to do\ntheir part in solving this problem \u201cbecause eating fresh, healthy food is often\nreally low on the list of students\u2019 priorities.\u201d They are working with Facilities\nManagement to make plots on Stellenbosch University\u2019s Welgevallen farm\navailable to students. Here, students can grow their own fresh produce which\nthey can use to supplement their food intake and ease the burden on their\nbudgets. Matthews adds that this is also an effort to help alleviate the food\ncrisis on campus. She hopes that through this project, students will have a\nmore sustainable food source that supplements existing initiatives to eradicate\nstudent hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The farm is situated next to Coetzenberg and is walking distance from the university\u2019s main campus. There is a pedestrian gate open from 6am until 7pm daily. Through a donation from the seed producing company, Ball-Straathof, ASA provides start-up seeds to interested students. These seeds range from beans, tomatoes and onions to broccoli, cucumber, herbs, and the like. Students also have the option of using their own seeds and growing them on their allocated plot of land. Other sponsors and donors include; Master Organics, who donated compost and Facilities Management, who sponsored seedlings and potting soils. Additionally, the plots are watered for students so, all one has to worry about is weeding the plot and laying down mulch or compost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We want people to exchange knowledge with each other and gain an understanding of the processes behind their food .\u201d <\/p>– Lisa Matthews and Carla De Beer<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The application process is simple, with the only requirements being that students apply in groups, as this eases the burden of maintaining the plot. Additionally, students ought to donate a portion of their harvest to a charity\u2019s pantry of their choice. The ASA has also offered to donate this portion on behalf of students to The Small Things Fund<\/a>, <\/em>an organisation that \u2013 amongst other things \u2013 assists students with food parcels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To apply for a\nplot on The Garden Grid, <\/em>send an email to thegardengrid@gmail.com<\/a> to receive an application form. You can also\nsend any queries and questions to the aforementioned email address. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only does this initiative allow you to embrace healthy eating; it also allows for community interaction and affords harvesters the opportunity to give back to the community by donating a portion of their harvest. De Beer and Matthews emphasize that they value the networking this project encourages; \u201cWe want people to exchange knowledge with each other and gain an understanding of the processes behind their food, to foster a sense of respect for the food and to build people\u2019s confidence in their ability to grow their own food.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the rising cost of living and healthy food already being so expensive; students often resort to the cheapest food options, which usually have relatively low nutritional values. This problem came to the attention of Lisa Matthews and Carla De Beer, and through a collaboration between the AgriScience Student Association (ASA) and Facilities Management, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[81],"tags":[102,111,101,36],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/garden-grid2-e1560709639675.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa0nwP-73","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions\/465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}