Record 0311Case study
41
household records compiled for the baseline
Read from December 2020 project report
Shown here
I managed crèche gardens, practical training and rainwater harvesting across three communities near Manyoni, followed by development of an indigenous and food-plant nursery.
Project frame
A new garden needs water, planting material and people confident enough to keep it productive. The brief was to build those foundations together: practical demonstration gardens at crèches, training for local growers and a nursery to supply future planting.
Project management, permaculture design, practical training, field reporting and development of the nursery and crèche-garden system.
African Conservation Trust, Zululand Conservation Trust, Manyoni Game Reserve, Roots Up and on-site facilitator Zimisele Luthuli.
Crèche demonstration gardens in three adjacent communities, followed by a reserve-based nursery and continued site expansion.
Work in practice
Developed food gardens and installed rain tanks at crèches in all three communities adjacent to Manyoni Game Reserve.
Delivered a five-day permaculture course in each community and continued practical support and mentorship through 2020.
Completed three community meetings and compiled household baseline information for 41 community members.
Established the Manyoni indigenous and food-plant nursery in an unused buffalo boma, organising its four stables around seedlings, groundcovers, shrubs and trees.
Established approximately 6,000 vetiver plants in contour strips at the Manyoni office complex for propagation and future restoration and garden use.
Expanded Ubhejane Crèche with a food forest, staple garden, passive water harvesting and gravity-fed drip irrigation, while supporting later delivery at Speakman Crèche.
Across the communities
The programme combined crèche gardens, household visits, practical training and local plant propagation across three communities.
Onion harvest at Ubhejane Crèche, December 2020.
Household visits helped build a baseline of 41 community records.
Sowing nitrogen-fixing cover crops beneath a layer of mulch.
A champion farmer’s demonstration site at Sekane.
Zimisele Luthuli planting a lemon tree at Ubhejane Crèche, December 2020.
A nursery facilitator holding a young tree at Manyoni, December 2022.
A garden pond after a recorded 43 mm storm. Rain tanks and earthworks helped the gardens capture water where it could be used.
From a buffalo boma to a plant nursery
Between January and March 2021, four unused stables at Manyoni became a nursery for food plants and indigenous species. It gave the programme a local place to raise plants for the next gardens.
~6,000 vetiver plants were also established in contour strips for propagation, erosion control and future restoration work.
Explore the nursery & market gardenSeedlings for food gardens.
Living cover for the soil.
Useful plants, including Kei apple.
Indigenous species and fruit trees.
Before construction, I visited Twin Stream Nursery to study indigenous-tree propagation and useful local food plants. The visit informed the planning for Manyoni.
View the seed-propagation photographcommunity crèche gardens with rain tanks
five-day permaculture courses delivered
household records compiled for the baseline
vetiver plants established at Manyoni
The programme combined demonstration gardens, rainwater systems, training and follow-up visits. Household records informed planning, and the Manyoni nursery supplied planting material for Imbewu projects.
Evidence & interpretation
Confirmed programme record
Outputs are drawn from Rory’s December 2020 project report and the February 2021–February 2022 annual report. The nursery portrait is a later programme record from December 2022 and is labelled accordingly.
Used to verify the three-community crèche programme, training, household baseline, crop diversity, water monitoring and the Twin Stream Nursery reference visit.
Used to verify establishment of the Manyoni indigenous and food-plant nursery, its four propagation areas, the approximately 6,000-plant vetiver nursery and later crèche work.
December 2020 report photographs, the Twin Stream Nursery reference visit and a December 2022 Manyoni nursery image.
