187 – 138 NPO

ecoculturesa@gmail.com Sergio: 083 411 0809 Alex: 082 775 4115 Amelia: 078 554 6753

June 2017

Organisation 2nd Quarterly Report

Vegetable Garden Project at Tsakani Primary School in Kagiso Krugersdorp

Early this year we were approached by another charity, Adopt a School Foundation, to help them

construct a vegetable tunnel that would be used by Tsakani Primary school to supplement their

feeding scheme. Our goal was to keep costs down and to get maximum vegetable yield whilst

limiting any negative environmental impact.

122 Market Street Johannesburg North

Randburg 2188

We made plans to erect a shade cloth

tunnel with gum-polls and irrigate

using a rainwater catchment, dripline

system. We used 40% Grey Shade net

as it lets in enough light whilst

preventing the plants from drying

out, being damaged by hail and

keeping temperature more constant

so as to prevent frost.

After chopping all the weeds out, the

site was carefully measured and

marked. We added 6m³ of great

organic compost to improve the soil

quality and water retention capacity.

A level and solid foundation needed to be

constructed for the 5000L water tank to rest

upon. We used old concrete blocks and a small

amount of cement to achieve this.

We dug trenches to help shape the

beds. Raised beds help with good soil

drainage and moisture retention,

whilst limiting erosion. We plan on

using the tyres to plant potatoes.

For over 10 days, our four member

team worked through rain and shine,

from early till late.

A nice thick layer of mulch was added

to prevent weed growth and prevent

the soil from drying out. The mulch will

eventually decompose back into the

soil. Spinach and cabbage grow well in

the winter.

Pictures Above and Right:

Capitec bank, whom had

sponsored the vegetable

garden, attended the

official handover to

Tsakani Primary school.

This vegetable garden will

be maintained using

organic and water saving

principals. It is irrigated

using rainwater through a

dripline system. The

grounds staff from the

school will maintain the

vegetable garden and are

being trained by Eco

Culture over the course of

the year.

Pictures Above and Right: The

team demonstrates how to use

the multi-bin recycling system

during a school assembly. The

sale of the recycling materials

will generate an income for the

school.

Pictures Above and

Left: We designed

and placed about

25 posters around

the school to

remind the leaners

which bin to use

for each type of

waste item.

Launching the Recycling Programme at Cosmo West Primary School

Pictures Above and Left: 90L orange bins were

placed in each classroom, these are for white

paper only and are emptied into the orange bins

in the quads. Each quad in the school has a

multi-bin recycling station.

Orange = White paper Yellow = Mixed/ coloured paper Blue = Mixed recycling Green = Organic/food waste Black = Non-recyclables / general waste White = Metals We are sourcing sponsorship for the vinyl stickers for the bins

Picture Left: Sergio

Shows Mutshidzi how

to use the core drill.

We needed to make

slight alterations on the

system to allow more

feedstock to pass

through the pipes.

Picture Below: Alex gives the feeding scheme kitchen staff a presentation on biogas. This formed part of a series of biogas workshops held with the school staff.

Biogas digester at Cosmo West Primary

Pictures Above and Below: Mutshidzi and Tshepo give

a hands on demonstration, teaching the kitchen staff

how to feed the biogas digesters. The kitchen staff

now feed the digester every day.

Picture Above: The biogas digester has

rapidly filled up with flammable gas since

the kitchen staff stared feeding it.

Pictures Bottom: Tshepo cuts piping to place around

the base of the fruit trees, to protect against the weed

eater ring-barking the trees

Biogas Slurry to Garden Fertilizer & Fruit Tree

Orchard

We have created our own mechanism to store the

slurry from the biogas digester, which can then be

used as a

fertilizer for our vegetable garden

and fruit tree orchard.

Picture Below and Right: Tshepo and Mutshidzi sort

through packs of educational posters, wildlife

books and stationary that were then distributed to

the schools in Cosmo

Distributing Donations to Cosmo Schools

Vegetable Gardening at West Primary

Pictures below: We are still helping the school maintain their vegetable garden. From June we

will start the process of training the kitchen staff to take over the maintenance, watering,

weeding, planting and harvesting.

Pictures: Recent harvests of spinach, beans

and tomatoes from the garden and

vegetable boxes were enjoyed by the

learners from the school.

Pictures Above and

Left: The new Climate

Proofing team at

Cosmo Primary

school 1 clearing land

for the schools’ new

vegetable garden.

The Eco Culture team

is training managing,

and coordinating the

entire project.

The City Of Johannesburg (CoJ) has been supporting our school based environmental programmes

for a few years now. This time round they hired 20 community members to help us set up and

install a school vegetable garden; rainwater catchment and dripline irrigation systems; and a

Biogas digester. These 20 community members would gain valuable skills that could assist them to

get a job after the project has been completed.

Climate Proofing Project at Cosmo Primary 1

Pictures: The community members learn how

to plan and how to erect the gum-poles,

fasten the wire and design the bed layout for

the vegetable garden.

Picture Left: Tshepo

emerges from the Jojo

tank after securing the

outlet pipe.

Pictures Below: Fitting the

rain water catchment

system which will then

lead to the irrigation

system in the vegetable

garden.

Pictures Bottom: The new

compost structure and the

finishing touches to the

irrigation system.

Picture Left: The team adds

the grey 40% titanium

weave shade-net. Either

grey or black are the

preferred colours for

growing vegetables. The

shade-net regulates

temperature, prevents

excessive evaporation and

protects against hail.

Pictures Below: The

finished vegetable garden

with dripline irrigation

system.

Picture Below: We attended the launch of Environmetorz in Eldorado Park. A good success and a great

turnout for our fellow organisation.

Pictures Bottom: We actively attend the Gauteng Environmental Education Forum, where we are able to

network with other likeminded organisations, and often are asked to give important “on the ground”

feedback to government officials. We have now been asked to sit on the ESD (education for sustainable

development) regional centre for expertise. We’re feeling very proud!

Pictures Above: We attended two National working group meetings for ESD (Education for sustainable

Development) and were able to give valuable input.

Installing the biogas digester

Pictures Below: The team was actively involved in installing the biogas digester outside the kitchen. This digester will generate methane gas from the old food scraps. It will start generating gas in about 6 weeks’ time.

Attending

Forums

and

Committee Workshops