The Garden of Eden
In this week’s #TMFInTheField we introduce you to Oom Jack Johnson, one of TMF’s Small Grant recipients. Oom Jack, located in the Slangpark community in Grabouw, is the pioneer behind ‘NuSun Farm Fresh’, a community-based veggie garden that has recently (early 2015) been re-established as a permaculture garden. Oom Jack and his partner Diane Simon provide high quality, nutritious vegetables at a reasonable price to the members of the local community. For the past 5 years this veggie-garden, situated on an old reclaimed municipal dumpsite, has been a labour-of-love and dedication for Oom Jack and Diane.
Due to the increasing interest from his neighbours and other community members, Oom Jack has identified the need to share his passion and permaculture gardening knowledge and skills with his fellow community members. This has led to the birth of a second business venture, ‘The Green Phoenix Nursery’, a community-based nursery, providing seed, seedling and ongoing mentorship to home-gardeners in the Slangpark and surrounding communities.
Oom Jack’s biggest dream is to be able to build an outdoor classroom where he can share his knowledge with emerging home-gardeners and small scale urban farmers. He is passionate about making a positive difference in the arena of ‘food scarcity’ and ‘food security’. He believes it is the right of every citizen to have access to fresh produce, provided that they commit to become part of the solution and not remain part of the challenge.
TMF is proudly supporting Oom Jack’s community-based veggie garden through our Small Grants Programme.
