Woodwind Circle residents turn wasteland into garden

The Steenberg Woodwind Circle Community was established three years ago in the suburbs of Cape Town, with Woodwind Circle residents wanting to help beautify their surroundings. A committee was put in place to help generate the desired changes. Their primary aim was to create a community garden and vegetable patch to provide organic vegetables for the local community. The main plot at the heart of the circle has since been changed from a rubbish strewn wasteland into a fruitful purposeful garden.

But the garden is not the only responsibility taken on by the Woodwind Circle Community committee. They are also looking to become increasingly involved in social issues and the general social development of the area.

With this in mind, the community garden has come to be used as a means of empowerment within the area. The committee are looking to do more work with children, teaching them how to garden as well as making them more aware of their environment in general and of the importance of healthy living.

Woodwind Circle Community has also started to help local people create functioning gardens in their own homes. They supply them with the compost, seedlings, and whatever help they may need for a successful garden as well as all the necessary tips on how to sustain one.

Whilst The Woodwind Circle Community project has very few expenses, its income is also minimal and currently almost entirely dependent on the sale of vegetables grown in the community garden. As a result, it relies heavily on volunteered local involvement and manpower to survive and, ideally, to grow and prosper. Committee leader Ivan Beckett says that “When the project was started, the response of the community was amazing, but as time progressed they started to fade out.”

To find out how to help keep this project going, please visit woodwindcirclecommunitygardens.blogspot.com or email Amy at beckettia23@gmail.com