In April 2010 five medical students in their third year (Lizeri Combrinck, Caileigh Deere, Leoni de Man, Gert Steyn and Marli van Rensburg) were involved in a food garden project at Free State Care in Action in Bloemfontein.
The five students had a very challenging task to set up a vegetable garden at a site with very poor soil, heavy clay content and low drainage. Previous efforts to plant vegetables at this patch have all failed because of the poor soil. With the help of a soil scientist, Prof Leon van Rensburg at the Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences, the students managed to prepare the soil for better drainage. All that had to follow, was to get some good topsoil before they could start planting.
The students also managed to secure funding to put up rainwater tanks at the site.
Because the students also realised that the soil had to be replenished on a regular basis to produce good quality vegetables, they realised the need for a worm farm to make vermicompost.
They then asked Mrs Dora du Plessis, co-author of the book Growing Vegetables: A complete guide on how to establish, maintain and manage a vegetable garden and also co-author of the book GoodBugs, Little Workers: Using earthworms to make supervermicompost, to accompany them to the gardens to help them set up a worm farm in tyres.
On arrival, she saw two old containers that were thrown away and immediately decided to use those containers for a lasagne vegetable garden so that they could quickly get some vegetables growing while they were still waiting for the topsoil. A lasagne garden is nothing other than layers on layers of organic matter and soil than can be re-used this way.
The students quickly gathered some newspaper, cardboard, dry mealie stalks, leaves, etc. for the lasagne bed and within an hour they have managed to sow the first spinach seeds.
Preparing another lasagne vegetable garden
The newly prepared vegetable beds in the background with one of the container gardens in the front.
Sowing of first seeds
The group of students sowing the first seeds
Next was to set up the worm farm in old tyres. Mr Solomon, a voluntary worker at Free State Care in Action, was given the responsibility to take care of the worm farm.
Following a practical demonstration of setting up the worm farm, a copy of the book Goodbugs, Little Workers was then handed over to him to help him take care of the worms. Solomon receives no salary, only a plate of food each day. He shown keen interest in having his own "farm" to take care of.
Preparing the worm farm
Showing the red worms (Eisenia fetida) for making vermicompost