A little while ago I told you about our Baobab Preschool Programme which our EcoProducts Foundation is supporting. Another project that we’re so excited about is the Baobab Guardians programme. The baobab tree takes 200 years to produce its first fruits, can live for over 1000 years, survives and even flourishes in almost desert-like conditions; but even this mighty giant […] Continue Reading
Thank you to all of you who have been so supportive of the launch of the EcoProducts Foundation. All your shares, likes and comments help spread the word and have been so encouraging to us. We’d like to tell you a little more about one of our programmes, Baobab Pre-school. Like most mothers, Venda women work hard all day long, […] Continue Reading
I decided to create the EcoProducts Foundation (a non-profit organisation) when I realised that simply providing employment to local Venda communities wasn’t enough. I wanted to do more and decided to support early childhood development, which in these rural areas is very neglected. In addition, the results of my PhD research revealed that goats and drought were hampering the growth of young baobab trees. It […] Continue Reading
Gratitude. Giving back is a way of giving thanks; thanks for what we have, and what we are able to give. And today we’re so grateful to Bonga Foods and the Bonga Foundation for their warm generosity. Their most recent donation has enabled us to give back to the Venda community which supports us in harvesting Baobab fruit for EcoProducts. We’ve used […] Continue Reading
When baobabs are still young they are vulnerable to damage. This young baobab was damaged at the base, but it was helped to survive by coppicing (sprouting). After a few years most of the coppice shoots die but two or three remain leaving the tree to develop into a multistemed tree which you can clearly see in the photo of the adult […] Continue Reading
I went to visit Blessing to see how her seedlings are getting on. Blessing’s seedlings are looking lovely. They were planted in Feburary this year just after a community training workshop on how to grow baobabs. Soon the seedlings will lose their leaves for the winter and look like sticks and then in the spring the baobablets will push out […] Continue Reading
I always get excited when I see baobab seedlings emerging from the earth near or under the baobab trees. It shows that the seeds are viable and that the weather was perfect. Unfortunately their survival is very slim because of the harsh climate they need to survive in and because they are simply too delicious for a goat to ignore. […] Continue Reading
In November last year EcoProducts did a workshop with 50 rural women harvesters in how to grow and conserve baobabs. Each woman was given a seed and a planting bag to take home. Well, when I visited the village this week, some of the women took me to see their so- called seedlings. They had successfully germinated and had grown […] Continue Reading
Last month, 50 rural women harvesters attended a baobab growing and sustainable harvesting course. I had such fun with this, taking 50 rural women baobab fruit harvesters on a field trip from Zigodini village to Pafuri River Camp Nursery, on the banks of the Mutale River. The course was done with a mixture of practical parts and discussions. The discussions […] Continue Reading
I thought you might like to see this video interview I did with Johrne van Huyssteen. This video was made for De Kat TV. Have a look at it here. http://buff.ly/1b3mrqS