Live and work in or around Jo’burg? If you’ve ever dreamed of living in an ecovillage, this may just be your chance. The Oak Avenue Trust is looking for people who are interested in co-designing, co-building and co-living in an inclusive, inter-generational and ecological co-housing initiative at 51 Oak Avenue, Linbro Park.

Located in the green country suburb of Linbro Park, Sandton and near major transport routes (N3; R25), the property is an agriculturally zoned 1 Ha of land with dense vegetation in an area that is set to be developed and upgraded in the near future.

To get the ball rolling, a number of sustainability features are being developed on the property, including a rainwater harvesting pool, swales, greywater systems, solar water heaters, a wastewater bio-filter, and a small food and herb garden. This intentional community will provide the opportunity for residents from across the social and economic spectrum to live an ecological lifestyle in a tranquil countryside setting close to the the vibrant African metropolis of Johannesburg.

There are a number of different ways and levels of being involved with this ecovillage, from simply using the garden for the cultivation of vegetables and herbs to living there in a one-roomed apartment, two-bedroomed apartment, or 3-bedroomed freestanding home. There is also the opportunity to simply invest and reap ongoing dividends from levies.

The Oak Trust are looking for human beings over the age of 18 who are committed to socially inclusive, democratic values, an ecological lifestyle and who are dynamic, creative and pragmatic. Members would need to be professionals engaged in ethical livelihoods who are financially independent and productive.

If you tick those boxes and have always thought that co-housing is exactly the way you’d like to share your lives with your community, find out more about the Oak Trust Ecovillage check out their concept document here (pdf).

Enquiries should be directed to Florian Kroll at flo@opensynergy.co.za

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When Suzanne Forsling moved from the US Midwest to Alaska, she discovered this novel idea for keeping her salad crops off the cold ground and away from critters who messed with them. She used new guttering, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t use old guttering, either that from your own home, or from a reclamation yard. This is a very inventive way of gardening if you don’t have a garden. Use a house wall, your balcony or expand your garden if you have one by using a garden wall.

You can read exactly how Suzanne set up her gutter garden in this article from the Juneau Empire.

To conserve water, you could place potted plants under the guttering to soak up any water that drains away from your salad crops.

How does your garden grow? [Juneau Empire]

[via: greenUPGRADER]

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“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” – William Morris.

You don’t have to be a farmer to grow your own food, just a little patch in your back garden should enable you to grow a fair bit of your own produce. But some people just aren’t keen on the idea of giving over their lawns and ornamental gardens to the planting of food plants for fear that they’ll lose the attractiveness of the gardens that they delight in. It doesn’t have to be like that. There are lots of beautiful plants and flowers that are edible, or extremely useful in the growing of an organic food garden.

Removing food miles from your dinner plate is such a great way to go green and really cut back your carbon footprint considerably. So how about having a go this coming summer at growing something that you can proudly put on a plate and feed to family and friends, knowing that you’ve grown it yourself.

There are four ways that you could incorporate some beautiful food into your garden.

1. Permanent beds of perennial or self-seeding plants
Having permanent beds in your garden provides stability for wildlife over the winter, but also means less work for you once they’ve been planted. There are a few herbs that suit this job perfectly: rosemary, echinacea, bergamot, lemon balm, evening primrose, mint and oregano. Nasturtiums are also great, but you will need to keep them in check. This sort of bed looks great in between vegetable beds that lie empty in Spring.

2. Annual beds
Include an edible flower bed in your rotation with vegetables to have extras for salads, plants that attract pests away from your vegetables and some pretty flowers for the table. Calendula (marigolds) and nasturtiums are my favourite flowers for this purpose. You could also try pansies.

3. Feral flowers
If you’re brave enough to, set your flowers free to self-seed and grow randomly. Self-seeders like evening primrose, common mallow, nasturtiums and calendula can decide for themselves where to enjoy their next life-cycle. But you’ll have to take them in hand if they spread too far for your liking.

4. Vegetable flowers
The benefits of allowing some of your vegetable plants to go to flower is their bug attracting power, the fact that you’ll be able to save seed from the plant for your next vegetable crop, and that you can enjoy the blooms in your salads too. Leave some of your chives, rocket and radishes to flower for just those reasons. Other plants give you both the flowers and the vegetable, like baby marrows.

For more edible flower ideas, have a look here.

Photo credit: startcooking kathy & amandine

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