June 7, 2004
By Lucille Davie
WORLD Environment Day was celebrated at Zoo Lake on Friday with the handing over of prizes for an essay competition in which Grade 5 and 6 learners entered essays entitled My Green World.
The R2 000 prize for the best essays went to Sacred Heart Convent. A learner from Greenside received a parcel of books for the best individual essay, and New Nation School in Cottlesloe, a school for street children, received a special prize of R1 500 for making the effort to enter despite the difficulties they faced.
Queueing for compost with their newspaper pots
Cheryl Heynes, a teacher, gave out the prizes and commented on how plastic bags do not disintegrate in nature, explaining how a landfill site containing these bags still had them intact 27 years later.
Disconcerted that some of the essays described a fantasy green world in which it was somebody else's problem to restore the environment, she encouraged the children to do their bit in keeping their small piece of environment clean.
Six schools from around Johannesburg entered the competition organised by the Zoo Lake Users' Committee, but because of exams, only three made it to the Zoo Lake Training Centre to learn more eco-lessons.
An excited bunch of about 50 children were divided into groups and shown around the green house and herb garden, where they were told about the medicinal uses of herbs.
They planted beetroot seedlings in "eco circles". Each circle "contains its own energy", and three circles, each one metre in diameter, are linked together like a clover leaf planted with a central herb. Two circles are planted with leaf crops, the remaining with a root crop. The demonstration circle was planted with 24 lettuces, 60 spinach and 40 beetroot plants.
The thinking behind the concept is that plants, like high and low tides, have similar cycles that correspond to the "rising and falling of sap", brought on by the cycles of the moon. Certain plants must be planted at certain times to optimise their growth. Leaf crops should be planted at the rising of the sap, root crops at the fall.
The circles can be extended into a larger hexagon shape, accommodating 18 circles in all. Crops are rotated, and watering takes places by means of a 2-litre plastic bottle which is pierced, placed in the ground and filled with water twice a week (up to 8 litres each week), which then seeps into the ground. Mulch is used to keep the soil moist.
After planting the beetroot, the children were shown how to create their own pot plants out of newspaper. They wrapped a piece of newspaper around an empty Coke can, and after folding the sides and bottom firmly, they removed the can, and, holding on the bottom of their pot, filled it with soil and planted a parsley or beetroot plant to take home.
After a glass of juice and a biscuit, clutching their newspaper pot plants, the children happily boarded their mini buses, taking the eco-friendly lessons to share with school mates.
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