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19 September 2018
There’s magic in a garden, healing in the soil vegetables they grew for their restaurant.
Elaine Davie
I
“Sally taught me so much about organic farming,” he says. “And also that gardens bring people together. How can we be separate if we are working together with our hands in the same soil?” This is a sentiment Sally feels strongly about, in fact. “I see my relationship with Trevor as the story of South Africa really; it’s all about building individual relationships, about interacting, about being there for each other.”
n Zwelihle where there has been so much turbulence in recent times, a remarkable young man with a wide smile and peaceful eyes tends a food garden. His name is Trevor Nkoyi and he is in love with the soil. Born in Queenstown, but relocating with his parents to Hermanus as a child, he was unable to continue his schooling beyond Grade 7, but, as a teenager, he remembers hanging around the Saturday market, intrigued by the beautiful fresh vegetables and fruit he saw for sale there. With this in mind, he started searching for piecework in local gardens and this led to an encounter with someone who would change his life forever, as he, indeed, would powerfully impact hers. Sally Raats was newly arrived in Onrus. A young American mother of two small twin girls, married to South African winemaker, Jasper Raats, she knew no one and was struggling to adjust to a completely new environment while her husband commuted to Stellenbosch where he was working. Then, one day in 2009, Trevor knocked on her gate looking for a gardening job. A winemaker herself, with a passion for gardening, she had heard of an initiative to start a vegetable garden at the RDP centre in Zwelihle, so she asked Trevor if he would like to join her in getting it going. “He had to remove huge rocks from the ground and it was back-breaking work for him,” she remembers. Side-byside, several days a week they struggled to turn this unproductive piece of ground into something useful, and soon a close friendship developed between them. “I always tell people”, smiles Sally, “that Trevor was my first real friend in South Africa and now, 10 years later, we are still friends. He is a very special person.” However, when Sally moved to Longridge Wine Farm near Stellenbosch where Jasper had been appointed winemaker and General Manager, Trevor took a full-time job at Camphill
Each job Trevor has had has taught him something new towards becoming more proficient in his calling. At Green Road, also in Stellenbosch, he sold organic vegetables, sourced from local farmers, at their weekly market and was responsible for making up veggie packs which were delivered to customers in Stellenbosch, Somerset West and Paarl. But when he heard about the troubles in Hermanus, he knew he was needed here, so back he came to where it all began: the vegetable garden at the RDP Centre, now home to the Zwelihle Youth Café, run by William Ntebe and Fikiswa Gxamesi. Biodynamic veggie gardener, Trevor Nkoyi takes a break beside the flourishing lettuces he planted, which will soon be ready for market. PHOTO: Hedda Mittner
Farm and was introduced to the principle of biodynamic farming. He had discovered what he now refers to as his calling – growing vegetables without contamination from chemicals of any kind, but as God intended them to be grown before man interfered with nature. At Camphill they noticed his ability and growing passion and encouraged him to go for training in organic farming, permaculture and other agricultural methods. His own eating habits underwent a sea change: every day he experienced the advantages of eating fresh, healthy food and, with missionary zeal, he set about trying to convince everyone he knew of its value. His late father,
who had grown up on a farm, encouraged him every step of the way; his mother, not so much. She was worried that there didn’t seem to be much monetary reward for the hard work he was doing. This was of little concern to him, though. His philosophy was that if you were able to do something that you loved and really believed in, you would always have enough to live on. The next step on his biodynamic journey reinforced not only this philosophy, but also his skills. In 2012, to the delight of both, he was able to team up with Sally again at Longridge Estate, which implemented strictly biodynamic farming methods, both for their vines and the
With help from Peter Hahn, it’s now full steam ahead for Trevor. Along his journey of discovery, he had been exposed to the German method of small-scale organic farming, called hügelkultur. It involves creating mounds of soil built on sturdy logs, together with branches, twigs and organic compost; planting the vegetables on top, as well as down the sides of the mound and then covering the whole structure with a mulch of straw. Trevor has no financial backing for this project, but he is nothing if not ambitious. Relying on donations of organically produced seeds (he is adamant that nothing else will do) from Camphill and individual donors, as well as organic fertilizer from Biogrow and hay bales from the Hermanus Country Market, he has planted a farm-sized selection of vegetables and herbs in two pocket-
sized pieces of ground. By November this year, he hopes to be fully productive. But, as Sally points out, he is a natural teacher, so his ultimate aim is to persuade all the schools in Zwelihle and Mount Pleasant (to start with) to establish their own gardens in planter boxes, for which the children themselves will take responsibility. Those who are really interested will be encouraged to come and work with him in his garden where he can give them more personal, long-term training. He will buy whatever the children can produce, make them up into six-portion, seasonal veggie packs and sell them at the Country Market. As with the football club of local youngsters, FC Rangers, which Trevor formed and has coached for many years, he believes that if young people put their minds to it, they can succeed at anything. “It’s very important for the children to realise that they can do things for themselves and feel proud of what they produce, instead of waiting for someone to do it for them. Nothing tastes so sweet or is as healthy as a carrot or a lettuce that you have planted yourself and picked from your own garden. “Actually, I would like to invite everyone to come to my garden, to bring themselves, with their labour, new ideas and encouragement, or to bring whatever else they have to offer – tools, seeds, veggie bags (paper, not plastic), a fridge! People are so stuck in fear; I want to share my knowledge and love of gardens. You can be happy here.” Sally sums it up when she says, “I think we both find God in a garden and in a way it’s symbolic of South Africa: out of this barren soil of pain and hurt, new growth and healing can come. Trevor has this amazing feeling for plants. I think he can almost feel them, understand what they need to flourish and it’s all done with love, for people and plants.” For more information or offers of help, Trevor can be contacted on 079 481 3155.
