Kurt Ackermann, Author at Oranjezicht City Farm

A Peak into the Past: historical trends of growing your own food

July 17, 2013 By Kurt Ackermann

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Most of my friends wouldn’t know where to begin if told to grow their own food. I of course have my horticulture comrades…but those engineers; oceanographers; teachers -- they’re great at their professions and have wonderful skill sets -- growing just isn’t one of them! This is not an isolated example. For generations there have been those with green thumbs and those, well -- without. Growing your own food and gardening has gone in and out of fashion throughout history. Gardens have Read more [...]

Plan Bee.

July 4, 2013 By Kurt Ackermann

Across the globe urban beekeepers are popping up, more cities is the USA are legalizing the keeping of bees and the Mayor of London has set aside £ 42 000 for urban beekeeping projects. Bees are being kept on top of hotels, museums and opera houses, in back gardens in suburbia and on the roofs of businesses. The rise of urban beekeeping is no coincidence; it is a direct response to the plight of bee colonies in rural areas. In 2006 a mysterious phenomenon started to occur where entire colonies Read more [...]

A Morning with a PR Agent for. . . Earthworms

June 10, 2013 By Kurt Ackermann

It was a chilly, drizzling Saturday morning with rainbows appearing, disappearing and reappearing in the skyline. I had heard about the Oranjezicht City Farm (OZCF), tucked between urban plots on the base of Table Mountain in downtown Cape Town sometime last year. There were rumors of an old, abandoned bowling green now producing food, tended to by the community. It was one of those places that I always meant to stop by to see what they’re up to over there. Well, you know how that goes sometimes..but Read more [...]

How to Farm: The Sex Life of Earthworms

May 18, 2013 By Kurt Ackermann

The Sex Life of Earthworms (or secret delights of the urban gardener) Read more [...]

Progress Update 3

March 10, 2013 By Kurt Ackermann

We have been very busy at the farm in the past few weeks; preparing new beds, planting seeds in the existing beds and caring for the seedlings that are battling with the wind. Those are courgettes / zucchini / marrow in the foreground (the name depends on the size that you pick them). Catherine Nicks Read more [...]

Support small-scale

February 28, 2013 By Kurt Ackermann

Yesterday on page 8 of the Cape Times an article was published titled ‘Giants put squeeze on global food production’. The article draws from a report released by the Fairtrade Foundation – a British non-profit organization. On page seven of the report one can see that five companies control 75% of world banana trade and three companies control 42% of global coffee sales. On a local scale, this happens more than we think. I attended the Urban Food SystemUCT Summer School course and was shocked Read more [...]

Creative Planting

February 22, 2013 By Kurt Ackermann

In the past few years a number of creative planting methods have been developed, especially for those urban gardeners who want to grow food but are lacking the space to do so. Entrepreneurs, avid gardeners and multinational giants have taken initiative in this growing food revolution. The Kitchen Nano Garden was designed by Hyuandai and a South Korean design firm, Gromo in 2010. You can grow salad and herbs regardless of season - hydroponically; you control the light, water and nutrients. And Read more [...]

Progress Update 2

February 14, 2013 By Kurt Ackermann

In the past few weeks the farm has started to take shape - it is looking more and more like the historic Cape Town vegetable gardens on which Tanya based her design forOZCF. In the righthand side section (when facing the ocean) beans, Italian mixed lettuce, patty pans, courgettes (zucchini / baby marrow) and a few others I am forgetting have been planted and are growing at an alarming rate. In the lefthand side section Clinton and I planted onions, carrots and radishes. Mario taught us Read more [...]

Rooftop Farming – Urban Agriculture in Cape Town

February 7, 2013 By Kurt Ackermann

Tracing the inspiration behind urban agriculture in Cape Town. I have tried to trace back the origin of my passion for urban agriculture, and there are two moments that come to mind. The most obvious is watching the documentary Food Inc. I was instantly shocked by the facts and images the film illustrated and over the months that followed it all sank in and my lifestyle began to change. On a more positive and inspiring note I came across this picture on The Selby’s site around the same time. Annie Read more [...]

Upcycling

January 31, 2013 By Kurt Ackermann

In the midst of the green revolution people around the world are partaking in, a new jargon has developed. Words have been dissected, reconstructed and given new meaning. A fourth ‘re’ has been added to the recycle, reuse and reduce – REFUSE, probably the most important of the three. The word recycled has been divided into two parts, downcycling and upcycling. The terms were coined by Reiner Pilz, who talked about recycling, as we know it, as ’downcycling’. Recycling is a process that Read more [...]