New park for all residents
There's not a lot of gardening going on it town at present, so this week, I want to update you on the park project. We’ve been making meetings all around town, finding stakeholders and planning the area.
Things are looking good for a new park in Grahamstown, and with it is forming a new community vibe. What we wanted was to create a space where everyone in Grahamstown feels welcome.
Maryann, who’s setting up a local crafts and farmers market in the Old Gaol, came on board when we chatted about the problems of Grahamstown’s demographics.
She was searching for a place to open up a market for local goods and antiques, and found out the common view, which is that there simply isn’t anywhere in town that doesn’t have a sharp demographic divide. It’s an odd fact about Grahamstown: although it’s a relatively small place, there aren’t many areas that are a true crossover space, and this is something we really want to provide with the park.
We’ve been working up an idea with her of bringing in crafters from the township, so that once a week (or more) they have a pitch in town where they can both sell their goods and connect with other crafters. From there, we can run spin-off markets and garden builds in other locations, such as Fingo and Joza (and further out if it works). It should help give people a legup who are working hard but currently have no real place to sell their goods, or a way to meet like-minded folk.
We’re also looking at hold- ing afterschool storytelling sessions and book clubs provided by LahkeNathi, and Unati Snam after his time running a mobile library in Extension 9. There are other child-friendly activities planned. For example, Famsa want to put on plays that they're working up with a group of children. The art-driven kids at Sakhuluntu are also keen to have a space in town they can show off their skills.
Overall, we’re looking at a space that should draw in all sorts of different people from town, and we’re on course for a strong ecumenical feel, where no particular group will be associated with the park.
Assuming that we get clearance from the municipality in March/April, we should be able to get on with the heavy lifting in April/May, which will take about three months if things go well. After that, it’ll take another six months for the initial starter crops to bind the soil.
In that time, we’ll have sessions for various eco-clubs and others interested in the process of turning a completely dead site into a viable organic system.
We’ll also have to immediately start on clearing the water course. For the park to really settle as a bubble of indigenous ecology, it needs to have flowing water, and if it's all possible, that should be from a natural run rather than a pumped water feature.
At present, there’s a storm drain that runs along the bottom, but it’s heavily clogged up with trash and invasive species. On the bright side, it also has concrete covers that can be made into small gardens all along the watercourse. We’ll connect with groups like Working for Water to deal with that.
Once the water course is cleared, we’ll be able to really roll up our sleeves and get working, adding indigenous trees and activity areas. We’re also looking at working in collaboration with Oatlands Prep, who are expanding their park section, meaning that the whole space will become an integrated green bubble.
For now, 2017 will have small groups coming on to the site, with larger groups coming in 2018, including festival events etc. It’ll take some time, but the signs are looking very good. • Do you have a project you’d like to see featured in Gardening in G’Town, or a gardening question? If so, please get in touch. Feeding The Self is a cross-NGO project focused around building gardens and using them for teaching and community building. You can find out more about us from our website, and if you’d like to get involved please email me at chirag.patel@feedingtheself. org or send a message to me on 073 557 8909.