Announcing the availability of Spekboom in COMPOTS

From the Spekboom Carbon and Poverty Alleviation Project.  Sounds interesting:

“John Sachs from Barrydale has set up a factory in our village manufacturing COMPOTS – these are containers made from 100% compost, which is the greenest possible way in which to distribute Spekboom (and other plants for that matter).  The compot containers can be planted as is, with the Spekboom, and will decompose while nourishing the plant! Please contact the team on Spekboom@softcraft.co.za if you would like to order some.

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Spekboom as far as the eye can see

My dear husband and I have recently returned from a two-week road trip 1000km from our home town. One of our stops was Gamkaskloof or ‘Die Hel’ a remote area of the Swartberg in the Karoo. We saw some amazing things, but one of the many beautiful things that made my heart beat faster (apart from the hairy passes) were the masses upon masses of Spekboom that grew in extravagant abundance all over the mountainsides. It was wonderful to see Spekboom in what is obviously its ‘natural’ environment. I even saw one or two flowering (which I have NEVER seen in Durban). Apparently the mountainside in December is aflame with the pink blooms. What a sight that must be!

The hills are alive...

Spekboom update

A few months back we posted a story about spekboom and its amazing carbon-soaking potential (How cool is spekboom?).  Since then we’ve noticed it sprouting up all over the place.

• In an ad campaign for Spec-Savers where they promise to plant over 4000 spekboom trees as part of a sub-tropical thicket rehabilation project in Baviaanskloof, Eastern Cape (http://www.specsavers.co.za/social.aspx).
• The wine industry has also bought into the benefits of spekboom and Columbit has launched a project where they distribute small plants to vineyards around the Cape (http://www.wineland.co.za/200902-spekboom.php3).
• There were features on spekboom in episodes of 50/50 and Fokus.
• Lastly, there is a Facebook group, Spekboom Carbon and Poverty Alleviation Project, which is actively growing and distributing spekboom plants by obtaining sponsorships that enables them “to provide Spekboom cuttings to, and pay impoverished citizens to plant spekboom in rural communities such as Barrydale in the Western Cape, South Africa.”  Join the group at http://tinyurl.com/spekboom

If anyone in Durban is looking for spekboom plants, I can supply cuttings and they are really easy to grow.

Pic from the Spekboom Carbon and Poverty Alleviation Project.

Spreading the Spekboom love

So far, we’ve given cuttings to a farmer, a nursery-man, an eco-friendly neighbour and an NGO.

Spekboom cuttings in a jar.

How cool is spekboom?

A recent study in the Eastern Cape has highlighted the fact that the humble spekboom (or ‘elephant’s food’ as it is also known) has an amazing ability to soak up CO2, equivalent to that of  sub-tropical forests. Findings suggest that up to four tons of carbon a year would be captured by each hectare. This is apparently making a lot of people excited about how much it could be worth on the carbon-trading market but I’m excited about how an indigenous South African plant could potentially be so valuable in turning back the tide of global warming.  Also, it raises the issue of what uses our other indigenous plants could have, that we have yet to discover.

And I’ve got it in my garden.  I currently have five plants, all grown from one cutting I took from my friend Em’s house in Salt Rock.  So, if anyone wants some (and lives in Durban), let me know and you can come and break off a branch.

Read up about it at the Mail & Guardian and Urban Sprout.

Update: Sasol may turn to Spekboom to capture carbon

Spekboom soaks up the CO2.