Estate Living November 2016 Digital Issue | Page 14

homeowners’

Certainly a huge selection of wild greens

associations, take the trouble to find out

– called collectively morogo or imifino,

which wild plants on your estate are edible.

depending where you are in the country –

You can consult with an ethnobotanist,

and spekboom could be grown along the

or – probably – you can just even ask your

jogging paths and mountain bike trails,

gardener, who may already be diverting a

and watercress is a great addition to water

selection of weeds from the compost heap

features. Indigenous fruit trees and shrubs

and taking them home to cook – Not out of

like stamvrug, mangosteen, Kei apple and

desperation, – but in out of the knowledge

num-num can all be grown in the communal

that these plants are superior in taste and

areas. It’s all about attitude, really. Are our

nutritional value to the perfectly pretty,

gardens and communal spaces just something

perfectly formed greens available in the

to look at, or are they an integral part of our

supermarket. But remember you need to

environment – and of our food chain?

As

homeowners

and

get advice from someone knowledgeable
about these things. Estate Living won’t take
responsibility if you eat a deadly poisonous
mushroom!
As well as foraging, Charles has started seedbombing the very urban streets in his home
suburb of Woodstock with mostly indigenous
plants. This way, he says, in five years’ time
he and his neighbours will be able to harvest
a range of edible greens, some fruits and
even perhaps mushrooms just by stepping
out of the front door. I’m not sure whether
he realises that by doing this he’s recreating
the process that started our metamorphosis
from hunter-gatherers to farmers. I’m sure
the irony would not be lost on him. Charles
gets irony.
As more estates start to appreciate
the value of vegetable gardens,
vineyards, olive groves and
fruit orchards, let’s look
at what we can grow in
the spaces in between.

Jen Stern
Contact
Charles Standing: 083 456 1942
www.theurbanhuntergatherer. com