Shaking Nigel Boerefees

What a huge success and absolutely fun day with the entire family!!!! With over 600 entries for the charity walk, 25 stalls and the support from the Nigel community, I feel blessed to say that the Boerefees was a huge success.

The main focuss of the Shaking Nigel Boerefees, was to raise funds for our local children’s home Villa Liberi. Earth Owl hosts a community project each year in an effort to give back to our local community, through a poll, we asked Nigel who they would like to support and allocated our efforts towards the cause.

Thank you Villa Liberi and your entire team for allowing us to make a difference. With R 72 000 funds raised for your organization per year, I trust you will only be able to grow from greatness to greatness. Thank you for all the love, support, time and effort you put in for the children, because that is the difference they need to grow into beautiful successful adults and have meaningful futures.

Starting off with the potjiekos Competition, I just need to say it was such a close call. The attention to detail each contestant put into their themes were mind blowing, not to mention the flavours of each potjie. Congratulations to Bos Bru, who won the R 12600 getaway prize to Tzaneen, you guys are going to LOVE the experience. Thank you to Pizza Pasta, Team Bonfire, Bunny’s on the Beach, The VLU, Etienne Tucker, Jan-Jan and Team for participating in the competition!!!

Our local talent Jean Diedrick made a huge vocal impression by performing blues, rock, country and folk throughout the day. He is truly a talent that deserves so much in his career and I remain thankful for knowing such a brilliant talent as him. May you grow into the musical artist you deserve to be for South African music.

The children had fun in the sun with our bubble bath waterside, jumping castle and bokdrol spoeg competition. Thank you to Bianca and Nadene who made it possible by taking care of the young ones whilst the parents could take some time to relax.

John Vorster High school was one of the main supporters of the day by ensuring and securing most of the 3km walk entries for the fundraiser. I cannot express my gratitude enough for what John Vorster means to the community. The school has a standard of its own, and that is excellence or nothing. Thank you miss Esna Terblanche for the focuss you have put into these children to ensure they have grown up to be responsible young adults!!! John Vorster lives up to their name, Volhard en Oorwin!

Moving towards the 3k charity walk! Thank you to Kingdom Warriors biker group, who made time available to shake Nigel out of its seams by leading all the participants in our 3km fun walk. Thank you for all the prayers done for our town, may we grow from glory to glory.

I especially want to thank Johan and the whole of the NCOP team for ensuring the safety of the participants. Not only did the NCOP guide the route and secured safety, they provide continuous suport in our Nigel community by keeping our town and it’s people safe. You guys are heroes in my eyes and I have so much respect for what you guys do and your loyal commitment to this town. Thank you for ensuring the safety of all during our event, may your buckets overflow with blessings and abundance!!!!!!!

As the sun started to set, we opened the dancefloor with our line dancers from Generation Dance School. Their dance talent was out of this world and kept everyone well entertained. They even opened the dancefloor for everyone else by covering the dancefloor with traditional mielie Meal. I’ve never seen children and adults dance so much with so much joy than on the Shaking Nigel Boerefees.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all our sponsors, without your support, this event would not have been possible.

Thank you to our main sponsor Titan Global Wheel, for bringing your arch and setup, it made the entire day just feel more festive, your team had so much sports with us, with such lekker spirits!

The potjiekos Competition would not have been such a popular hit if it wasn’t for our sponsor The Waterwheel Retreat, who made it possible to sponsor a 3 night getaway for 12 friends to the most beautiful resort in Tzaneen. Thank you Ian for making this possible!

Thank you to Amicos, your involvement to our community has always been such an anchor. Thank you for your support during the walk and also ensuring that this day was made possible. All love and respect to your team of warriors. Thank you so much for what you mean to our town and it’s people. You remain family!

Thank you to the Kostmart Group. Thank you for your loyal support and willingness to always help. Thank you for being a community player and contributing to the upliftment of Nigel and it’s people!

RBB, thank you for your love and support, even before the event, you ensured that the day was made possible and continually supporting our efforts in making Nigel a beautiful fun and safe town to stay in! Thank you for your love!

Finally I would like to thank Chamberlink, Gym 2000, Tyre Rack and our private sponsor for your contribution to this event. You all are such community players and rock solid businesses that mean so much to the growth and economy of Nigel. Thank you for your willingness to help us make a difference in the hearts of little ones. Without companies like you, there is no love and support within a town!

On a personal level, I would like to thank my Earth Owl Team. Santana Pestana, Bea Lubbe, Ansie van Staden, Tialane Barnard, Nadene and Bianca for all your blood, sweat and tears in helping to put this vision together. Thank you for being the team I can rely on and who never backs down on a challenge! Excellence or Nothing, you guys truly pulled it off and I am super proud of you! Until the next one….

Earth Owl Greetings with love and respect to all who participated in our event, each donation and each foot that attended the Shaking Nigel Boerefees.

Until the next one

Earth Owl, Growing The Future

The zucchini, courgette or baby marrow (Cucurbita pepo) is a summer squash, a vining herbaceous plant whose fruit and flowers are harvested when their immature seeds and epicarp (rind) are still soft and edible.

The male flowers appear on the stems first. The female flowers bloom slightly later and have slightly bulbous bases, which develop into the Baby marrow fruit as in the video, you can see that it has an embryonic fruitlet behind the yellow petals. Unless the flower is fertilised by pollen from the male flower, this will not develop; we are grateful for the bees, butterflies and other pollenators for making this possible.

We planted 1040 seeds on a surface area of ONLY 1625 m2. A total of 1.5 tonnes of zucchini was harvested with only 14% rejected produce and 8 000 seeds were harvested to utilize for next season (this specific variety retails at R1,00 per seed).

For tips and tricks on seed storage, succession farming, sustainable methods etc. follow Earth Owl and our social media pages.
The forecasted harvest amount, expected time to harvest and end of life was reached as planned:

Nov 11.22 – Plant seeds
Dec 25.22 – First harvest
Mar 07.23 – Last harvest

The season provided a profit percentage of 50%, including the seeds to utilize in the next season. The highest expenses was fuel and labour that was 44% and 30%, respectively.

Earth Owl
Growing The Future

We have been receiving a few surprise guests from the city during the past few months, wanting to break away from the concrete jungle for a few hours of some harvesting ”therapy”. I’m delighted that city folk are willing to come out and enjoy the clean country air. Harvesting is relaxing and puts you at one with nature and the clean energy that comes with the new daybreak that falls upon your skin.

Hopefully we have inspired some sustainable tips to take back to the city.

Farm to Fork, because nothing tastes better.

The baby marrow is actually a courgette or zucchini that has been left on the plant to grow a little longer; likewise, if you pick a marrow when small, it’s classed as a courgette. Marrow has a creamy flesh, edible skin and seeds, and a mild flavour.

These are very rewarding plants to grow as the germination of the seeds are easy and the vegetables are ready to be eaten as soon as nine weeks after adding the seed to soil. The plants are also very attractive, producing an abundance of yellow flowers which are also edible.

Did you know? Baby marrows are rich in B vitamins, fibre as well as vitamins A, C and K. Which makes it a must have plant to grow especially considering food insecurity and malnutrition in women and children.

The soil was first tested to ensure the correct nutrients were added to the soil along with a hearty amount of manure and organic compost .

After the soil was mixed in well, the lines were measured to ensure plant spacing is done correctly.

The seed is inserted to the soil. The seeds germinate between seven to 21 days, hereafter mulching is added around the newly sprouted seedling to ensure that moisture stored in the soil but also to keep the area weed-free. Thicker mulch is added to the pathways as well.

It takes approximately 50 to 70 days for the plants to start producing fruits. The fruits and flowers are harvested, rinsed thoroughly, weighed and packaged for sale.

Our baby marrows are proudly organic, handpicked and GMO Free. We take pride in only selecting the finest quality for you to enjoy.

There exists countless baby marrow and baby marrow flower recipes just waiting for you to try out.

During our entire cycle, we managed to harvest a total of 1500 kg baby marrows each month. Thanks to our incredible team, we managed to double the growing area within only 1 month whereby we planted an additional 4000 seeds on a neighbouring farm.

Constant skills development is absolute key to ensure you build a strong and reliable team who knows what to do and when to do it.

We are proudly 100% woman owned and continue to empower women by teaching them how they too can become self sustainable farmers and care for their own families.

Stay tuned for more baby marrow adventures.

It started with a dream, a dream to plant trees in our community.

We set out to create a fundraiser event called the Ride4Life, hosted on a cold morning on the 5th of June 2021, inspired by World Environment day. World Environment Day is all about encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment. This year’s theme is on restoring the environment and reconnecting with nature – what better way to celebrate mother nature and plant 150 trees.

On the 11th of September, this dream was realised. A group of selfless volunteers got their hands dirty and ensured to provide shade for future generations.

And as custodians of our planet – its fauna and flora – it is of utmost importance that we ensure we take the necessary measures to give back to mother nature.

Trees are incredibly selfless – we can learn so much from these ancient systems and the biodiversity they nurture.

The 11th of September marks yet another milestone that proves that when people stand together, we can achieve the impossible. A total of 150 trees were planted by just over 100 community members, ranging from Nigel to as far as Boksburg.

It took a couple of days to find the right words to express how it felt to be present in that particular moment as I stood silently looking at everyone working together. It was to live in a moment where South Africa is united, where everyone is working towards a similar goal, where there is love, unity, care and hope for a future. I saw the young helping the old, I heard the laughter of various cultures as their joy for one another filled the air, I felt the care and deep love from each individual as they crossed my path and words of inspiration that filled the atmosphere to a point where we actually forgot to even play music from the music truck. The fertile smell of mother earth as the soil breaks open and restores new life into her once vacant landscape inspires hope for the future. To me, this is the definition of what human KIND should truly be.

To some, planting a tree does not truly carry much meaning, but to me, planting a tree symbolises hope, life and the possibility of a future. Planting a tree is probably the most selfless thing a human can ever do, because you understand that you will never live to sit in its shade, breathe in its life or witness its majesty…

You plant a tree because you have a vision.. A vision so that the children of today will have a future tomorrow.

Earth Owl assisted with a cleanup project in Diepkloof on the 17th of April. Non recyclable plastic was collected from the community to be used in the making of Eco Bricks. The Eco Bricks are then used to build structures such as classrooms, houses, buildings and many more. 18 Tons of plastic was removed from the area in order to build the Eco Brick Classroom using 16 000 2 liter plastic bottles.

Earth Owl was part of the #ilovenigel movement in an attempt to clean up the town, its streets, historic buildings and parks. A great team of Nigel volunteers came together each Saturday to do their bit in making a difference in the town of Nigel and its people.