gardens – The LAND project

This winter, students from UW-Madison’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will be traveling to Johannesburg, Elliot, and Kumanzimdaka with Michael Bell and Valerie Stull of the LAND Project. Between late December early January, 2017, students will learn first-hand about the history and society of South Africa, the basics of agroecology and environmental health, and the multifactorial determinants of health for urban and rural populations in the South Africa & Lesotho. Students will learn about urban agriculture initiatives in Johannesburg, and lead an agricultural education camp for children near Elliot in the rural Eastern Cape. Throughout the trip, students will be encouraged to observe urban and rural farming and healthcare.

Students from a prior UW student-learning course pose with their fellow workers in the school garden

Students will also participate in several service learning activities: possibly the construction of rainwater harvesting systems systems and the design and set-up of a composting system for a food garden at the Manzimdanka Primary School. In Johanesburg, students will work at the Ratang Bana urban garden Service learning work will be completed in partnership with the LAND Project’s collaborator, the non-profit organization Kidlinks World Inc. These two service-learning projects have been selected through a longstanding relationship between Kidlinks and the local community. Service learning provides an opportunity for students in this course to work with community members, local students, and leaders to plan and implement two health related initiatives. It will also provide an opportunity for learning exchange and growth between students and community members.

Students are selected for this trip from a pool of applicants and prepare throughout the fall semester through readings and discussions. Click here to find more information about our student collaborative trips.

Wisconsin’s life sciences’ periodical, “Grow,” recently featured The Land Project’s efforts in the Eastern Cape. In “Field Notes: South Africa,” Aisha Liebenow chats with recent LAND volunteers and visiting faculty and summarizes the current activities of the Project.

The article touches on the efforts of the LAND Project at mitigating commons erosion through rotational grazing. This form of grasslands management, which actually originated in Africa, ‘will potentially double the level of animal production while also building soil quality, reducing erosion and promoting wildlife habitat. LAND has conducted workshops with farmers on rotational grazing and helped develop a supply chain connecting local grass-based meat to national and international markets.”

Leibenow also highlights students who recently visited the Eastern Cape with the LAND project through a new global health certificate field course, “The Agroecology of Health,” via the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Bell and doctoral student Valerie Stull brought 10 undergraduate and two graduate students to the Eastern Cape for a 15-day visit that encompassed learning about agroecology and hydrology systems and working with community members to establish a one-acre vegetable garden at a school in the village of Kumanzimdaka”

Read the full article on Grow’s e-magazine site.

Tag: gardens

Upcoming trip: “The Agroecology of Health: Water, Food, and Well Being, South Africa”

The LAND Project featured in University of Wisconsin’s “Grow” magazine