Eat Out DSTV Food Network Festival 2013
When Hannerie Visser invited me to ‘come and get dirty’ for the launch of this year’s Eat Out DSTV Food Network Festival 2013 Produce Awards and Festival, I had no idea what was in store for me. I arrived at Matt Allison’s house and on first sight was really impressed with the fantastic use of space. Matt, a stay at home dad turned urban farmer, grows his own vegetables and herbs, has a small chicken coop and a large tortoise roaming his garden. I am all for planting and eating your own and at the moment I have cauliflower, tomatoes, celery and beetroot in my vegetable garden. Most recently, I have planted marrows and cucumbers and in my salad garden I have a few varieties of lettuce as well as rocket and radishes. I have a lovely potted herb garden which I make use of every day. To start the day, I was warmly greeted by Hannerie and welcomed with some amazingly refreshing freshly pressed watermelon juice. After all the guests had done some chatting and catching up, we were directed to take a seat at the tables. I chose a space with as much shade as possible and Matt proceeded to tell us about what we were there to do. He explained the Guerrilla Gardening Movement and we proceeded to get dirty by making our own seed bombs. Matt had included a lot of seeds and I am so excited about watching them grow that I am going to head to my local nursery today to ask Richard to come and put top soil in my one empty bed. The builders created this for me a while back and I still have not done anything with the space. It borders on our pavement fence line, and as I want to create a pavement garden, this will be the perfect space. Cara Brink fed us the most amazing cupcakes and after our seed bomb making – which was hard work 😉 – we were rewarded with ice lollies, such a great idea in the heat we are experiencing. We were sent home with salted caramel popcorn, a herb plant (I chose rosemary as I am about to dig up my 6 year old plant and move it and I need a new one for my courtyard garden that can be potted), some fresh herbs and vegetables from Matt’s garden. Last night I enjoyed some carrot crisps while waiting for Dave to come home.
This event marked the launch of the produce and awards festival which will take place on the 15th and 16th of March. As a nominee of Best Local Food Blogger last year, I went to the awards event and it was really amazing. I can only imagine that this year will be better. The two day event will be held at the Neighbourgoods Market at The Biscuit Mill in Woodstock. If you have not yet been to the market, do add it on to your list of things to do in Cape Town. Friday night will see the announcement of the winners of this year’s awards – once again I have been nominated for the Best Local Food Blogger. The awards ceremony will be followed by a night market which will be open from 5pm to 9pm (entrance free) and there will be a pop-up picnic sponsored by Knorr. The night market will showcase this year’s finalists and winners and Whatsfordinner will host a pop-up kitchen.
Seed Bombs
Materials
- 5 parts clay dust
- 3 parts dry sifted compost
- 1 part seeds
- 1 to 2 parts water
Instructions
- In a container combine the clay, compost and seeds. Mix well.
- Using a hand held mister slowly add 1 part water, checking the consistency. If the mixture holds together in a ball, you've added enough water, if it crumbles add more until you find the right blend.
- Roll the mixture into 2cm balls, gently between your hands until they feel firm, round, and smooth on the outside.
- Set the rolled seed balls aside on a dry surface or baking sheet and allow 3-4 days to dry, you can then store them for when you are ready to use them.
- Throw them into any open space (on your own property or anywhere you would like to see growth)
Notes
Add the water SLOWLY, if you add too much you won’t be able to roll the balls. IF you do add too much water, you’ll need to add more clay powder.
On Saturday the market will be open from 9am to 2pm (entrance free) and alongside the usual market stall holders, the award winners will showcase their products in a special section dedicated to them. The evening will see some of South Africa’s top chefs getting together to serve a unique interactive market to table dinner which is being sponsored by Woolworths. These 5 chefs will use ingredients from the award winners and guests will take part in the preparation of the meal. Tickets for this 3 course meal, which includes wine, can be booked by emailing Hannerie on hv@hannerievisser.com – the cost is R400 per person but if you book 2 or more tickets the cost will be R350.
Disclosure: I was invited to attend this function without being required to blog about the event or the festival. This post is in line with my blogging policy.
What I blogged:
- one year ago – an evening with rawlicious
Lovely idea – the seed bombs. There is a very nice arrangement in Summer, here in France. Empty fields, near to the roadside, are sown with Cosmos which are free for people to cut and take home. Cut flowers are very expensive in France which makes this project appreciated even more.
and I love cosmos! We have a few open spaces around us that I am going to bomb 🙂
Seed bombs – such a clever idea.
🙂 Mandy xo
Some people might be getting them as gifts!
What a fab way to get dirty! Enjoy the food festival. (Just been catching up on your posts).
I am sure to do so Di 🙂
*sigh* I wish I could garden!
I missed my garden so much when we lived in rented properties 🙂
Tandy, I love the things that you’ve been sharing that are slightly fringe to food – seed bombs and dog treats! BTW, comment luv isn’t showing me any love still 🙁
HI, I am trying to grow my blog to embrace all aspects of living a natural and organic life – thanks for telling me about comment luv – I am going to try a few more fiddles 🙂
Seed bombs and Guerrilla Gardening – sounds right up my street Tandy! and it sounds like you had a super time. Happy gardening/bombing 🙂
You would have loved it!
lots of info to learn all cramped into a a “funday” sounds amazing
It was fantastic 🙂