Category GrowAndMakeYourOwn

Once you decide to stop spraying synthetic pesticides on food you're going to eat, you're left with an obvious problem: the aphids, caterpillars, cutworms and fruit flies didn't get the memo. Opting out of the chemical shelf at the co-op is the easy part. The harder part is replacing it with something that actually works in a Highveld spring or a KwaZulu-Natal summer, using plants you can grow yourself rather than imported organic products with imported prices.

Every South African gardener who has tried to make compost knows the frustration. You build a tidy heap in spring, full of good intentions, and by midsummer it has either baked into a dry brown brick or collapsed into a sour, fly-ridden mess. The Highveld punishes half-measures. Our summers bring fierce afternoon heat and violent thunderstorms, while winter nights routinely drop below freezing across Gauteng, the Free State, and Mpumalanga. Add load-shedding, water restrictions, and our notoriously heavy clay soils, and it becomes clear that composting advice written for the mild English garden simply does not apply here.

For years, the backyard chicken has been the poster bird of suburban self-sufficiency in South Africa. But for anyone living on a small erf, in a townhouse complex, or in a sectional title unit, chickens are often more trouble than they are worth. They are noisy, they need space, the roosters get you reported to the body corporate, and you wait the better part of six months before you see a single egg. There is a quieter, faster, more space-efficient alternative that most South Africans have never seriously considered: the Coturnix quail. These compact little birds are becoming the homesteader's secret weapon, and they fit into urban Gauteng, Cape Town and coastal living in a way chickens simply cannot. If you have a patch of patio, a corner of a courtyard, or even a well-ventilated garage, you can keep quail. This guide walks you through why quail beat chickens for small-space South African living, how to house and feed them when local quail feed is hard to come by, and what you need to know about the bylaws before you start.

Gourmet mushrooms have quietly become one of the more expensive items in the fresh produce aisle. At most South African retailers, oyster mushrooms can set you back anywhere from R80 to R150 per 200g punnet. That adds up fast, especially when you start using them regularly in cooking. What most people do not know is that cardboard, the kind your last online order arrived in, is one of the most effective growing substrates for oyster mushroom mycelium. With a few rand worth of spawn and a recycled box, you can produce several kilograms of fresh mushrooms every month, right inside your home.

Most households in South Africa spend a surprising amount on commercial toothpaste every year. When you multiply the cost of a tube by the number of people in your home and by twelve months, it adds up. And that is before you consider what you are actually putting in your mouth. Fluoride debates aside, the average commercial toothpaste contains a list of synthetic ingredients that many people would rather avoid. The good news is that making your own toothpaste at home requires only three basic ingredients, costs almost nothing, and genuinely works. This article walks you through exactly how to do it.

There is a strange disconnect in modern South African life. We have spent the past three years watching egg prices swing wildly. We have lived through avian flu shortages where Pick n Pay shelves stood empty. We have absorbed feed inflation, fuel surcharges, and load shedding penalties baked into every dozen we buy. And yet the obvious answer, the one our grandparents would not have thought twice about, is sitting in the back garden behind a low fence: keep your own hens.