Some of you may have heard of the Spekboom project and those who haven’t, you will soon find out about it. Read below on how we plan to do our part at 50 Shades of Hay to contribute to a better climate and environment and how you can as well.
Let’s start with a few facts about the Spekboom plant:
- Out of all the plants in the world, the Spekboom has the ability to absorb the highest amounts of carbon dioxide, cleaning the air that we pollute on a daily basis.
- It is a proudly South African plant – Local is Lekker.
- Spekboom can live up to 200 years and can easily adapt to its surroundings, making it a relatively easy plant to grow.
- It’s also edible and has great nutritional values.
- Spekboom can handle all seasons.
- The Spekboom plant requires half the amount of water that most plants require to grow and maintain making it very water wise which is perfect for ongoing water issues around South Africa.
- It’s able to grow in poor soil, making it very resilient.
- One hectare of Spekboom can sequester between 4 and 10 tonnes of carbon per year.
- It’s an affordable way to combat climate change.
At 50 Shades of Hay, we have Spekboom growing all around the property, especially around the buildings, but we aim to grow more through 2020 and the following years. We have plenty of space and aim to utilise it to give back to the environment.
The current challenge is to plant at least 10 Spekboom plants this year. All around the country, South Africans are challenging each other so we want to encourage YOU to plant at least 10 Spekbooms this year and to encourage those around you to do the same. Remember they don’t need to be big, they can start in small pots around the house. Even consider giving them as gifts and encouraging that as a start of the challenge.
We aim to plant at least 10 additional Spekboom this year and you can hold us to it!
Come check out 50 Shades of Hay in the next few months to see how we are doing with the challenge 🙂