This is our hardworking caretaker, Jeffrey, who faithfully works on the Circle every day, rain or shine. Most of the residents contribute towards a salary for him, others give him food or clothing. This photo was taken on his birthday in February.
These are Jeffrey's friends Ryan, Mario and Phillip, who all helped to dig the trenches in the food garden.
See how the pond area looks now! 
Rockery next to pond area.
An enthusiastic resident varnishes the benches early one morning.
The compost heaps are turned for the first time. They are looking good after only 3 weeks! There are no traces of all the rotten greens we sandwiched in-between the layers.
Inside view of a curved trench bed in the food garden. Below the layer of gravel (as hard as concrete!) is white sea sand! Deep trench gardening is the only way to go with soil like this. We are driving to veggie people each week begging for their rotten greens (and then having to sort it all out by hand to eliminate the plastic packaging - yuck!) 
Thanks to the generosity of friends and residents, a rail is installed so that the big gate can slide open. 
The first of 5 compost heaps
The tractor tyre in the center of our 'meeting ring' is planted with different herbs.
The very first meeting taking place in the Food Garden.
Thanks to donations (both local and abroad), we have been able to put up 3 new benches and begin to work on the pond area (the pond was also donated).
The Food Garden Committee will be meeting on 26 January for the first time to begin planning. We need a ton of organic waste for the deep trench gardening (which is essential due to the soil consisting mainly of gravel and sea sand!). We will have to mobilize the community and approach vegetable vendors to make this happen.
In December we had our first few social events on the Circle. A child's party, our first Market Day and Carols by Candlelight. 
This is specially for Sarah in Denmark. The hills are finally covered in grass.
After all the rain we had in November, the flowers are blooming!
The Gazanias are finally starting to hide the tyres...
Our time with Soil for Life has come to an end ... for now. We are so thankful to Sandi and Michael for all they have taught us. One of our home gardeners hands Sandi a gift basket as we say goodbye.
Here we are ... the Woodwind Circle Home Gardeners, eagerly waiting for the big food garden on the Circle to begin. Next week we will be meeting as the Food Garden Steering Committee, to begin planning.
Ready to plant. A raised bed is convenient if you have bad soil (or no soil!)
Finally add top soil.
Add a layer of straw and manure. Repeat the wet and straw layers.
Add a layer of wet, organic kitchen waste like peels and rotting vegetables, tea bags and coffee grinds.
Start your raised bed with a thick layer of cardboard and / or newspaper. Cover with dry, brown materials like sticks, grass cuttings, leaves, straw, egg shells, egg boxes.
We now know that there are many, cheap ways to care for our plants. Fertilizer Tea can be made by soaking manure (horse/cow) in a bucket of water (use an old orange bag) for 2 weeks. To use it, we need to dilute it first (quarter bucket of tea, three-quarters water) and then water our plants with it. The same method can be used with compost, seaweed and comfrey leaves ... even weeds!
Pesticides are fun to make! Try making this garlic spray: lots of garlic (about 10 cloves, slightly crushed), a quarter cup of grated sunlight (or other pure) soap and steep in 1 liter of boiling water. When cool, spray on the leaves to keep insects away. You can also add some chillies and / or onions to this mixture. 
A pumpkin patch is so easy to make! One spade depth into the soil, we begin with layers of dry materials, compost, straw/manure and earth, shaping the patch into a nice rectangle which stands about 10cm above the ground when finished. Into the sides of this patch are pushed a few pumpkin seeds, which will eventually trail all over the garden if they're not restrained! The patch is finally covered in sawdust and watered. The top of the patch can be used as a seed bed too!
Earthworms are our best gardeners, we are told. They work 24/7 aerating the soil, providing us with vermi-compost and vermi-tea... not to drink of course, but to give our plants an extra-nourishing drink! Michael from Soil for Life shows us how to set up a wormery, or worm farm. Did you know they have a special diet too? Oh yes! they can't eat any strong tasting things like garlic, onions or acidy foods like citrus fruits. 
We say 'so long' to Sarah, who has become our dear friend during her time here with us. She flies back to Denmark on 6th November, but promises to be back in 2010! The children of the Circle gather around her to say good-bye. We will always be grateful for her enthusiasm and willingness to help us at Woodwind Circle!
It is just over a month since our very first lesson in trench-beds, when the seeds were sown in this bed, and see how they've grown!! By God's grace they've survived gale force winds, blistering heat, drenching rains and thunderstorms, all of which have happened here over the last month!
We are learning that any type of container is OK to grow veges in, as you can see from these pics. The mini-incubator on the left is cut from a plastic bottle, and is used to protect newly transplanted seedlings for up to 3 days, when it is removed. This gives the seedling a chance to recover after the shock of being transplanted!
To make a compost stack we layer newspaper, cardboard, dry leaves, wet organic waste, straw & manure and soil. The layers are repeated until you have a 1sq.meter stack. The whole thing is covered with an old blanket and a metal pole is inserted in the middle. This will indicate the temperature at the bottom of the stack, which should be warm and over a period of 3 months will begin to cool. The compost must be turned each month.
We learn how to make a potato patch this week as Michael from Soil For Life demonstrates here. Layers of dry materials, straw, manure and soil are repeated in 1 sq.meter space. The seed potatoes are placed in deep holes and filled with compost. Looking forward to a pocket of potatoes in a few months time!
This week our lesson from Soil for Life is how to plant vegetable seedlings. Earlier in the week, the home-gardeners got together to dig and prepare this trench bed at one of the resident's houses. Our motto (bringing the Community together) is really happening... we are getting to know (and help) our neighbours!
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