Spekboom, C4 EcoSolutions and us

 

There is a saying in South Africa that "[a]s long as your spekboom is growing and prospering, so will your finances." Well, we want our spekboom growing for many reasons, not just financial ones! So we've started up a project dedicated specifically to propogating and replanting this incredible plant.  

 

Spekboom (Portulacaria afra) is an indigenous succulent plant that occurs all over the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Given that it grows in a dry, less-forgiving climate, it's no surprise that the plant is particuarly drought resistent. It's one of nature's super plants, offering plenty of reasons why it is so valuable – replanting it helps with erosion sites, it chows carbon (no joke, one hectare of spekboom can capture four TONS of carbon a year!), it has various medicinal properties, and it's edible (and not just for elephants – though they do love it, and are the reason behind two of its nicknames, elephant's food or elephant bush). The variety of uses for spekboom is enough of a reason to not only protect it, but ensure it flourishes in the areas where it belongs. Luckily for us, that's in our backyard. 

 

As part of our conservation work we are planting spekboom to help combat erosion issues caused by prior unsustainable farming practices, to restore the land's original ecosystem and biodiversity, and to offset our carbon footprint. We are also planning on eventually going into the local communities and educating our neighbours about the values of spekboom, while also helping them to cultivate their own spekboom plants.

 

We've partnered in this endeavour with C4 EcoSolutions, a Cape Town-based consulting company that specialises in the areas of ecosystem restoration, biodiversity, climate change and scientific research.