At Oaklands Country Manor, we are proud to announce our new permaculture initiative to empower the local Drakensberg community through sustainable practices.

Why Sustainability in the Drakensberg?

Family values form the core of the Oaklands Country Manor ethos. And with a long affiliation with the Drakensberg region, it’s one that extends to the nearby community as well. Unfortunately, much of the region in which our extended family resides is informal settlements without basic services like water, electricity and waste management. What’s worse is this isn’t unique to rural Drakensberg (apparent in the rising number of protests around South Africa in recent years).
Of course, lack of service delivery wouldn’t be a problem were the country not as dependent on such economic and social systems for survival. Let’s not forget the havoc climate change is wreaking on resource-rich natural ecosystems. Permaculture offers an opportunity to create a culture of empowerment and reverse the ecological damage.

Empowering Drakensberg Through Permaculture

With permaculture comes the return of autonomy – it puts control of over basic needs back in people’s hands. People become empowered through achievable, measureable actions that depend on ability rather financial capacity. Through simple acts like growing one’s own food and collecting rainwater, there is a return of self-esteem and independence.
There is also a return to nature and community – something that is so easily lost in the humdrum of modern life. Producing our own food allows us to work with soil and plants, come down to their level, and make us still enough to notice their incredible complexity. In this active participation in earthcare, we begin to take back responsibility for the earth. This oneness with the Earth also creates a renewed sense of belonging – to nature and with likeminded people.

Oaklands’ Permaculture Initiative

We, at Oaklands, would like to be a living example for the local Drakensberg community to learn from. Through our applying principles from permaculture in the everyday running of our farm, we hope to transfer skills for self-sustainability to our extended family…
 

 
To join Oaklands in spreading the goodness of permaculture in the Drakensberg, email Caroline Bruce at caroline@oaklands.co.za.