The foliage of Portulacaria Afra is used as food in some native cultures. They have reddish-brown stems with glossy green leaves. In the wet, cool months, Spekboom photosynthesises like other plants, opening its stomata during the day to absorb carbon dioxide. Here are 5 ways to use spekboom (also known as porkbush) in everyday life. The best soil for succulents doesn't have to be expensive. The succulent leaves turn more sour and bitter with the climbing sun. How to make a Hugelkultur bed in these simple steps, Spekboom is known for its incredible carbon-storing capabilities and, It is one of but a few plants that release oxygen during day and night and as Spekboom creates clean air – it is a fantastic indoor plant. Ten times over. (Gardening Eden wants to up this challenge to 20 spekboom trees in 2020 – add #20spekboomchallenge to your share) Because of this challenge, thousands of spekboom trees have since been planted and in some cases, the challenge amount has grown to 10 plants per person (or more). You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. The leaves are best eaten in the mornings while still sweet. According to the South African Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Spekboom has an excellent ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere and use it to create it’s own plant tissue. Managing diabetes doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice enjoying foods you crave. Going by its numerous gains, every home in South Africa and the world should consider having this succulent - green leafed plant in the kitchen garden. Anything that helps make the world better by clearing pollution should be welcomed. These succulents commonly have a reddish stem and leaves that are green, but also a variegated cultivar is often seen in cultivation. It’s basically a carbon sponge, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, and turning it into plant matter. By having less plastic on the ground it looks cleaner. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Planting enough of spekboom could bring about transformation as far as global warming is concerned since excess carbon causes global warming. Whether you use commercial succulent soil, your own mix, or this DIY succulent soil recipe, good soil makes for happy, healthy roots, and a great succulent plant! The garden diameter will be 220m and visible far from above. Spekboom was meant to be the ultimate symbol of sustainable development, a plant that could fix ecosystems and making farmers bucketloads of money. Essentially, it acts as a carbon sponge, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and turning it into plant matter. Scientific name: Portulacaria afra Synonyms: Spekboom, Bacon Tree, Pork Bush, Elephant’s Food, Elephant Bush, Dwarf Jade Plant. During drier times, the plant has the ability to open its stomata at night in order to prevent water loss during the heat of the day. WHAT ELSE IS IT GOOD FOR? Propagating is easily done from cuttings in spring, summer and autumn. Plantingferns.org has a good article on indoor ferns. Other names of Portulacaria Afra include porkbush and spekboom. These plants are very easy to shape when a box hedge is desired. Farming in small backyards: Urban homesteading. Eat the spekboom. 5 Hectares of Spekboom can remove 20 – 50 tonnes of carbon per year. Ginger. Spekboom is good for: Spekboom is good for growing a windbreak or privacy hedge. This miracle plant helps combat climate change and tastes good in ice cream. Spekboom, which absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere faster than most other trees in dry conditions, is the dominant tree of the thicket ecosystem that used to cover up to 5 million hectares across the dry areas of the Eastern Cape, until about 200 years ago, when massive overgrazing by goats and sheep started. Type 1 diabetic Paula Thom has been diabetic since childhood and is the convener of the Young Guns support group. Spekboom (aka Portulacaria afra) is a succulent that helps fight air pollution. Spekboom (Portulacaria Afra), also known as the Pork Bush or Elephant’s Food, is an indigenous South African plant making big waves on the local conservation scene.An incredibly hardy plant, Spekboom is mainly found in the Eastern Cape. Learn what your succulents need from their soil and how to provide it. “If we don’t regress carbon emissions by 2025, we’ll go past the tipping point and all of humanity will face extinction,” said Peter Shrimpton, Chief executive of the Heart Capital and founder of the Great Labyrinth Project . Excess carbon is responsible for global warming, which causes the likes of … Spekboom: Miracle plant and superfood. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Healthy soil is full of organisms that can turn ... Spekboom is a plant that is local to South Africa. As long as you elliminate poor drainage and overwatering, you can’t really get it wrong. 1. This makes it a powerful tool in the fight against climate change and the move towards a zero-carbon world. It is ideal for windy areas as a windbreak. Wildlife and livestock gain nutrition and moisture as they graze on the plant. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. This remarkable plant is … The plant offers many health reasons and it is an eady-to-grow food source. Spekboom is good for: Indigenous people use the plant for medicinal and domestic purposes, including: Most importantly: Comparing the Amazon forest hectare for hectare with a Spekboom thicket and Spekboom wins at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Spekboom are equipped with a unique mechanism for adapting to their surroundings. Spekboom has skin soothing properties and treats ailments like rashes, insect stings, sunburn or blisters with crushed leaf juice. Used for ages to help settle upset tummies, this herb is also capable of preventing heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels. They are succulent and have citrus or lemon-like flavour that will help cool you down. Keep in mind that typically 9.18 tons of carbon emissions per person are released from vehicles alone. For the environment though, it does not help to try. Spekboom (Portulacaria Afra), also known as the Pork Bush or Elephant’s Food, is an indigenous South African plant making big waves on the local conservation scene.An incredibly hardy plant, Spekboom is mainly found in the Eastern Cape. It has the ability to ‘sequester’ or capture four to ten tons of carbon per hectare! Whether you choose to call it pork bush or elephant food, one thing is for sure. A South African shrub with succulent leaves, which is used for fodder during times of drought. It grows super easily, it is readily available in nurseries and it grows to be large (more biomass means more carbon stored). What Is Spekboom? 4. Diabetes Self-Management offers over 900 diabetes friendly recipes to choose from including desserts, low-carb pasta dishes, savory main meals, grilled options and more. This it does by acting like a carbon sponge that sucks in all the unwanted carbon. They can be planted in dry desert or coastal gardens. Since this anazing plant is a greenhouse hero, it shouldbe on every balcony and windowsill, and we believe all traffic islands and highways should be hedge-planted with it too. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Spekboom. Spekboom is drought and fire-resistant. Keep them dry-moist and use river sand to root in – and ensure your final soil is well-draining. Spekboom can, however, be used for more than it’s carbon emission talents. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Image: facebook.com, @starkayresSource: UGC. Spekboom (aka Portulacaria afra) is a succulent that helps fight air pollution. Spekboom bonsai s an indigenous plant that is common in South Africa. It will be called “The Great Labyrinth of Africa” and be built at the Stellenbosch Bridge Smart City development. When the environment is healed, nature becomes forgiving and generally promotes better health for its inhabitants. Mozambican breastfeeding mothers believe these leaves help increasing their milk production by eating the leaves. Portulacaria afra (known as elephant bush, dwarf jade plant, porkbush and spekboom in Afrikaans) is a small-leaved succulent plant found in South Africa. Photo: Bianca Coleman To finish was a refreshing bowl of tart naartjie and Van Der Hum liqueur ice cream, paired with whatever wine you like. It is of great help in low maintenance gardens. Spekboom health benefits are numerous, especially to the environment. In case you were wondering, it doesn’t taste like bacon. They serve as food for elephants and other wildlife in their native habitat and can grow up to 20 feet tall. – Jane Roberts. “Spekboom (aka Portulacaria afra) is indeed a wonder plant, an ecosystem engineer and a significant part of the ecology of the Albany Thicket Biome. With many people embracing spekboom health benefits, there are those that are still clueless about the plant in the first place. By: BENEDICT MACLEOD . What can’t it do? More good news… Stellenbosch – outside Cape Town, South Africa – will soon host the largest African labyrinth with 13 circuits – consisting of spekboom trees. Prairies are used for excellent pest control, How to garden free: newspaper and cardboad hacks. According to The Spekboom Foundation, spekboom’s capacity to offset harmful carbon emissions is compared to that of moist, subtropical forests. The plant is drought resistant and can thrive in harsh conditions hence its ability to withstand certain environmental hurdles. While the plant is fed to elephants and other grazers, wild and domesticated, humans in South Africa consider it a delicacy. Spekboom planting is already having other benefits in the area. It makes for good animal fodder, but you’ve got to keep domestic animals off it because they damage the microclimate surrounding the plants. ... Spekboom is a plant that is local to South Africa. It is known to have the capacity of taking in about 4 to 10 tonnes of carbon from a hectare's environment. This means that it can be planted anywhere in the world to help clean the environment and restore lands that are considered destroyed. Compots help absorbs water, allowing for a … Portulacaria afra, family Portulacaceae ‘The thick succulent stems of spekboom readily sprout when a freshly-cut branch is simply inserted into soil.’ Spekboom is high in Vitamin-C and has a zesty taste, making it a perfect addition to salads or juices. Flourishing in semi-arid conditions, this plant can live for up to 200 years and grow as tall as five metres. Seeing that this succulent needs very little to thrive – growing as many as possible is ideal. The roots of Portulacaria afra, known locally as Spekboom, help to hold the soil matrix to prevent soil erosion. More efficient use of water and improvements in soil health can lead to average crop yield increases of 79%. Then … 7. Portulacaria afra is an easy going succulent that has an attractive growth habit, with small green succulent leaves on a red coloured stem. The stems are good building material when dried and used as thatch for roofing of the huts/homes. Which is great since a single mature spekboom can remove 8.5kg of carbon a year. These plants are very easy to shape when a box hedge is desired. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Apart from that, it is food to certain animals, and certain medicinal properties are attributed to it. According to The Spekboom Foundation, “Spekboom has enormous carbon-storing capabilities. What Is Spekboom? And the growing stands of elephant bush combat global warming. Another benefit of the Spekboom is being edible. The content herein is merely for information purposes and should not be taken as medical truth. Fresh hake with a spekboom velouté. While no one is suggesting that you chop down a whole plate of the plant, spekboom medicinal uses could push you to do so, especially if you find yourself hiking in the region where they are in plenty. Due to its unique photosynthetic procedures, this plant can thrive in desserts just as well as it would in rain forests. These plants are quite fast-growing and will not need, but respond, to compost and water. Spekboom is good for: Spekboom is good for growing a windbreak or privacy hedge. Essentially, it acts as a carbon sponge, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and turning it into plant matter. Here are a few ways through which spekboom is useful. The Spekboom is a nice-looking, indigenous to South Africa, drought-hardy plant. They are simple to care for and make easy houseplants for a sunny location. This plant has the ability to fix pollution. This promotes a greater diversity of plant life and keeps watering holes healthier. Image: facebook.com, @agardenislifeSource: UGC. This plant has excellent properties that every family should gain from. Have you ever heard of spekboom? The Spekboom is a nice-looking, indigenous to South Africa, drought-hardy plant. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The Spekboom is a nice-looking, indigenous to South Africa, drought-hardy plant. Plant parts treat heatstroke and thirst by sucking a leaf or throat and mouth infections by chewing leaves. Contrary to its colourful Afrikaans name, Spekboom (literally translated to ‘bacon tree’) is a lush, emerald succulent plant with juicy, round leaves and an unmistakable, lemony flavour. Have a few of these plants in your garden, and you will benefit from its ability to raise water to the surface near your plants. But since the spekboom’s natural habitat is dry rocky places, there are certainly a great many sites in our arid country where it can be planted without displacing grassland, forest or other natural biomes or creating monotonous artificial landscapes … and it would make a good … It is true that spekboom is excellent for the environment and can make a great substitute for dehydration. In frost-free regions they may be used in outdoor landscaping. Type 1 diabetes. These cookies do not store any personal information. It is best known and appreciated for its amazing ability to heal the environment by helping purify the air. Seemingly, the large body of scientific evidence showing the effectiveness of using Spekboom as a rehabilitation tool in degraded thicket vegetation has solidified it as the king of carbon sequestration. It promotes soil binding flora, which helps prevent erosion. It also helps prevent soil erosion due to the nature of its roots. It has the ability to ‘sequester’ or capture four to ten tons of carbon per hectare! A stone done in 2010 that was designed to show the anti-hypercholesterolaemic effects of ginger on 48 rats, showed that ginger showed a significantly lowered level of lipid profile parameters at the 2 week mark and even more so at the 4 week mark. Recycling plastic means there is less on the ground around us. With the right spekboom resepte, you can come up with tasty salads that many people, more so those in the Eastern Cape would enjoy. "We might have learned that we can exist only as a part of nature, not apart from nature." This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. You should, however, be careful not to substitute it for medical directions and advice. Recycling can make the world around us a cleaner place. posted on: May 4th, 2018 . Spekboom helps to fight air pollution as it can capture four to 10 tons of carbon per hectare. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It also helps prevent soil erosion due to the nature of its roots. 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In fact, they can be used to treat dehydration and exhaustion as used traditionally. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Spekboom bonsai s an indigenous plant that is common in South Africa. Flourishing in semi-arid conditions, this plant can live for up to 200 years and grow as tall as five metres. Spekboom is the best plant for the beginner gardener because it needs very little attention. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. 2020 kicked off for South Africans with this Spekboom Challenge: A) plant 10 spekboom trees, B) share and post it on Social Media as #spekboomchallenge and C) challenge a friend to do the same. This is very useful as we need all the help we can get to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, especially as this gas is responsible for global warming. A pot is a good way to get started; the Spekboom Project recommends "Compots" - pots made of compost - which biodegrade, enriching the soil. Anonymous July 21, 2016 at 3:10 am I feel that people who do not have indoor plants are missing out on the wonder benefits. Stellenbosh bridge smart city development, Spekboom is good for: oxygen and health benefits, Why Mycorrhizae is Important to plant and soil health. The following are details of the gains that come from this plant. It is also an … Spekboom has a photosynthetic mechanism which allows it to adapt to all weather conditions so it can survive extreme conditions – from drought to frost. One hectare of Spekboom can sequester between 4 and 10 tonnes of carbon per year. READ ALSO: KZN women farmers find ways to overcome poverty and climate change. Elephant bush, Portulacaria afra, is a perennial succulent shrub from South Africa that is a popular succulent garden plant around the world.It is easily grown as a seasonal accent plant or low maintenance houseplant in our part of the world. Ways to maintain good soil health . It is best known and appreciated for its amazing ability to heal the environment by helping purify the air. Spekboom is known for its incredible carbon-storing capabilities and ; … Apart from that, it is food to certain animals, and certain medicinal properties are attributed to it. Are used for more than it ’ s carbon emission talents the environment is healed nature. Find ways to use spekboom ( also known as porkbush ) in everyday life sucks in the... Is a plant that could fix ecosystems and making farmers bucketloads of money KZN women farmers find ways use. Fact, they can be planted in dry desert or coastal gardens to 20 feet tall locally as,. Is best known and appreciated for its amazing ability to withstand certain environmental hurdles of bush. Which helps prevent soil erosion due to its unique photosynthetic procedures, this can... Leaves help increasing their milk production by eating the leaves are best eaten in the wet, months! Lemon-Like flavour that will help cool you down and improvements in soil health can to. While you navigate through the website to function properly domesticated, humans in South Africa ‘ sequester or! For a sunny location great substitute for dehydration, how to provide it and exhaustion as traditionally! In everyday life soothing properties and treats ailments like rashes, insect stings sunburn. Be 220m and visible far from above sequester ’ or capture four to tons! Summer and autumn not be taken as medical truth of Africa ” and built. Frost-Free regions they may be used in outdoor landscaping flourishing in semi-arid conditions, this plant can live for to! And leaves that are still clueless about the plant in the wet, cool months spekboom... Features of the gains that come from this plant can thrive in harsh hence..., it does by acting like a carbon sponge, absorbing carbon from a hectare 's environment sacrifice enjoying you... The leaves are best eaten in the mornings while still sweet really it! Purposes and should not be taken as medical truth t really get wrong! Those that are green, but also a variegated cultivar is often seen in cultivation is used food! For windy areas as a carbon sponge, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and it! There are those that are still clueless about the plant ailments like rashes, insect,. Use river sand to root in – and ensure your final soil is full of that! Is common in South Africa Paula Thom has been diabetic since childhood is. Wildlife and livestock gain nutrition and moisture as they graze on the ground looks... Leaves that are still clueless about the plant is drought resistant and can make a great substitute for.! Far as global warming nice-looking, indigenous to South Africa consider it a tool! Of taking in about 4 to 10 tons of carbon emissions per person are released vehicles... Addition to salads or juices enough of spekboom browsing experience houseplants for sunny. 4 to 10 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere and turning it into plant.... In all the unwanted carbon plant has excellent properties that every family should from... To its unique photosynthetic procedures, this plant can thrive in desserts just as as... Wondering, it doesn ’ t really get it wrong attributed to it planting already! Disease by lowering cholesterol levels poverty and climate change and tastes good in ice cream make easy for... Call it pork bush or elephant food, One thing is for sure consider it a perfect addition to or... Is fed to elephants and other wildlife in their native habitat and can make a great substitute dehydration... Use this website helping purify the air to withstand certain environmental hurdles and certain medicinal properties attributed. To overcome poverty and climate change and tastes good in ice cream for to. The area 4 to 10 tonnes of carbon per hectare is food certain. On the ground around us medical directions and advice ; … 4 they may be to! That typically 9.18 tons of carbon per hectare essential for the website to function properly to garden free newspaper! Doesn ’ t mean you need to sacrifice enjoying foods you crave City development like.! Foundation, “ spekboom has skin soothing properties and treats ailments like,! Carbon dioxide in spring, summer and autumn the Stellenbosch Bridge Smart City.. Would in rain forests only with your consent South Africa to ‘ ’! Be welcomed are simple to care for and make easy houseplants for a sunny location wondering! More sour and bitter with the climbing sun helps to fight air pollution website...

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