Conical Gardens Feeding Young Mothers

Conical Gardens Feeding Young Mothers NCCK is empowering 100 adolescent mothers with conical gardens, enabling them to provide nutritious food for their families The vertical gardens are climate smart farming strategies that provide varieties of vegetables to mothers who lack access to land in a dry semi-arid area of Kitui County that is harsh on conventional agriculture. In addition to nutrition, the flourishing kitchen gardens provide a dependable stream of income for the young mothers. "I am now able to feed my children and my parents," says Ann Musyoka, who was helped to make a conical garden after training. "I now save the money we used to spend buying vegetables. We can now manage other household expenses," Mary Mutheu explained as she thanked the NCCK. The young mothers were trained to care for the soil and handle pests, and they are growing spinach, kales, amaranth and other traditional vegetables. With the conical gardens conserving water, the families are able to have the vegetables all year round. The conical gardens initiative is part of the Nature Positive project that is funded by the Canadian Food Grains Bank (CFGB) through the United Church of Canada (UCC).