Eat the spekboom. This miracle plant helps combat climate change and tastes good in ice cream. It is best known and appreciated for its amazing ability to heal the environment by helping purify the air. This remarkable plant is … 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. They have reddish-brown stems with glossy green leaves. 4. Propagating is easily done from cuttings in spring, summer and autumn. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. More good news… Stellenbosch – outside Cape Town, South Africa – will soon host the largest African labyrinth with 13 circuits – consisting of spekboom trees. More efficient use of water and improvements in soil health can lead to average crop yield increases of 79%. Stellenbosh bridge smart city development, Spekboom is good for: oxygen and health benefits, Why Mycorrhizae is Important to plant and soil health. This it does by acting like a carbon sponge that sucks in all the unwanted carbon. The leaves are best eaten in the mornings while still sweet. 1. Mozambican breastfeeding mothers believe these leaves help increasing their milk production by eating the leaves. Spekboom planting is already having other benefits in the area. Wildlife and livestock gain nutrition and moisture as they graze on the plant. This plant has the ability to fix pollution. This plant has excellent properties that every family should gain from. Portulacaria afra (known as elephant bush, dwarf jade plant, porkbush and spekboom in Afrikaans) is a small-leaved succulent plant found in South Africa. 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. 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. The Spekboom is a nice-looking, indigenous to South Africa, drought-hardy plant. 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. It also helps prevent soil erosion due to the nature of its roots. Keep in mind that typically 9.18 tons of carbon emissions per person are released from vehicles alone. Healthy soil is full of organisms that can turn ... Spekboom is a plant that is local to South Africa. Keep them dry-moist and use river sand to root in – and ensure your final soil is well-draining. Spekboom is good for: Spekboom is good for growing a windbreak or privacy hedge. What can’t it do? ... Spekboom is a plant that is local to South Africa. The Spekboom is a nice-looking, indigenous to South Africa, drought-hardy plant. Recycling plastic means there is less on the ground around us. They are succulent and have citrus or lemon-like flavour that will help cool you down. Plantingferns.org has a good article on indoor ferns. And the growing stands of elephant bush combat global warming. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. They can be planted in dry desert or coastal gardens. It is of great help in low maintenance gardens. Essentially, it acts as a carbon sponge, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and turning it into plant matter. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Whether you choose to call it pork bush or elephant food, one thing is for sure. Another benefit of the Spekboom is being edible. It also helps prevent soil erosion due to the nature of its roots. 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. Have you ever heard of spekboom? 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. Farming in small backyards: Urban homesteading. Spekboom can, however, be used for more than it’s carbon emission talents. Ten times over. According to The Spekboom Foundation, spekboom’s capacity to offset harmful carbon emissions is compared to that of moist, subtropical forests. By: BENEDICT MACLEOD . 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. It is true that spekboom is excellent for the environment and can make a great substitute for dehydration. Learn what your succulents need from their soil and how to provide it. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Spekboom was meant to be the ultimate symbol of sustainable development, a plant that could fix ecosystems and making farmers bucketloads of money. For the environment though, it does not help to try. These succulents commonly have a reddish stem and leaves that are green, but also a variegated cultivar is often seen in cultivation. What Is Spekboom? It is ideal for windy areas as a windbreak. According to The Spekboom Foundation, “Spekboom has enormous carbon-storing capabilities. Spekboom helps to fight air pollution as it can capture four to 10 tons of carbon per hectare. The plant is drought resistant and can thrive in harsh conditions hence its ability to withstand certain environmental hurdles. 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 … 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. 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. "We might have learned that we can exist only as a part of nature, not apart from nature." 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! In case you were wondering, it doesn’t taste like bacon. The succulent leaves turn more sour and bitter with the climbing sun. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Which is great since a single mature spekboom can remove 8.5kg of carbon a year. These cookies do not store any personal information. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Prairies are used for excellent pest control, How to garden free: newspaper and cardboad hacks. Ginger. By having less plastic on the ground it looks cleaner. “Spekboom (aka Portulacaria afra) is indeed a wonder plant, an ecosystem engineer and a significant part of the ecology of the Albany Thicket Biome. 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. Plant parts treat heatstroke and thirst by sucking a leaf or throat and mouth infections by chewing leaves. It has the ability to ‘sequester’ or capture four to ten tons of carbon per hectare! Spekboom has a photosynthetic mechanism which allows it to adapt to all weather conditions so it can survive extreme conditions – from drought to frost. 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. Anything that helps make the world better by clearing pollution should be welcomed. Spekboom health benefits are numerous, especially to the environment. 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. It is also an … Spekboom. This means that it can be planted anywhere in the world to help clean the environment and restore lands that are considered destroyed. Seeing that this succulent needs very little to thrive – growing as many as possible is ideal. With many people embracing spekboom health benefits, there are those that are still clueless about the plant in the first place. 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. Disease by lowering cholesterol levels treats ailments like rashes, insect stings, sunburn or blisters with crushed juice. 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