“Roadside Village Development”
The agricultural and urban developments proposed by the developers include:
- A Pecan Nut and Olive tree orchard surrounded by a narrow strip of maize and/or Lucerne.
- A housing development partially constituted of a retirement estate.
Eco/wind energy
- Relocation of the police station into a new building as well as 5 houses for SAPS personnel.
- Garden of Remembrance
- A children’s village and upgrading of the existing school,
- Goat production unit for meat and milk, including a class room and a research laboratory
- A nursery, including a classroom and a number of tunnels as well as a tea garden
- District Surgeons Clinic, to cater for the special needs of the children accommodated at the children’s village as well as the general health of the greater community and the foreseen retirees.
- Heli-pad and paramedic base, due to the strategic location of the development to the N3, a national highway notorious for high accident statistics.
- A “Lifestyle Training Centre” is envisaged. The centre will be able to train attendees, vital life skills. It is foreseen that the centre will also attract people from the cities, as well as abroad, which will in turn, support the planning of a guesthouse during the final phase.
- Negotiations, with two major companies, with regards to the construction of a fully equipped hospital, are already in progress.
Pecan Nut and Olive Production Unit
The Pecan Nut Production Unit will consist of a Pecan Nut orchard, small strips of lucerne and maize fields, a small classroom and packing shed (Figure 2).
Trees will be planted during August 2009 on the centerpiece of land, comprising approximately 35 hectares pecan and 25 hectares olive trees, to be planted 10m apart. Trees will be irrigated when necessary. A soil condition assessment has already been undertaken. Results indicate that the soil will support the growth of pecan trees, after some amelioration.
Pecans are extremely versatile foodstuff, and though it is a plant-protein source of great importance, it does not contain compromising levels of the vitamin K1, contributing to possible circulatory and blood clotting probabilities. Thus these nuts are safe to use in large quantities, even by those who prefer a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, and people affected by cardio and circulatory conditions.
Olives are widely used and demand for unrefined olive products, are exceeding their supply. It is a versatile foodstuff, and provides an immense scope with respect to byproducts.
The climate is suitable for the cultivation of certain varieties of Pecan Nut and Olive trees, and considering the current changes in climatology, might become even more so in future. For the protection of trees from run-away grass fires, a border of lucerne and maize will be planted around the orchard. The Pecan Nut Production Unit will house two classrooms as well as a packing shed / office. Lectures are being developed in order to train interested persons in pecan nut farming specifically, and food/fruit tree farming in general, aiming to cater for growing domestic produce demands, in future.
At the same time, students will be employed to work in the orchard and to tend to the management of the trees (i.e. pruning, weeding and fertilizing, disease control, etc.), harvesting of the fruits, packing and marketing. Produce from the maize and lucerne fields will be harvested and sent to the Goat Production Unit for processing into goat feed.
Provision will be made to house students from the different learning units, at the student dormitory, to be built at the southwestern corner of the Pecan Production Unit.
The Pecan Production area adjacent to cultivated land.
A view of the Police Station Complex.
Goat Production Unit
The Goat Production Unit will consist of a grazing camp (consisting of natural grass as well as lucerne field), a feedlot, a pelletising and packing shed, a milking shed, two classrooms, an office and a small laboratory (Figure 2).
An initial number of prime quality goats will be purchased in order to create a breeding unit. Goats produced from this breeding unit will be selected for their milk production. These goats will be allowed to roam freely in the grazing camp. A portion of the grazing camp will be planted with lucerne whilst the rest will remain as indigenous field grass. Those goats that fail to make the grade for breeding purposes, or for milk production, will be kept in the feedlot and fed high-quality pellets, after which they will be transported to a local abattoir, slaughtered and processed into quality meat products. Goats meat and milk are sought after commodities, the meat is lean, and does not contribute to modern-day health concerns and high cholesterol levels. The milk is very important to those who suffer from lactose intolerance. The demand far exceeds the supply.
Furthermore, a pellet production and packing facility will be housed in a suitably sized shed. Produce harvested from the grazing pastures, as well as from the maize and lucerne fields, will be dried, milled and compressed into pellets to be used as goat feed. A small milking shed will not only serve as a hands-on training facility but will also produce goats’ milk. Depending upon available milk volumes, the milk will be given to AIDS-infected children at the children’s village, and as production increases, some may be sold locally.
The Goat Production Unit will house two classrooms. Lectures are already being developed in order to train interested persons in all aspects relating to goat farming, and goat meat and milk production. At the same time, students will be employed to work in the unit, tending to the management of the life stock, plant feed, pellet production, disease control, milking and data collection.
A small but professionally equipped laboratory will be built on the same site. This laboratory will be financed and operated by an international pharmaceutical company. This laboratory will conduct research into the health effects and/or benefits of goat milk on AIDS-infected people. The benefits of goat’s milk, for lactose intolerant humans, have long been established. Research could now investigate possible benefits of goat’s milk to challenged immune systems of people living with HIV. The laboratory building will also house an office, from which the activities of the Goat Production Unit will be managed.
Nursery Production Unit
The Nursery Production Unit will initially consist of nine tunnels for cut flower and foliage production, open fields, a classroom, three offices, packing shed and a Tea Garden (Figure 2).
A large part of the area will accommodate tunnels, as well as planted fields to house more hardy varieties of plants and also a local vegetable component. Fruit trees, of those varieties that are suitable to the area, will be propagated and sold. It is essential for communities, locally and globally, to be self sufficient in terms of foodstuff. The disappearance of orchards and vegetable gardens from farms in general, has long been a concern. The vegetables grown here will supply the village and surroundings via the Roadside Organic Dealer, where it will be sold. The developers included a vegetable component, after receiving requests from SAPS staff and members of the surrounding farming community.
The tunnels will be dedicated to the cultivation of certain vegetable, cut-flower plants such as roses, lilies and other indigenous plants that are suitable to the local climatic conditions as well as foliage plants such as ferns and gypsophelia. In the packing shed the cut flowers, vegetables and the foliage will be trimmed, cleaned, packed. The vegetables will be sent to the local consumers. Flowers and foliage will be transported to local markets as well as to the fresh produce cargo center at the OR Tambo International Airport for international sales, where applicable, once the operation has become finely tuned. Planning is of the essence, especially if need arise to erect more tunnels in future.
A classroom will form part of the Nursery Production Unit. Lectures will be developed in order to train interested persons in nursery management, cut flower and foliage production as well as marketing and sales. At the same time, students will be employed to work in the nursery and to tend to the management of the tunnels, plant growth, disease control, harvesting of flowers and foliage, packing and marketing.
A view of the embankment north of the Children’s Village Unit site.
The embankment as seen from the position of the Township Unit. As part of the nursery production unit, an idyllic Tea Garden, Cherub, will be developed. It is named after Cherubim angels, portrayed by Michelangelo as child-like, chubby angelic beings. According to the Holy Scriptures, Cherubim form part of the highest hierarchy, within the nine ranks of angelic beings. Their application would be interceding, mediating between humanity and the Holy Structures. Thus, in keeping to the angelic as well as the Childrens’- Haven theme, it would deem very appropriate to name the tea garden component “Cherub”.
The Tea Garden restaurant will serve tourists visiting the township of Roadside, but it will also cater for the needs of the residents of the township, and surrounding communities. Initially, the area of the Cherub Tea Garden will be planted with indigenous trees and shrubs whilst a kitchen and ablution facilities will be built. It will provide a number of jobs for interested members of the local community.
Since this development is accessible from the N3 national highway, it is foreseen that many local travelers will frequent it, to get a feel of the angelic order and unique social structures that will prevail, within the vision of this development.
Personnel from three offices located on site will manage the activities of the Nursery Production Unit as well as the Tea Garden.
Children’s Village Unit
The Children’s Village Unit will consist of a children’s village, school, five offices, staff quarters, a Garden of Remembrance and interdenominational services (Figure 2). It will be the focus point of the Roadside Township. The school hall is planned as such, as to serve as the communal place on Sundays.
The children’s village, Arc de Araboth (Haven of the 7th Heaven), will cater for up to 270 orphaned as well as AIDS-infected and other physically challenged children, ranging in age from infants to teenagers. The local school will continue to serve the children from the surrounding community as well as the Village. The design of the village will form large double-storey icosahedrons, with an inner courtyard. It will consist of 30 living units, each unit comprising of caretakers and 9 children. The central courtyard will boast the communal dining-hall, storage and the kitchen. Caretakers or surrogate-parent couples will reside over a unit comprising of three bedrooms, and have 9 children to oversee, thus provision for 30 caretaker couples, will be made. The ground-floor level will be assigned to accommodate possible sick or disabled children, in order to facilitate mobility. Healthier children and their caretakers will inhabit the upper level units. Offices will occupy one section of this uniquely shaped building, from which “Arc de Araboth” will be managed.
The Children’s Village Unit will also accommodate teaching-staff quarters. It will consist of fifteen two- and 3-bedroom duplex buildings. These buildings will be separate from the children’s village. Provision will be made for sheltered parking for vehicles and a school bus. Personnel from five offices, comprising of representatives from Departments of Health, Social Welfare and Education, will be located on the same site that will partake in management of the Children’s Village Unit.
The existing farm school, Roadside School, will be replaced with a modern 15- classroom school, the Roadside Village School, accommodating Grades I through to XII. The school building is planned in such a manner as to allow for possible future expansion. Other facilities i.e. for sports and recreation will be intensively discussed in the EIA document.
Due to the rich historic background of the little village of Roadside, the Free State MEC for Trade and Tourism recommended during the course of 2005, that the name should not be changed. The history should rather be researched extensively, exploited and displayed, within the structures of the Tourism Office, Batlakoa Art Galleria, Tea Garden and Community Center.
Due to their infirmities and frailties, the life expectancy of some of the children staying in the children’s village might not be very long. As they pass, their bodies will be cremated and their ashes interned in the Garden of Remembrance. This Garden of Remembrance, Angels’ Grove, will be designed to be idyllic and beautiful and will be planted with trees, shrubs and roses, to create a restful and peaceful atmosphere.
The name, layout and intention of the garden, will be indicative of the significant ‘pass-over” of young souls, guided on their way, by the angels this garden will be dedicated to, i.e. the Principalities, overseers of sacred sites: Haniel, Anael, Cerviel and Requel, as named in the Scriptures.
Cremation is not generally acceptable to some indigenous tribes. However, the concept and factual principles of this approach was discussed with the Batlakoa King and Tribal Authority. After intentions were explained, they expressed understanding and support for the Garden of Remembrance. The vision of the Childrens Village Unit and Garden of Remembrance is to restore dignity to individuals, crippled by circumstances beyond their making.
Roadside Township Unit
The Roadside Township Unit will consist of 250 two-bedroom and three-bedroom houses of which a portion will be applied to form a retirement section, Vivir de Vivir (Live Life!). The aim is to attract “young” retirees, who would be encouraged to be involved with the project, thus contributing to theirs, as well as the lives of those who need their expertise and empathic nature.
Living their lives, in retirement! Osmosis between wisdom and youth, represented by children and “retiring” individuals, therefore enhancing and elevating lives, will prevail here! Keeping within the intended theme, the streets of the new Roadside Township component will be named from the Angelic Orders, the Tree of Life and the Heavenly-structures, as described within the Bible, Torah, Koran, Sutras, The Books of Enoch and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
SA healthcare giant, NETCARE and its’ retirement management component, CARENET, have requested to manage this aspect of the development.
Recreational areas, available to ALL inhabitants of the Roadside Village Development, will include bowls, tennis, a heated and a normal pool, a chess club, horses, music and dance training, as well as a small putting range.
There is currently a Postnet office that needs to be reactivated. A new Police Station as well as eight housing units for South African Police Service (SAPS) staff will be built. Provision is made for a heli-pad, offices for a District Medical Surgeon, and representatives of the Departments of Labor, Social Welfare and Health, as well as a modern clinic.
The old General Dealer is to be reopened as the Roadside Organic Dealer, and the viability of other small business enterprises i.e. a hairdresser, herbal shop etc. investigated. It is also believed that the Village will benefit from an ATM machine.
The Postnet at Roadside is still in immaculate condition.
The Old Millhouse which is to become the Art Gallery.
An intimate Lifestyle Community Center, catering for the Village as well as the needs of the larger farming community, is to be established. Life Skills Training, dancing lessons, socials and barbeques, could form part of social gatherings. The facilities could also be rented for weddings, seminars, educational talks etc. We wish to name this center after Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Historically, her own struggle relates to the history of the struggle within the Free State Province, as she was banned with her children to Brandfort, a small town in the Free Sate Province, during 1976.
Nomzamo Winnifred Madikizela became a social worker in 1956 and began working as the first black female social worker at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, during the same year. Thus, her desire to work for upliftment and welfare of people is evident in her choice of vocation, even before she became involved with the struggle, married Nelson Mandela and became the most known female entity in Africa.
A specific site will be retained for the construction of a guesthouse, Vivir de Victoria (Victorious Life), once the main components of the development are fully functional. It will personify the regions’ country hospitality, and assist in the furthering of the aims and marketing of similar facilities of the Eastern Free State.
The Police Station at Roadside.
The General Dealer is to be reactivated as the Roadside Organic Dealer.
The township will accommodate permanent staff working at the various Units, as well as their families. The majority of houses will be sold on the open market to draw interested parties; city dwellers wishing to have a rural escape, and those wishing for an eminent peaceful retirement in the country. Levies raised from these dwellings, will contribute to the further sustainability of this project. The townships dwellers will ensure further job creation in this area, as garden, property and household management requirements, grows.
This will also bring forth a steady client base for produce from the Nursery, Goat, and Pecan Production Unit. A nougat factory outside Vrede has already indicated interest in acquiring the future produce of pecans.
Collaboration with, and visits from international students and trainers, will provide possibilities for local students, trainers and residents respectively:
Practicing B&B concepts
Broadening their concepts by information and skill exchanges
Students and/or trainers that excel in their field, could apply for possible international internship
Qualified individuals will find that financial institutions are more accessible with respect to providing venture capital, with regard to future personal endeavors
Medical supervision and medical facilities to the whole development will be available on 24-hour bases whilst the heli-pad will ensure that patients that require urgent and specialist medical care can be evacuated safely, effectively and quickly.
The design layout of the Roadside Township Unit will be based upon the structure of the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is a map of the return pathway of the ascension to God-consciousness.
The Devine energy descends from above via ten spheres or sephiroth. Each sepiroth or sphere represents an energy signature. The spheres are: Kether, Chokmah, Binah, Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malkuth. An eleventh sphere, Daath, signifies the accumulation of Universal Knowledge and consciousness, and therefore represents space and not designated energy.
The Tree of Life is a template for a multitude of belief systems. Each sephiroth has its’ meaning, and has archangel/s relating to it.
The Old Sink House in need of repair.
A refurbished sink house in Pretoria.
Safety
Nine traffic islands are to be created, within the existing regional or proclaimed road structures of Roadside. These sizable traffic circles or islands will sufficiently slow all vehicles, creating a controlled flow of traffic, thus ensuring all possible measures are taken, to prevent speeding at Roadside.
The isles will be dedicated to the nine angelic ranks i.e.: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels and Guardians.
General information pertaining to all five Units
The developers have already had discussion with the community of Roadside, regional SAPS, and Local Authorities. Confirmation has also been received from the Phumelela Local Authority that potable water can be delivered via a dedicated pipeline from Vrede Water Treatment Works, whilst Eskom supplies electricity.
Up until the time that the municipal water connection is made, potable water can be supplied from two boreholes on the farm that are currently providing a strong supply of good quality water. The developers have also requested an investigation into the possible production of eco-electricity for this project. It is my firm opinion that such notion will be feasible, as Eskom already has a connection point at the property, and with bearing bird flight patterns in mind, a sizable wind turbine, could be erected within the northern-most tip of the farm, or at the adjacent Leewkop servitude, away from any bird flight zones.
An adequate wind farm with international grade turbines will be able to provide adequately to this development and could contribute amply to the national grid.
The eco-energy option will be addressed as a matter of extreme urgency, by the EIA, during 2008.
A view towards the river escarpment.
View of Lions’ kop with clear sight of the Eskom cabling.
Both the construction and operational phases of all buildings will be done according to an integrated and environmentally sustainable approach. This implies that building materials will be sourced locally, where possible, and that all waste will be re-used or recycled, where possible. All of the possibilities will form a component of the Environmental Impact Assessment that will be completed during the course of 2008.
For example, all buildings are to be designed with eco based guidelines. All rain and gray water (washbasin / shower / bath water / kitchen water, etc) will be collected in underground tanks, screened, mixed, and seeded with bacteria, after which such water can be used for flood irrigation purposes, at the Nursery and Pecan Production Units.
A group of dedicated bins will be installed around the Village, businesses and offices. It will facilitate the collection of glass, paper, plastics, metals and organic waste. A team of trained personnel will collect these different waste lines, sort them further, if need be, and then either package/bag it for sale to recyclers or re-use/recycle it on site. Solid waste from the agricultural production units, as well as the township, will also be collected, separated if required, processed and then re-used where appropriate or where required.
All organic waste collected, is to be used at an earthworm-farm facility, where worms are bred and wormacide tea is collected for usage as organic fertilizing/insecticide spray, for all horticultural activities.
The concept of earthworm farming, the gathering and the application of earthworm secretions and/or tea/wormacide, and the benefits there off, have received extensive attention in South Africa within the last twelve months. Internationally renowned hotels, such as the Mount Nelson in Cape Town, have received awards and recognition for their work with regard to the earthworm concept farming applications.
These waste treatment and management facilities will also provide a number of permanent jobs for members of the local community.
The stabling area, diagonally across from the Police Station.
The quiet beauty of Roadside and surrounds.
AGRI URBAN DEVELOPMENTS
“Angel Concepts”
In the children lies the future of these lands. Watch over them. Prepare them like you would do for crops - to harvest later what you sow today...