I grew up in Tshixwadza in Venda. The soil and climate there are very good for farming. My parents weren’t working so we grew almost all our own food. If we didn’t grow, we didn’t eat. I did agriculture at school. My teacher’s name was Mr Tshituke and by the time I was a teenager, I was using what he had taught me to grow tomatoes, China, spinach, onions, peanuts, pumpkins, beans and a few chilies. Every day after school I would tend to my vegetables.

In Venda we grow many traditional African vegetables that you don’t see much in Gauteng – for instance the lerotse pumpkin and those old-time mielies that are speckled with different colours. They grow slowly, but they are very delicious. Lerotse seeds are rich in oil and protein. We roast them in a pan or on the lid of a three-legged pot. The leaves are also so good cooked with peanuts.

In Venda there is so much free food to be had if you know where to look. We collect so many different types of wild morogo leaves (thepe, blackjack, delele, ngu and so many others) and fruit. I love the sweet-sour taste of mabungo fruit. There are also edible insects such as mopane worms and thongalifha (edible stinkbugs) that we catch and consume.

I came to Johannesburg in 1995. I had passed matric and wanted to study further, so I looked for work so I could save up to study. For a while I worked in the security industry, but those jobs are very hard to find, and the pay is not good. My dreams of studying did not come to pass. I don’t sit around feeling sorry for myself. Even though there aren’t bosses looking for workers, it doesn’t mean that there is no work. If you are skilled and flexible and prepared to work hard, there are many ways to earn money. I do all sorts of jobs – farming, building, plastering, welding, shoe repair – I work for myself, and I earn a good living. If I see there is a need for a service, I work out how to do that job. If necessary, I ask someone who knows. It can be difficult to be your own boss, but there are advantages. I am free to manage my own time - today my little girl (she is two years and eight months old) came to the garden with me and I had the time to help her pick her own garden peas. If I had a boss, I wouldn’t be able to stop everything to help a toddler pick peas.