A Year of Growth, Pause & Purpose

Harvesting for Good East Africa, 2025 Reflections

As we close the year, I feel an overwhelming mix of gratitude and pride for everything we’ve grown, in gardens, in communities, and within ourselves.

Our ongoing partnership with Mlango Farm has blossomed beautifully. Through our Intro to Gardening & Permaculture workshops, we welcomed more people ready to reconnect with land and nourish themselves from seed to plate. Watching participants leave inspired and confident, knowing they can grow abundance even in the smallest spaces, is the true heartbeat of our mission.

A few words from this year’s cohort:

“The two-day course is complete and so informative. I learned so much and have already improved my skills to apply in my garden and shamba” 

“Beautifully planned and incredibly insightful. I now feel confident applying permaculture gardening practices, ready to work with nature, not against it..”

 “This class will blow your mind away! Growing food is a life skill everyone should have. This class not only teaches you how to do that but more importantly practically shows you how to go about it, debunking the myth that you cannot grow food without chemical inputs.”

“Even if you start with zero experience, the course is easy to understand. It was so inspiring, I can’t wait to apply everything I learned in our garden!

These are the ripples of resilience we live for.

We’ve also redesigned and regenerated home gardens, and have trained gardeners already working in private homes, helping them build new skillsets in soil health and maintenance. Hearing from them months later, still tending thriving gardens and seeking guidance, that’s empowerment in action.

More people are now reaching out on their own,  through referrals, long-time followers, and word of mouth. Proof that staying intentionally small + deeply impactful is working and that is simply rewarding for us six years in to building this business up.

It was also really meaningful to be part of International School of Kenya’s (ISK) Earth Day. We shared a short talk on regeneration, followed by a reflective activity where students wrote letters to their future selves, imagining the year 2050 and looking back on the actions taken now.

The questions were simple but powerful: What choices made a real difference? What would you tell your younger self to help avoid the worst impacts of climate change?

The reflections that came out of the seniors were thoughtful, honest, and surprisingly hopeful. It turned into a profound session, one that reminded us how important it is to create space for young people to think beyond fear and into responsibility, care, and possibility.

The Pause That Strengthened Us

Recently, also asked us to stop and reset. We made the difficult decision to let go of a staff member due to misconduct, choosing integrity and accountability over convenience.

We paused for three weeks to reflect and restructure, to protect what we stand for:

Respect, Responsibility, Caring for soil and people with equal commitment.

We return stronger, clearer, and more aligned than ever bringing a brand new energy and vibe!

Collaboration That Opened New Worlds

One of our standout moments was working with Good Natured Learning and Becca Katz to support outdoor classroom design for SHOFCO’s girls’ schools in Kibera and Mathare, integrating edible gardens right where learning happens.

During follow-up trainings, teachers lit up, especially when discovering lavender for the first time. Realizing its calming scent supports wellness and learning reminded us: plants nourish more than hunger.

Not just the students, but the adults/teachers feel calmer, more curious, more alive outdoors. This confirms what we already know: Nature restores connection, belonging, joy and overall wellbeing.

Our most recent IG Live with Becca sparked meaningful conversation, and a deeper commitment to keep innovating together.

We also rekindled our relationship with Shamba Café, where we held our first-ever workshop during the pandemic in 2020. This year, we returned to train their team, redesign their gardens, and nurture new planting plans. See more here

We also formed a partnership with an individual in Kwale where our part time consultant, Priscilla Nzamalu on the Coast supports their work, training their staff and re-designing the various farms. It has been fruitful to watch this space. We are now working toward finding potential markets for their produce.

I had the opportunity to attend a powerful nutrient-density deep dive with Dan Kittredge — a timely reminder that what we grow truly matters, right down to the minerals in the soil.

Dan Kittredge is a leading voice in the nutrient-density movement, a lifelong organic farmer, educator, and the Founder and Executive Director of the Bionutrient Food Association (BFA). For over a decade, his work has focused on one essential truth: soil health directly determines the nutritional quality and flavor of our food.

Bridging science and farming, the BFA is developing practical tools, such as the Bionutrient Meter, to help measure nutrient density and restore the nutritional integrity of our food systems. As Dan puts it, “When we grow better soil, we grow better food, and we grow better health.”

This deeply thoughtful day on “Vitality” was beautifully curated by @brownsfoodco and @groveandmeadow, bringing together farmers, growers, wellness and functional medicine practitioners, and food lovers, all reconnecting with what truly nourishes us. From the moment we arrived, we were invited to slow down, sip botanical tonics, and immerse ourselves in workshops exploring a simple yet profound question: Do we really understand vitality, from soil to plate?

The highlight was Dan’s talk on nutrient-dense food — a conversation that feels more necessary than ever in today’s food, farming, and health landscapes. It’s exactly where our work needs to go: deeper into soil intelligence, microbial life, and the invisible forces that shape real nutrition.

One of the most memorable moments was a playful, sensory “discombobulated soil-to-table” meal, designed to help us feel and question how flavors, microbes, environments, farming practices, and stories all shape the food before us, and how interconnected it all is.

Workshops flowed through stone milling, fermentation, beneficial microbes, and ancient grains, practical, hands-on, and beautifully rooted in the understanding that vitality is cultivated, not manufactured.

A refreshing space to learn, connect, and be reminded where nourishment truly begins. Deep gratitude to Browns Food and Grove & Meadow for curating such a meaningful soil-to-soul experience.

A good time to Introduce a new branch of our work- Restore, by Harvesting for Good EA

This year, a new branch of our work sprouted, Restore 

Restore brings regenerative living into the kitchen.  It’s where food becomes medicine, culture, storytelling, and joy.

Restore focuses on: - 

• Food + wellbeing storytelling 

• Fermentation + gut health 

• Kitchen-to-garden education 

• Lifestyle practices that support longevity

  
  

Through my own health journey, I’ve seen how soil and the microbiome mirror one another, both living ecosystems needing diversity, nourishment, and care. I am excited!!

Restore connects those worlds; from soil → to harvest → to plate → to inner resilience.

Looking Ahead

2025 reminded us:

• Collaboration is how we grow

• Empowerment is the real outcome

• Community is the way forward

• Pauses are important

  
  

We’re stepping into 2026 with fresh energy, aligned partnerships, curious learners, resilient gardens, and a widening circle of impact.

“Permaculture is not only about growing food, it’s about growing people.”

Thank you for believing in this mission. Thank you for supporting a small but mighty team. Thank you for joining us on this journey of regeneration.

Wishing you a restful festive season and a beautiful start to 2026. 

Thank you to the changes and our very small BUT mighty team!

We’ll see you next year, flourishing.

With love & gratitude, 

Sheena & the Harvesting for Good East Africa team 🌿