Community Gardening

As part of Carraig Dulra's vision for a sustainbale future, we have a community outreach initiative in Community Gardening. Suzie has been volunteering her time since the begining of 2007 and has set up a group called Wicklow Community Gardening Group. As Chair of this steering committee, she works with the committe members to "seed" community gardens in the County.

So far, in just one year, a community garden has started in Wicklow Town and between 4-6 other Towns and Villages have been inspired and now have groups at various stages of development. The Groups project partners are Wicklow Working Together and they have been very helpful and have assigned Helen Howes to act as a support worker to the Group. The group hope to create a template for community development in this area that could be used throughout the country and are working with varies agencies to this end. 

Interest is very high and growing so it appears the ground is fertile and just needs some energy to tend to it.

Community gardening is a well established movement worldwide and it is gaining popularity in Ireland with community gardens in Dublin, Cork and Galway. Increasing concern about food quality, and the environment may be responsible for their popularity. It is certainly one way to make a positive contribution, in light of peak oil and global warming, as it can also help to reduce carbon emissions through reduced transport or "food miles". When Cuba reached an artificial "peak oil" after the fall of the Soviet Union, community farms and gardens became critical in averting an immediate food crisis.

The gardens provide wholesome, low-cost fresh fruits and vegetables and can be a springboard for community residents to learn about good nutrition health, organic growing methods etc. However, fun, learning and building community are equally important aspects of community gardening.

So what is a community garden exactly? Suzie defines the gardens as open spaces managed and operated by members of the local community. They are used for vegetable growing and to create a pleasant garden space that once established community members, especially the elderly, can simple sit in and enjoy. Almost all community gardens use organic methods, and some are concerned with health, education and training issues.

All are based in a sense of community, with participation and involvement being particularly strong features. This sense of community participation and empowerment can inspire the cleanup of waste ground and create opportunities for people to work together to improve their own communities in many ways. They provide opportunities for adults and children to learn about nature and the environment. In our health conscience times gardening offers moderate exercise that most people can participate in.

Wicklow Community Gardening Group will help and advise any group wishing to establish a garden. For information contact (086 8069289) or email communitygarden@dulra.org You can request that you are put onto the Community Garden mailing list.

Summary of Activities from Chairperson's report 2006-2007

April-Oct
The group was formed loosely April 2006 but activities were initially focused on networking with interested individuals and groups.
Approaches were made to Wicklow Urban Coucil by counselor Irene Winters in order to commence the search for possible sites.

Oct-Dec
After a presentation to Wicklow Working Together, formal links were established and WWT committed to support the initiative. They agreed to give administrative support through the use of their offices and mailing address and assigned Helen Howe to act as liaison. She is now also the groups treasurer

Grant applications were made to the following bodies:

Wicklow Rural Partnership Successful
Heritage Council Unsuccessful
The Community Foundation of Ireland Successful
Pobal Successful
The Katherine Howard Foundation Sucessful

Jan07-May07

The WRP LEADER++ grant was awarded to provide training workshops in Community Gardening and these took place in Feb-April in the Dominican Convent and included participants from the following.
• Wicklow Working Together
• Local Residence Association from Public Housing
• Town and County Council Estate Liaison Officers
• Traveller's Groups
• Gardeners
• Other interested individuals
Presentations were made to Holy Rosary Parents Association and in Fassaroe's Community Centre (Where a group were particularly interested in incorporating a community garden into a local Pride of Place Intiative) the group was made up of Wicklow County Council Employees: Head of Community and Enterprise, Head of RAPID,
Bray town councilors
VEC Community Education Officer
Festina Lente Center
Local Residents
Further presentations are scheduled and available to interested groups.

Presentations were given to more groups in Sept-Oct 07
Greystones group hosted by the happy pear.
Local residents association Newtownmountkennedy
Local group Brockagh Centre Laragh

June-July 2007
The Dominican Ecology Centre in Wicklow Town gave the group a temporary space for a community garden in a big corner of one of the fields on their organic farm. The group hired Mary Millet to act as garden facilitator for a pilot project funded through Pobail.

July-October

A small number of participants from the pilot project have became a core group to continue to develop the Wicklow garden. Mary Millet was funded by Wicklow Community Gardening Group to continue to meet with them and to spend some time networking to build interest and support. In October, she started a 5 week introductory course in Permaculture that was funded by the Community Outreach section of the VEC. This course filled to capacity very quickly, and interest is continuing to rise. The winter may be quiet in the garden, but things are afoot and ideas are being mulled over the winter to sprout again in the spring.

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The Wicklow People, 10 April 2007

A Wicklow resident is planting the seeds of community gardening in the minds
of local people. Suzie Cahn is the woman behind Wicklow Community Gardening
Group and while she is reluctant to put herself in the spotlight she is
eager to inspire others to get their hands dirty and grow their own food.
So far she has been working with groups who hope to start community gardens
for their own use. But Suzie is thinking big and aims to establish a large
community garden in which individuals, families and groups manage their own
plots side by side.
A native of Bangor in County Down, her family moved south of the boarder
when she was 12 years old and later to Ashford when she was 16. She went to
school in Dublin and then to art college in Limerick before going to the
States to study art therapy. She married an American, Mike, and brought him
home. They now live in Wicklow with their four children.
She and her husband have been environmentalists for 20 years and have always
recycled and composted. Having read environmental journals and their
predictions of climate change, she knew what was coming but says it is
frightening to see it happening.
ŒIt is predicted that we are very close to peak oil world wide,¹ she says.
ŒPeople assume that the biggest crisis when we run out of oil is going to be
energy and cars but they don¹t know that the majority of oil is used in food
production. Oil is used to make pesticides and in the manufacture of
fertiliser, in the running of heaving machinery and in the transport of
food. We have to work out how to feed this amount of people without oil.¹
The couple decided to see what they could do to make a difference. Firstly
they decided to slow their lives down and travelled around Europe in a
camper with their kids for six months. The looked at organic farms and
volunteered to work on them and got their own ideas.
When they returned they sold their house in Wicklow and bought four acres of
organically certified land in Glenealy where they run courses and plan to
keep traditional skills, such as drystone wall building, alive.
Suzie has always grown vegetables for her family. She started with a little
patch of potatoes but gradually her vegetable plot grew.
About five years ago she and a friend did a course in school gardening in
the Organic Centre in Leitrim. She then started the garden in Gaelscoil
Chill Mhantain which is still going and has been taken over by enthusiastic
parents.
She had been approached by other schools to do similar projects but in the
meantime had learned about community gardening.
Community gardening is a well established movement worldwide and it is
gaining popularity in Ireland with community gardens in Dublin, Cork and
Galway.
Increasing concern about food quality, and the environment may be
responsible for their popularity. It is certainly one way to make a positive
contribution, in light of peak oil and global warming, as it can also help
to reduce carbon emissions through reduced transport or Œfood miles¹.
The gardens provide wholesome, low-cost fresh fruits and vegetables and can
be a springboard for residents to learn about good nutrition health and
organic growing methods. However, fun, learning and building community are
equally important aspects of community gardening.
So what is a community garden exactly? Suzie defines the gardens as open
spaces managed and operated by members of the local community. They are used
for vegetable growing and to create a pleasant garden space that members of
the community, especially the elderly, can simply sit in and enjoy. Almost
all community gardens use organic methods and some are concerned with
health, education and training issues.
All are based in a sense of community with participation and involvement
being particularly strong features. This sense of community participation
and empowerment can inspire the cleanup of waste ground and create
opportunities for people to work together to improve their own communities
in many ways, according to Suzie.
Having had experience in community arts, Suzie felt her skills as a
community artist would transfer to community gardening. Both art and
gardening can be enjoy on their own but when brought into the community they
can help overcome barriers such as age and social issues.
ŒRather than just starting a garden, I wanted to create a group of people
who could remain on as advisers and helpers and seed gardens,¹ she explains.
She has been running day long courses aimed at training groups and inspiring
them to start gardens in their own communities. Wicklow Community Gardening
Group comprises a trainer in organic gardening, a community workers,
gardeners and horticulturists.
Residents in Ballyguile in Wicklow town are starting a community garden and
there is an interest in starting one in the neighbouring Hillview estate.
Wicklow Travellers Group and Primary Health Care in Newcastle are also
interested in starting gardens and residents in Ballinalea in Ashford are
considering incorporating community gardening ideas into their group.
The ultimate goal is to find a larger piece of land were residents and
groups from the greater Wicklow area can go and garden. Suzie is modelling
her venture on Baltinglass Community Garden which is a huge success and
attracts people from a broad spectrum from school students to active
retired.
Wicklow Community Gardening Group has been in operation for one year and
will soon be holding its first AGM.