Help Save a Willow Tree Sculpture!

Volunteers are needed on Saturday morning to help in moving a large beautiful living Willow Tree Tunnel from a school garden to the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden in the Terryland Forest Park, Galway city.

Rendevous: 11am Sat, Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden

This transplanting work has to be done as a matter of urgency as the present site of the tunnel will be bulldozed later next week due to a school building extension programme.
Scoil Náisiúnta Cholmcille Castlegar has generously offered the community group the trees in order to save the tunnel from destruction. The willows will be relocated to the Ballinfoile Mór facility to form part of an existing three tunnel network. 

Over the years the teachers, parents, pupils and Fás workers at Scoil Cholmcille have created a green oasis within the school grounds. 

Most of the garden will be left untouched by the new building. In fact it has being tastefully developed over the last six months with the addition of new murals, bug hotels, native Irish trees, wooden seating and raised beds. 

The transplanted trees will be still be available to the school children to harvest for sculptures and hopefully some day to be used to recreate a new tunnel outside their classrooms.

Scarecrows, Pedal-Powered Smoothies & Blacksmith Forge Amongst the Highlights of Ballinfoile Harvest Festival

Face painting with Anja Sammon

Scarecrows, pedal-powered fruit smoothies, blacksmith forge, multi-ethnic cuisine, birdwatching excursion, a bugs detective experience and a bike maintenance workshop were some of the highlights of last Saturday’s Harvest Festival in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden held in the grounds of the Terryland Forest Park.

In spite of the atrocious weather at the weekend, hundreds of people turned up to enjoy an exciting programme of events that appealed to all ages and all traditions in a wonderful garden setting that is a tribute to the skills and civic enthusiasm that exists amongst the residents of Ballinfoile, Bothár an Choiste and Tirellan.

Social Inclusivity: Volunteer gardeners from the

Lisbrook Asylum Seekers Accommodation Centre

The festival was a successful fusion of local volunteerism; environmental, community and art organizations idealism and the public service ethos of many staff in state agencies.

Michael Tiernan from Cumann na bhFear working the Forge

Mayor Hildegarde Naughton complimented the organisers, and along with councilor Frank Fahy and Derek Nolan TD, spent considerable time enjoying the positive ambiance of the occasion.

Mayor of Galway city Cllr Hildegarde Naughton, with Daire Smith & renowned Galway hurler Alan Kerins

Councillor Frank Fahy with Tom Cuffe who provided a very informative guided birdwatching tour of nearby woodlands

There were stalls selling locally grown fruit, herbs and vegetables;

Selling Vegetables & Fruits harvested from the community garden

tasty fruit smoothies produced by pedal power; a blacksmith forge; a multi-ethnic food fair; a home baking counter, a bird-watching tour of the surrounding woodlands; face painting; craft displays; a free bike maintenance workshop; a large marine aquarium; a trad music seisiún; disc jockeys; bug detective trails, and a medicinal herbal information stand.

Michael Quinn(L) from Galway Civic Trust enjoying some of the delightful ethnic dishes provided

What was particularly eye-catching though was the fantastic array of 40 plus colourful scarecrows that dotted the garden created by the children of Scoil San Phroinsias and the Sunny Meadow’s playschool.

Neighbourhood festivals based around locally grown food produce, culture, heritage, sport and environmental awareness are growing in popularity worldwide. Over the last few years events such as the Boreen Festivals of Castlegar have started to capture the public imagination in suburban Galway. In times of deepening recession, rising unemployment and decreasing national expectations, Irish people need to rediscover the importance of working with their neighbours to develop a sense of place, purpose and pride as well as a feeling of goodwill towards their localities. Traditionally, we as a nation have been characterized by a strong community ethos as exemplified by the GAA, ‘Meitheal’ and our coming together in times of adversity. So the festival was be grassroots based and will celebrate local volunteerism and demonstrate how residents working together for the common good can improve the quality of life in their communities.
Finally, a big thank you to Galway City Council and Galway City Partnership for all their support.

U3 (Frances, Deasan & Cathal) traditional music group

Visitors at the weekend also saw the fantastic contributions made by local people to the development of the garden over the last eighteen months including the drystone walls, hedgerows, poly-tunnel, vegetable plots, orchard, wildlife pond, wildflower meadow; path-laying, outdoor performance stage, disability-friendly raised beds, hazel hurdles, kitchen toilets, giant nature art mural and willow sculptures.

Bikers United! Brian MacGabhann & Cathal McCusker who were in charge of the Bike Maintenance Workshop

Distributing home-made ice lollies to the visitors

Kevin O'Hara from Atlantaquaria demonstrating the wonders of Galway Bay at the Marine Boat Aquarium

'Bug Detective' Stand from Dolores Keegan was one of the most popular stands at the Fest

Michael McDonnell, the backbone of the community garden for all things infrastructure, at the Cumann na bhFear workshop

Visitors left with a bountiful selections of fresh organic vegetables & fruits!

The Herbal Information Stall enlightened attendees on the medicinal value of what many still consider obnoxious Weeds

DJ Paul Coyne kept people entertained with his selection of Commentary & Celtic Rock music

Caroline, Justine & co provided a wide selection of month-watering multi-ethnic dishes to all & sundry!

The hard-working Caitriona Nic Mhuiris(left) was one of the engines of the Festival

Digging One's Own Dinner! -One of the great novelties of the Festival, was that we had many of the visitors

dig up their fruits and vegetables puchases!

Home-made Cakes & Jams Stall

Africans United! Pierre Ludwick from South Africa with a young west African friend

Tiernan McCusker pouring fruit smoothies from the pedal powered unit gracioulsy supplied by Liam Cobb of the West of Ireland Cycles

Scarecrows Galore!

The Children of Scoil San Phroinsias & Sunny Meadows playschool provided a breathtaking display of scarecrows,

each one of which had its individuality and character!

Tradiitonal Craftmaking, Growing Food Locally, 'Meitheal' & Community Self-help Alive & Well in Galway City

Photo: Local children painting the kitchen/storage/toilet container at the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden

A edited version of my letter below appeared in this week's Galway Independent:

Community Self-reliance

Photo: Local Volunteers in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden

Dear Editor,

In response to the recent letter from Councillor Nuala Nolan, members of the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden would be delighted to transport seaweed from Ballyloughnane strand to the Ballybane Organic Community Garden. Since last spring, we have secured council permission to harvest some seaweed from the same beach for use as a sustainable natural organic fertiliser in our own green facility.

In the spirit of the traditional Irish ‘Meitheal’, we previously made available indigenous marl to our Ballybane colleagues for the construction of their outdoor piazza oven which represented a small gesture of thanks to a community garden that has inspired so many others across the city.

Photo: Local resdients & members of 'Lisbrook' Asylum Seekers Accommodation Centre working in Community Garden

The destruction of the Ballybane garden shed was sad news particularly for all those hard-working volunteers who have given their time, energies, skills and vision in helping to improve the quality of life within the Ballybane region. We too have experienced a rise in anti-social behaviour with severe damage recently to our garden’s poly-tunnel.

Photo: Volunteers involved in the Big Spring Clean-Up adjacent to Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden

On Sunday last, fifty volunteers participated in a clean up of the adjacent woodlands that led to three vanloads of rubbish being collected that was the end result of fly-tipping, bush-drinking and the illegal erection of barbed wire- barriers by unscrupulous owners of emaciated horses who are denying other residents the use of what is after public lands. All such problems are endemic across Ireland with citizens feeling increasingly angered and betrayed by the failure of government to systematically prosecute the perpetrators.

Photo: Galway City Deputy Mayor Frank Fahy surveying foundations of wildlife pond at Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden

So now is the time for city neighbourhoods to increase co-operation and share resources as well as to face up to both mindless local vandalism and the national economic cutbacks that is a consequence of the ‘me-feinism’ ideology of greedy bankers, property speculators and political cronyism that could destroy a growing sense of togetherness that has been evident within many urban suburbs over the last few years.

Photo: Jack O'Connor preparing the stone for the planned drystone wall at the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden

Likewise, we need more than ever before to look at our ‘own doorstep’ and ascertain what human and physical resources exist amongst us that can improve local services and facilities.

Photo: Building a 'Living Willow Tunnels' at the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden

For instance the Ballinfoile Community Garden has benefited from the oftentimes dormant talents of residents who have in our case built a performance stage, pathways, raised beds and willow/hazel fencing; laid out a wildlife pond, planted native hedgerows and introduced young people to an almost extinct folk knowledge of medicinal properties of common herbs and old techniques of vegetable/fruit planting.

Photo: Volunteers planting Willow Tree woodlands at the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden

To facilitate both individual and community self-reliance, we are supporting the first public meeting of Grow It Yourself (GIY) in Galway city which is taking place at 7.30pm on Tuesday May 17^th in the Menlo Park Hotel. So anyone who has an interest in growing one’s own food in anything from a small window sill container to a field, should attend this event which will be launched by famed GIY founder Michael Kelly from Waterford.

Photo: American students from Galway University (NUIG) helping out at the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden

Photo: Sellling the Fruits of the Volunteers' Labours at the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden

Galway city's Largest Community Garden To Be Officially Launched by City Mayor on Sat

Michael Tiernan & Pete Maye Planting Potatoes using traditional Irish farming methods

Michael McDonnell Harvesting the first potato crop!

I am pleased to announce that Galway city’s largest community organic garden will officially be launched at 12.30pm this Saturday (July 17^th) by the Mayor, Councillor Michael Crowe. Located in Terryland Forest Park adjacent to the Lus Leana housing estate, the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden has become a wonderful example of how neighbourhood-managed initiatives can secure long-term social, health and environmental benefits.

Teas for the Volunteers!

Funding and resources for this local community-driven project was provided by an array of agencies, including RAPID, Galway City Council, HSE, VEC, Respond and the Galway City Partnership. Caitriona McMuiris of the latter organisation has been absolutely brilliant in supporting the local committee in this initiative.

Many of the garden's founding members (including myself) are local community environmentalists and members of the 'Galway Friends of the Forests' NGO that successfully fought to save the Terryland Forest Park from being sacrificed to road development (Headford Road Framework Plan).

For over a decade, we have promoted many environmental community initiatives in Galway including heritage cycle tours through rural landscapes in the locality, school and community tree plantings, outdoor eco-arts projects, nature field trips and the protection of wildlife habitats in our city.

Wildlife-friendly Organic Garden

An organic community garden with a biodiversity ethos has been part of our philosophy for a a number of years inspired by green urban neighbourhood initiatives in the USA and Cuba but also with the work undertaken in the nearby Galway suburb of Ballybane.

Harvesting Nettles for Soup & Salads

Since its inception late last year, ‘An Ghardín’ has become a magnet for residents of all ages from across the Ballinfoile/Bóthar an Chóiste locality to work together in the development of this extraordinary resource.

School Children & Parents from the local Scoil San Phroinsias planting flowers & vegetables

One of the partners in the project, the local primary school Scoil San Phroinsias, recently held a weekend planting day when circa 150 parents and children came along to plant vegetables and flowers.

Watering the Plants

The VEC and a nearby child daycare centre too are using it as an outdoor classroom. We are also encouraging disability and older people groups, residents’ associations, the nearby Lisbrook Asylum Seekers Hostel and youth organizations to use ‘An Ghairdín’ as a facility for nutrition and organic farming classes, crafts workshops, nature studies, social interaction and physical education activities.

Katherine Admiring Mike McDonnell's (second from right) work in producing Disability-friendly Raised Beds

Committee members and local volunteers have in a few short months transformed a barren field into a fertile oasis consisting of vegetable beds, a herbal garden, a fruit tree orchid and a poly-tunnel overflowing with crops of corn, peas and tomatoes.

Erecting the Poly-tunnel

Volunteers have laid the foundations of a large pond to nurture indigenous aquatic flora and fauna such as frogs; have provided water piping and electrical cabling and constructed a stage for outdoor cultural performances.

Creating a Pond for Aquatic wildlife

The committee has also made a commitment to promote and utilize traditional rural crafts in the ongoing development of the garden. Hence many of the vegetable beds were planted using old farming methods. Courses were held last week on willow/hazel hurdling with the resulting natural fencing created by the participants being used as perimeters within the garden.Jack planning out the traditional dry-stone wall

Traditional drystone walls will become a feature of the garden over the next few months.

The site for the ‘An Ghardín’ was provided by Galway City Council in the grounds of the Terryland Forest Park as our project complements the wildlife and environmental ethos of this proposed ‘ecological corridor’ due to the fact that our charter includes the promotion of biodiversity by for example constructing traditional hedgerows of Irish trees such as Hawthorn and Hazel around the garden perimeter; by using only organic fertilizers as well as by planting native wild flowers to attract bees and other insects.

Children with their completed Competition Questionnaires on the Wildlife of the Garden & surrounding Terryland Forest Park

Over the coming year, hundreds of local residents will avail of this remarkable green resource that will do much to improve the quality of life in our locality. It is expected that the garden will have many beneficial effects for the Ballinfoile Mór community by its provision of an outdoor nature classroom, by contributing to building up good neighbourliness, by increasing awareness of food nutrition and a healthy living lifestyle and by creating a source of locally produced organic foods. It is expected that many of those that use the community garden will create their own organic household gardens.

So we hope that as many residents as possible turn up for the official launch at 12.30pm on Saturday!

Site for the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden

Early days- Digging in the Garden

Early days: Cennis & other volunteers from the Lisbrook Asylum Seekers Accommodation Centre preparing the ground for planting

Garden Starting to take shape

Des & co Offloading the Seaweed Sourced from a local Beach & to be used as a natural Fertiliser

Planting the first Fruit (Gooseberry, Blackberry & Raspberry) Bushes

The First Planted Fruit Trees

Working on the garden paths

Herbal Garden takes shape, using timber perimeters made from hazel trees produced by local volunteers

Francis, Jack, Frances standing beside the raised bed being used by the children from the local pre-school.

Felicia & friends from the Lisbrook Asylum Seekers Accommodation Centre weeding the potato beds

Myself & Willie Needham holding some of the first crop of potatoes dug from the garden!