GIY:'WHAT ABOUT GIY Ireland?" There were six of us sitting around our kitchen table trying to come up with a name for a new group of food growers we had established. About eight months earlier we sent a press release to a local paper inviting anyone interested in growing vegetables to come along to the local library, expecting maybe five or 10 people to show up. About 100 came. The idea was to try to recreate the camaraderie of allotment growing for back-garden vegetable growers – to get people together regularly to talk and learn from each other, to exchange tips, produce and war stories. To take the self out of self- sufficiency.
In the months after, as we worked on getting the group in Waterford up and running, other groups were set up in neighbouring towns and villages. Before we knew it, there were six within a 50km radius, and we knew we were on to something. In spring, brimming with enthusiasm, we decided to go national. We hatched grand plans during seed swaps and growers’ meitheals. A group in every county. No, every town. Think big! All we were missing was a proper name.
And then one of our meitheal members came up with GIY Ireland. And it seemed to fit. Grow it yourself. Giddily, we tried variations of it – GIY Dún Laoghaire, GIY Athy, GIY Middleton. Then we got more adventurous. GIY New York, anyone? How we laughed.
These past few months we’ve been so wrapped up in getting the national organisation off the ground and preparing for our launch event on September 12th, it’s been difficult to see the wood for the trees. But when you grow your own, reminders of what it’s all about are never far away: fresh produce from the garden for dinner; a pair of bursting sweetcorn cobs to plunge into some boiling water; some vibrant beetroot baked in tinfoil in a hot oven; the first ripe tomatoes, peas or spuds of the season.
That’s the beauty of working with nature – she forces even the busiest of us to occasionally slow down and smell the roses. She moves at her own pace and you have no choice but to slow down with her. And in slowing down, you learn to appreciate.
It can be daunting to take the first steps towards growing your own. It doesn’t help that it is made out to be so complex. For one thing, there’s that confounding vernacular: cultivars, tilths, double-digging, broadcasting, chitting, blanching, thinning, pricking out, heeling in, planting on. In reality, at a basic level, GIYing is very straightforward. Stick a seed in the ground, and then eat it.
Here’s what we’ve found about being involved in a GIY group – it’s easier and far more pleasurable than doing it alone. When you get together with other growers, talk to them and learn from them. Visit their gardens and see how they do it. Go on a meitheal – you will be amazed how good it will make you feel to give your time to other people for free and to reconnect with your community and your environment.
So what’s next? Well, we are looking for local champions to set up GIY groups in their area. We are hoping to get 200 to our launch in September, to find out more about GIY and go home and set up a group. We will give them all the help they need. For every local champion we can find, we could turn 100 people into GIYers. That’s the exciting part: the mind-boggling potential. Imagine: 20,000 GIY enthusiasts around Ireland?
There are enough problems you are powerless to change: the economy, swine flu, global warming, the miserable summer weather. But you are not powerless when it comes to food security, food quality and food cost. You can go out today or tomorrow, stick a seed in the ground and watch it grow. Give it a whirl – pick a few vegetables you like and grow them. Savour the story that Mother Nature will tell you during the year – it’s a fascinating adventure.
GIY Ireland is launched on September 12th in WIT as part of Slow Food Ireland’s Waterford Harvest Festival. www.giyireland.com. Michael Kelly’s second book, Tales from the Home Farm, is published next month by O’Brien Press