It’s been a while since Paul ‘The Mulcher’ Blaker from Nottingham paid us a visit. He’s over now though and in between walking our dog around town with a piece of blue rope tied to its collar and making friends with people in Rodden’s bar, he’s helping me to collect some hazel rods from the wood. In the past Paul has come over in his car, which freed him up to bring over his trusty machete to hack through the undergrowth. As he flew over this year he is a bit restricted with what he can put on the plane and machetes are probably quite high on the list of no-no’s up with small hand guns, gloopy liquids and jars of white powder.
So here we are in the woods. I have blown the dust off of the chainsaw and we are starting to saw through a few small upright stems. The chainsaw blade is blunt though and only scorches the wood instead of cutting through it like butter (a phrase often used in lumberjacking apparently)- I’ll have to make a trip to the Co-Op for a new blade later, but in the mean time it’s back to basics with the bow saw and a pair of loppers. We are cutting hazel rods for the peas and beans and the handtools are ideal. The hazel we have in the wood were probably planted as ‘Pioneer species’ as they would have offered protection for the native oak trees that are also growing. The oaks live a lot longer and would thrive in the protected environment. Hazel was planted mainly for basket making, wattle hurdles for fencing, broomstick handles and shelter for livestock as well as for oak shelter.
In no time at all Paul and I have enough poles for the vegetable plot. It doesn’t take long to make a big hole in the canopy of dense woodland; letting in the light and allowing the under storey a chance to grow increasing the grasses and air flow. Paul thinks we might even get Black Caps and Nightingales coming for a visit to feast on the increased numbers of insect. Cowslips and primroses could grow happily with the bluebells.
It’s great to be working with someone in the woods. There’s the health and safety issue for a start, especially when using a chainsaw. The dogs are company but not exactly Lassie when it comes to raising the alarm if anything went wrong. They would probably try to go through my pockets for biscuits if I fell on the ground. The other reason for working together is the company, having the craic and gleaning new snippets of knowledge. I start to tell Paul about all the local initiatives there are in Inishowen to help get people growing their own. With the recession, rising fuel costs (that’s another reason for chopping the wood) and the new GM crops that are coming our way agreed by the outgoing Minister for Agriculture when the news was busy with the election campaign, there’s never been a better time to get together and grow.
Let’s see what’s happening locally (apologies if I missed any group out, have a rant on my blog if you like)
Moville Community Garden
Councillor Martin Farren turned the first sod last year in the Moville Community Garden. Community chef Brian McDermott set up the scheme on land between St Finian’s Park, O’Gara Villas and Foyleview housing estates in the town. It now has 23 raised beds and counting.
Amma
The GreenFriends community garden projects, which started near Enniskeane, Co. Cork for unemployed people, is part of an international movement to teach people to become more self-sufficient. A spin off of this is ‘GetGrowing’. Locally Get Growing kicked off at the Amma Centre in Clonmany recently with a Teacher Training course with 20 enthusiastic participants. The idea is to have a group of trainers who can set up small groups of budding gardeners in their own areas. The participants from these groups will visit each other’s gardens and help set up their vegetable plots. By working this way every member will have their own vegetable patch and a shared knowledge of how to grow successfully and know that there are people on hand to help with advice when needed.
GIY
GIY (Grow It Youself) set up locally a few months ago and is based in Harry’s Bar in Bridgend. The scheme aims to inspire people to grow their own food and give them the skills they need to do so successfully. There’s an online presence too for questions and answers.
Crana Allotments
Established recently on the outskirts of Buncrana, Crana Allotments are setting up both indoor and outdoor facilities so there’s no excuse to shy away from veggie growing. The site has a large mushroom tunnel converted to clear plastic, housing a multitude of raised beds filled with good quality soil. There will be similar plots outside too and gardeners can rent both sites for an annual fee. There is a canteen and they are hoping to start a farm shop selling organic vegetables.
Crana College
Crana College will be setting up a vegetable growing course for the second year. Last year’s was a roaring success.
Gardening Clubs
For years the local gardening clubs have been quietly working away keeping the spirits of growing alive and well. Their memberships are growing annually in both Carndonagh and Buncrana and attract the best of growers from around the country to give talks on topical issues.
Housing estates
Housing estates around the peninsula are beginning to make use of the plots of land near them where developers couldn’t build houses. An estate in Carndonagh has set up a community garden scheme that brings the neighbours together in a healthy outdoor kind of way.
Inish own
These are only some of the projects on the go in Inishowen. They are all making great leaps forward at producing locally grown produce and heading towards a more sustainable larger community around the peninsula. All of the groups setting up will hopefully get together at some stage to learn from each other.
Everything is done one small step at a time, like caring for this woodland. I have a new chainsaw blade from the Co-op so it’s time for Paul and me to cut some firewood to keep the heating bills down.
