The Network Gathering - What happened?

This weekend we held out annual Network Gathering in Cloughjordan Ecovillage, County Tipperary.  Fifteen young Irish environmental activists got together and spent the weekend discussing all things Food & Farming! We we lucky enough to hear from some fantastic speakers including Mark Boyle "The Moneyless Man"  and even got a guided tour of the Ecovillage by one of its founders. 

The event began Friday afternoon as participants arrived to Django's Hostel, Cloughjordan. Everyone got to know each other over an outdoor community meal, pilled with dishes brought from the surrounding houses and made by community members. We had activists from every part of the country and the group mixed beautifully, chatting over dinner about their backgrounds and their first impressions of this uniquely welcoming community. Of course it wouldn't be a YoungFoE event without a few ice-breakers, Jack became a Jabberwacky, and before long before the group of strangers were sipping pints in a cosy local and discussing all things Food & Farming.

Getting to know eachother.

Saturday's program took place in the Parish Hall and kicked off with a talk from Mary Mantaut from The Federation of Irish Beekeepers Association. Who knew the life span of a bee could be so interesting! We can't wait to do some work raising awareness of the crucial role bees play in our eco-system and our society. Check out http://www.irishbeekeeping.ie/ to learn more about these fascinating insects.

Following Mary our own Food & Farming Working Group ran  a workshop on Food Waste. The session was as interactive as they get and they even had us running around the room. Some very big questions were asked and the participants all gave different answers, a great testament to the complexity of food waste as an issue and of the solutions to the problem.

Jack Mc Carthy of the Food & Farming Working Group

The last session of the morning was filled with Stella Coffey, an Irish GM expert and activist known far and wide for her passion and campaign  against GM foods in Ireland. She talked to us about the international systems that have led to and maintain the production and sale of GM foods and how best to take a stand against the system. We learned about the Irish GM potato trials and we are not pleased, so keep an eye out on our Facebook for information on what we plan to do about it https://www.facebook.com/youngfriendsoftheearthireland?ref=tn_tnmn.

Stella Coffey talking to us about GM systems in Ireland

Back to the hostel for lunch which was provided by Barry at Low Carbon Catering - an extraordinary company which sources the vast majority of its ingredients from the Cloughjordan Community Farm and tries to show new and interesting ways of using traditional Irish vegetables and other "old fashioned" produce and cooks in a way which has the lowest possible impact on the environment. Not a single scrap was left all weekend.

After lunch we headed back down to the hall where we held our panel session. The panel comprised Fergal Anderson and Emmanuela Russo of Future Farmers, Michael O'Brien from Trocaire and Bruce Darrell from Cloughjordan Ecovillage and Cloughjordan Community Farm. The discussion was centered on the idea of Food Sovereignty in the Irish context and specifically what that means for both the Irish producer and the Irish consumer. After the speakers made their points the participants were split into groups of three or four and asked to design an educational campaign focusing on one specific issues raised in the discussion. Each group then presented their campaign  ideas including a SWOT Analysis of the plan. This portion of the day was possibly the most productive and you could see  the creative juices flowing as metaphorical light bulbs lit the room! Having heard some of the ideas put forward we are really excited about the YoungFoE Food & Farming Working Group and all of the wonderful things they'll be doing this year.

Sinead, Olivia and Catherine getting ready to present their groups campaign idea.

Maria Jacob of the Food & Farming Working Group

But the learning didn't stop after the panel discussion finished. The group shared more of Barry's delicious culinary delights with the entire community that evening and hashed out many of the issues raised over the day with community members. The discussion was brought inside as the group moved in for a workshop led by Mark Boyle on the idea of Community. Mark's two books " The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living" and "The Moneyless Manifesto" have been a roaring success and  we were all thrilled to hear him speak so elequently on the importance of community today. If you're interested in what Mark has to say check out his website http://www.moneylessmanifesto.org/. The night came to a close in the house of one of the founders of the ecovillage with beautiful trad music and singing. It was idyllic.

On Sunday morning Bruce Darrell was kind enough to take us all on a two hour tour of the ecovillage and the Research Education Development (RED) gardens. He explained the Cloughjordan model and how it works on a practical basis. The village was set up by a group of like minded people who decided that they wanted to live in a low-impact community, a community that was as self-sufficient and as resilient as possible. They bought the site in Cloughjordan and divided it into three sections - one for buildings and homes, one for farming, and one for woodlands. The Community Farm, Bruce explained, is owned by its members who pay a small weekly or monthly subscription. Farmers work the land and harvest the produce and then deliver it to a building within the community a few times a week. Members are free to come and go from this building and pick up whatever they like, including fresh milk delivered three times daily. He did say that the Farm has had it's challenges, but as a model it's working well. We really were amazed when we walked into a room full of the freshest veg some of us had ever seen and while Bruce talked us through it all members were popping in an out to grab a bag of the gorgeous veg. We finished up out tour in Bruce's home which he built in the heart of the Ecovillage. He talked to us about the building process which he did along with the help of a neighbor, and the incredibly efficient eco-friendly insulation system which keeps his house at a cosy 20 degress all day long. For more information on Bruce's RED Gardens check out www.redgardens.org or for information on Cloughjordan Community Farm see http://www.cloughjordancommunityfarm.ie/.

After Bruce's tour we all gathered together in the hostel to discuss what we thought of the weekend as a whole, and how YoungFoE should use all of this new information in a productive way. The Food & Farming Working Group had some really exciting ideas and will be making some big announcements very soon. This weekend was just what they needed to find inspiration and motivation in the work, the lives and the minds of the people of Cloughjordan Ecovillage.

We are very grateful  and owe much thanks to the community of Cloughjordan Ecovillage, our guest speakers and to all of the participants for their generosity of time and spirit and for making the whole weekend so worthwhile.

Sarah

Many thanks to the Youth in Action Programme for supporting this event.