GROWING YOUR OWN:Self-sufficiency doesn't have to be a solo pursuit. Local growers' networks are providing support, and a ready and willing workforce, writes MICHAEL KELLY.
Ar mo ghabáil dom siar chun Droichead Uí Mhórdha
Píce i m’ dhóid is mé ag dul i meitheal
Cé chasfaí orm i gcumar ceoidh
Ach pocán crón is é ar buile.
As I set out with me pike in hand
To old Dromore to join a meitheal
Who should I meet but a tan puck goat
And he’s roaring mad.
From An Poc ar Buile
GROWING YOUR OWN veg, or trying to be in any way self-sufficient is a solitary pursuit most of the time, which is why it’s called “self”-sufficiency, I suppose.
Standing in my veggie patch contemplating a freaky rust on my celery or some other growing calamity, I find myself pondering how sweet life must be for people who have allotments. Imagine how handy it would be to pop your head over the fence and get advice from the grower in the adjacent plot?
Spurred on by my isolation, I went looking for a local group of like-minded people from whom I could pilfer little nuggets of wisdom and perhaps even exchange the odd bit of produce, if I had a glut. Most of all though I was looking to be part of something.
The Waterford Food Producer’s Network is just such a group – a collection of old hands and hackers like me who meet on a monthly basis to hear a talk on some aspect of growing/rearing and to exchange tips, suggestions, war-stories and produce.
The group was established last summer and organisers were stunned when nearly 100 people showed up at the city library for the first meeting. It has already proven itself to be a hot bed of ideas, and one of the best in my opinion is the growers' meitheal.
The word meithealdescribes the old Irish tradition where people in rural communities gathered together on a neighbour's farm to help save the hay or harvest crops. Each person would help their neighbour, who would in turn reciprocate. As well as getting time-sensitive jobs completed in a hurry, the meithealalso built up strong friendships among those involved.
Modern life can be lonely at times, whether you are living in the depths of the countryside or in the middle of a 500-house estate, which is why the sense of a community which a meithealimplies is so appealing.
The plan for meithealswithin the Food Producer's Network is to put together small groups of people who meet regularly in one another's gardens or vegetable plots to accomplish a particular job of work and at the same time foster some community spirit.
Each meithealcontains five or six people and members pick some task for their garden, so that when it's their turn they have some interesting work for the people to get stuck in to. It could be sowing, planting, double-digging, rotivating, or making raised beds.
While the Food Producer's Network isn't prescriptive about what work should be done, it has highlighted that it's probably not a good idea to work fellow meitheal-members into an early grave. It is also important to have a growing/rearing theme – random chores that you've been neglecting for years such as cleaning out a blocked drain or filling a skip, have no place in a meitheal. Sometimes, it must be said, the focus seems to be on chatting and eating, rather than doing a whole lot of work.
Recently, on a beautiful spring morning, it was my turn to benefit from meitheallargesse. There's something incredibly heartening about a gang of people showing up on a Saturday morning to work on your vegetable garden. It's like being love-bombed – you just can't help feeling good about yourself. A special honorary mention must be given to the meitheal-member who arrived on his bicycle with his spade tied to the cross-bar and a plate of lovely apple and cinnamon sponge slices in his saddle bag.
I decided a good job would be to clear one of my long, raised beds of remaining crops (a few) and weeds (a lot) and to sow some potatoes. The meithealmade short work of it and within an hour they were looking for something else to do. While we worked, people were exchanging growing stories and talking about what works and what doesn't in their own gardens. All very valuable stuff for the novice grower.
After that we broke for some Waterford blaas and sausages cooked up on the barbecue. The sausages were from our own pigs and we opened a jar of precious, green tomato chutney especially for the occasion. The smell of cooking bangers was irresistible in the morning air.
Next up we moved on to the remains of a large pile of well-rotted manure which I got from a local farmer last winter to fertilise my soil. I spent an entirely mucky weekend back in November moving about 70 per cent of the manure and I was leaving the remaining 30 per cent on the long finger (hoping that if I ignored it, it might rot into oblivion).
No problem to the meitheal– wheelbarrow loads of manure were dispatched around the garden in double-quick time. As meitheal chores go, it can't get much worse than shovelling manure. We finished by 3pm and all hands departed, tired but much the happier for their endeavours. Whether it was the fresh air, the company, the sense of companionship or perhaps just the fumes from the manure – I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.
ADVANCE WARNING:
On Saturday, September 12th, Waterford will host the inaugural National Food Producer’s Network conference, which will try to establish Food Producer’s Networks in every county in Ireland. Details will be posted in due course at www.wfpn.net.