Local Food Production Day

At: An Sanctoir, Ballydehob

On: Saturday 3rd October – 11am To 5pm

Free Event – Donations Warmly Accepted organised by Ballydehob Food Group.

Inspiring And Informative Talks

• Apple Display By Woodkerne Nurseries Including 40+ Native Varieties With Ongoing Apple Pressing And Tasting Throughout The Day Woodkernenurseries@Gmail.Com
• Edible Nut Display
• Basket Making
• Chickens, Chicken Coops And Poultry Care
• Stalls
• Competitions
• Face Painting
• Raffle
• Home And Farm Produce
• On-Site Chefs

Schedule of Events

11am – Local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme* – report by John Dolan on this recent venture including talk on “Remedies for Illusions and Delusions about Irish Food Security”. Also featured is Madeline McKeever of Brown Envelope Seeds (www.brownenvelopeseeds.com) who will discuss “Growing your own Staples”.

12pm – Promoting Quality Local Food – Peter Ward the well known food guru of “Country Choices” in Nenagh (www.countrychoice.ie) and seen recently on RTE’s Late Late Show will give an inspirational talk on the benefits of growing food locally.

1pm – Wise Weeds in the Vegetable Garden – with Lily de Sylva

1 – 2.30pm-Lunch – Outdoor Café featuring local seasonal food with on site chefs –and Entertainment by local musicians.

Competitions for largest sunflower, heaviest pumpkin, funniest shaped fruit or vegetable and wellie throwing.

2.30pm – Herb walk with Lily de Sylva – Wear appropriate footwear

2.30pm – Get Physical with Suzy in the garden! Community physiotherapist Suzy Keogh gives advice and guidance on posture and body technique for gardeners. Suzy (087 2574115) 3pm – Seasonal Growing Under Cover with Marian Crudge of Rossa College, Skibbereen Horticulture Course – includes making a raised bed, making a cloche outdoors, planting winter vegetables and crop rotation.

4pm – Raffle

4.10pm – Bees and Beekeeping – An update from Tim Rowe on Bees and Beekeeping this year, together with news of the Tomato Growers’ Group and the Windmill Project. For further information contact Catherine at 028 25867 or ballydehobfoodgroup@gmail.com This event is organized by the Ballydehob Food Group. We would like to thank all our sponsors.

• Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a relatively new socio-economic model of food production, sales, and distribution aimed at both reducing the financial risks for the producers and increasing the quality of food and the care given the land. It is also a method for smallscale commercial farmers and gardeners to have a successful, small -scale closed market. dunodolain@gmail.com

Growing Awareness presents our first event for 2008 The Great 2008 West Cork SEED SWAP!

Featuring:

• ‘The Future of Food’ film screening
• Guest speakers, inc. Madeline McKeever of Brown Envelope Seeds
• Discussion about biodiversity
• SEED SWAP…BRING SOME OF YOUR OWN SEEDS! (If you haven’t got any don’t worry, there’ll be local seed to buy)
• Organic Café

At Glebe Gardens, Baltimore Sunday 24th February 2-5pm

Free Entry, for more information call Clare 086 8773035 Directions: on the right just before Baltimore

(Our new leaflet of farm walks for 2008 will be available in a few weeks time.)

Growing Awareness invites you to “An Evening of Sharing”.

Click here to download a poster (Adobe pdf format)

Please pass on to those who might not have heard!

We would like to share:

• A social evening with friends and supporters
• Ideas for 2008 and beyond
• Positive visions of local food and farming for the future

Please bring to share:

• Your ideas for what we could do in the future
• Stories / poems / music
• Small prizes for a raffle on the night
• Tasty finger food

(There will be a bar with wine and soft drinks for sale.)

Thursday 29th November 2007 at 8pm

Glebe Gardens, Baltimore

(signed on the right as you arrive in Baltimore or phone 087 671 7589 for directions)

If you are unable to attend on the 29th but have suggestions or comments about the future of Growing Awareness then please get in touch and we will share your message on the night.

email: info@growingawareness.org

write to: 18 Newbridge Park, Coronea, Skibbereen. Phone: 028 23889

Growing Awareness is a food and farming group based in Skibbereen, our is to ensure that everyone has access to food grown and produced in a way that restores respect for the earth, respect for food and respect for farmers and growers.

Hear the story of Canadian Percy Schmeiser!

and his legal battle against Monsanto for the right to sow his own seeds

Wednesday, 21st June

8pm The Quality Hotel

Clonakilty

Percy Schmeiser is a farmer from Bruno, Saskatchewan, Canada whose Canola (oil seed rape) fields were contaminated with Monsanto’s Round-Up Ready Canola. Monsanto’s insisted that he must pay them a Technology Fee of $15/acre – it didn’t matter whether Schmeiser knew or not that his canola field was contaminated with the Roundup Ready gene, or whether or not he took advantage of the technology (he didn’t). The Supreme Court of Canada agreed with Schmeiser, ruling that he didn’t have to pay Monsanto anything.

“In my case, I never had anything to do with Monsanto, outside of buying chemicals. I never signed a contract. If I would go to St. Louis and contaminate their plots – destroy what they have worked on for 40 years -I think I would be put in jail and the key thrown away.”

This is a once in a lifetime chance to hear from one of the heroes of the anti-GM food movement. A social evening will follow. Everyone is welcome. Entrance is free. Donations Welcome

For more information contact Madeline McKeever 028 38184 Email: madsmckeever@eircom.net

The walk at Cornucopia on the 9th July has been cancelled.

An alternative walk will now take place at Ardnashee near Bantry on the same day (9th July 2006). Click the “Walks” link on the mneu for full details.

All the Walks and Workshops for 2006 are now on the website!

We hope you enjoy this seasons program.

Today saw the successful launch of our programme of events for 2005.

Many thanks to all who came along the the West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen. A good time was had by all and lots of useful networking took place.

Also thanks to Con Hurley for making a great presentation that filled us with inspiration and left everyone with a smile on their face after tales of hard-working bulls!

Have a look around the website now to see this years programme of events.

“And We Have the Seeds”
Monsanto Purchases World’s Largest Vegetable Seed Company

“Monsanto Company to Acquire Seminis, Inc., a Leading Vegetable and Fruit Seed Company

Acquisition Expected to Add Near-term Income Growth and Diversity to Monsanto’s Seed Portfolio

ST. LOUIS (Jan. 24, 2005) – Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) announced today that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Seminis, Inc., for $1.4 billion in cash and assumed debt… “

(From Monsanto Press Release)

Monsanto Goes Healthy?

The news of Monsanto’s agreement to purchase Seminis has received little attention from the media other than the financial pages and a few seed industry and anti-globalization web sites. But then again, why should it? How many consumers – of food or seed – have even heard of Seminis? And yet, as Seminis spinmeister Gary Koppenjan said, “If you’ve had a salad, you’ve had a Seminis product.”

__(‘Read the rest of this entry »’)

‘The end of cheap oil & the imminent decline in oil production’

Talk & discussion with Dr Colin Campbell petroleum geologist and world oil expert

8pm, Wednesday, 26th January

West Cork Hotel, Skibbereen

For more information contact: Paul McCormick, email: paulfmccormick@eircom.net. For general information on oil depletion: www.peakoil.net

__(‘Read the rest of this entry »’)

On Sunday 9th January at 4pm, we will be having a meeting to plan who will be doing what for the forthcoming year.

We all agreed at the AGM that we could do with more help, so if you fnacy getting involved with Growing Awareness in any way (no matter how small), please get in touch and we’d love you to come along to our meeting. Call Ruth on 028 23889 for more details.

Some of the things we could do with help with are:

• Advertising the Walks and Workshops – putting up or mailing posters and leaflets
• Writing relevant news articles for the website and possibly an annual newsletter
• Possible help with organising a conference in January 2006 to be held in Skibbereen
• more but I can’t think of any now!
• (Please add comments with extra things that need doing and I’ll updtae this post!)

Growing Awareness AGM 28/11/2004

Afternoon Discussion Session

The following text is taken from the flip charts written by Claire. Thanks to Eric for transcribing them.

Present:

• Jean Perry
• Sheelagh Broderick
• Ruth Bullough
• Paul McCormick
• Jacinta French
• Tom Atkins
• Eric Rhodes

__(‘Read the rest of this entry »’)

In January we had a very successful Hedge Laying course at Madeline’s farm.

Here’s a picture of the hedge we layed. (Click the picture to see full size.)

Welcome to the new website for Growing Awareness.

It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally got round to it.

Please let me know if you have any comments (you can add comments to this post by clicking the ‘comments’ link – which is probably easiest). Enjoy using it – I’m looking forward to getting lots of fascinating news and West Cork info. up on the site.

Tom xx