News & Events

This is an innovative Pilot summer camp, aimed at girls participation,  subsidised by ourselves and supported by the FAI and Bens Surf Clinic.

View as PDF please click here Surf n Turf flyer

Just a little update about events in July -
a presentation in Donegal and another workshop day, in north Leitrim,
plus details of the ‘Grow Food, Make Shelter’ course in the attachment.
(The venue is featured in Alanna Moore’s latest book ‘Sensitive Permaculture’).

View as PDF click here  GROW FOOD MAKE SHELTER

Please tell your friends about these events to help make them happen. We won’t be back in Ireland for 2 years or so.

Enjoy the beautiful summer!

Alanna Moore
www.permacultureireland.ie

Welcome to ecó creations,

Ireland’s first ethical textile design company.

We design and produce outstanding organic fabrics for furnishings and interior decoration.

We are delighted to announce that 2010 is also the start of oursustainable interior decoration service and we will give you plenty of tips and advice on how to green your home in style.

http://www.ecocreations.ie/

A programme of workshops and talks will soon be online and in the meantime, you are more than welcome to follow us on our blogs.

Many thanks to the Irish Seed Savers association who have accepted to take 1 euro donation for every item you will buy.

Enjoy the discovery of our new website!

Kerry Earth Education Project (K.E.E.P) at Gortbrack Organic Farm, was formed in 2000. KEEP is an environmental education company that works directly with schools, community groups and special needs groups in the development of sustainable ongoing organic garden and native habitat projects.

http://www.gortbrackorganicfarm.com/

Here are just a few of the letters we recieved <!–more–>

From Áibhe

From Henrica

From Rachel and Amy

From Uon

Early in spring this year we received an unusual phone call. Michael Miklis informed us that in the sugar factory in Mallow, Co. Cork lots of precious and unique seed processing equipment and machines where about to be dumped. The building in which they were housed would be dismantled and sold. We had to do something and do it quickly.

Peter and myself drove down to Mallow with the Seed Savers van one morning joining Michael and the lads from the Biodynamic Association in this rather unusual rescue operation.

It was quite an impressive sight to witness the butchering of a huge set-up that had provided a whole nation with sugar and other by-products for decades. All this was happening only because some bureaucrats sitting in an office in Brussels had decided that Ireland wasn’t competitive enough to grow and process sugar beet. Now, a few years after the factory’s gates were shut for good, the sugar beet is missed as a crop by farmers, both for its good returns and for its irreplaceable role in the crop rotation plan.

What most or the public would ignore though is that in the sugar factory not only sugar was being produced. Sugar beet seed was indeed a very important part of the whole industry; Ireland had its own sugar beet breeding program and sugar beet seed production line. Sugar beet breeding happened in Ireland whilst bulk seed production was mainly carried out in France where the climate was more conducive for this purpose. The seed was then sent back to the factory where it was cleaned, sorted, blended and finally pelleted and packed.

The head of the sugar beet seed operation at the time was Dermot Grogan, thanks to him we managed to rescue some very useful seed processing machines that we soon hope to bring back to life again in our new seed facility. Dermot accepted very kindly our invitation to give a talk about this very interesting and pretty much unknown story on the occasion of our Apple Day. Here follows, in Dermot’s own words, a brief history of the sugar beet in Ireland. Thanks Dermot!

Note from Jo:

We also saved bags of seed from the factory but do not really have space to grow it here at Capparoe. Anyone interested in trialling some of this beet seed, or even better growing some to save seed, please get in touch with myself or Peter by email or letter.

The author started a compost making business after studying nature as he grew up on a farm. Observing natural systems at work maintaining soil fertility without any inputs, he started to make his own compost that gained a reputation for quality and eventually had to give up his job to make compost full time.

The book opens by asking us to observe natural systems at work, in meadows and woodlands life is abundant. Also so is death, the natural cycle depositing what dies (leaves, twigs, bodies) where it falls. Every spring life emerges anew, nourished by the composted materials. The microbes in the soil transform death into life, so to speak.  Contrast that with the modern agricultural systems that add fertilisers to the soil and remove the harvests the waste products of which end up in holes, burnt or in the water. Then the soil requires even more additions to grow the next crop. Modern fertilisers are a product of nitrogen extracted from the air and compressed; they also lack carbon to fuel the microbes necessary to process the NPK.  Nature has her own ways of fixing nitrogen, plants that have nitrogen fixing nodules on their roots and microbes that live in the soil too. This book shows the natural mimicry that creates fertility in the soil through composting dead materials and adding it back to the soil thus improving not only fertility but also disease resistance. Nature “wastes” nothing, everything goes back to the soil.

Malcolm’s operation is in Austin Texas, a dry and hot climate, very different from Irish conditions, yet what he says is equally as important for growing food.  First build and maintain soil organic content, i.e.: humus, and beneficial microbial life. Next, keep the mineral balance in the soil. Choosing suitable plant types for the geographical location and soil type is important too.

Much of the artificial fertilisers are leached through the soil as the microbes cannot absorb it, and end up in our ground water, as is happening to Irish rivers and lakes. The fertilisers, and chemical sprays needed to protect the weak crops reduce soil microbes significantly, so the vicious cycle continues. The Organic farming movement has seen a large growth in the last decade, as farmers see increased yield and profits from not having to spray as much pesticides and insecticides because the soil is kept healthy. It is important to note that without inputs soil cannot support harvest indefinitely. Adding compost, minerals in rock dust forms and growing green manures maintains the fertility.

Compost basics are the blending of nitrogen and carbon, moisture and air within the pile, and patience to let the microbes do their work.  Carbon is the building block of nature, and has a relationship with fungi (the mushrooms picked in the forest) whereas nitrogen has a relationship with bacteria. Grass cuttings are a common problem for composters; it has a high N level but must be mixed within hours of cutting to avoid the stinky rotting smell.  Worms are the acid test of a good compost pile. When they are abundant the pile is working, they are eating the smaller creatures and increasing mineral content. Tests have shown much higher levels of minerals in the castings than in the soil around them.

Natural systems simply lay down layers of plant and animal matter on the ground as a rich mulch, for example an old growth forest lays down 5,000kg per acre annually! Nature doesn’t have trucks and tractors as we do – she works locally. Applying this to compost-making means looking for materials as close to hand as possible, leaf mulch from under trees (full of microrhyzomes), and grass cuttings from your garden, sawdust from the workshop or cardboard from the local shop.

At Seedsavers we use compost to enrich the soil for our seed crops and around the apple trees to keep them healthy. Learning from books like this and experimenting is vital to learning how to compost. Malcolm shares this wise kernel though: whatever you do, it will compost eventually!

If you think it’s about tying your legs in knots or chanting unutterable mantras you’re way off the mark! It’s about seeds, community and survival strategies.

Last year I had the privilege of spending some time at Basudha farm in West Bengal, the northwestern Indian state bordering Bangladesh.  The farm is situated 3 hours train journey and a couple of hours bumpy bus ride from Kolkata.  Once you get into Beliatore town, Ashish (the trusted local taxi driver) will take you the rest of the 5km dusty pothole riddled track to destination.

As you approach Bankura district you begin to appreciate just how rural and luxuriantly forested this region is.  Alongside the road a vibrant patchwork of vegetable cultivations in quarter to half acre plots alternate with villages built in the traditional adobe style (mud walls), ponds teeming with human and animal life and ancient votive shrines.

Basudha (‘Earth Mother’ in Bangla) is a research centre for the conservation of indigenous rice varieties.  A range of over 40 traditional vegetables, oil seeds and herbs such as chilli, aubergine, mustard, onion, okra, red carrot, cauliflower, spinach, coriander, ginger, turmeric, tomato, legumes and many more are also cultivated.   Myself and Mel, my travelling companion, spent long dreamy hours in the shade of the large Sal tree (Shorea Robusta the Bengali answer to the oak in its capacity to support life) weeding and hoeing and manuring under the supervision of Kukur the black farm mongrel and the curious gaze of the many visitors.  The farm gates so to speak are always open and anyone in need of using the farm well, or advice on crops, can drop in at any time for a chat or simply to a have a look.  The farm is run by Dr. Debal Deb, a scientist, ecologist, and activist. He is a blow-in to the area, who has purposely chosen not to fence the farm to inspire a feeling of trust and communal ownership amongst the villagers and in so doing has won the love and respect of the wider community.

An arboretum of native medicinal and fruit trees all individually tagged in Bangla, Hindi and Latin has been planted to provide shade, nutrition and educational sessions. The farm is in fact the head quarters of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies directly involved in empowering the local community by running free workshops and initiatives aimed at learning about all that lives and grows on the land and preserving its health.  A project is currently running, involving more than 10 of the surrounding villages, in which a task force of adults and children in each team is engaged in compiling a comprehensive record of all insect, bird, fish, mammal and plant life in their area noting local name, function in the environment, use to humans and traditional value i.e. use in Ayurvedic medicine.  The result will be published in a book.  This is the people’s strategy to protect their future from depredation by the devious intellectual property rights lobby.    And what a great learning process for the young ones involved!

Debal Deb travels indefatigably the length and breath of the north western states educating farmers on the importance of preserving traditional crops and growing techniques as well as warning them against the dangers of GMO’s while trawling for varieties of rice or vegetable to collect.  He also regularly hosts lectures at the farm on subjects as diverse as astronomy, art, botany, literature, and renewable resources.

The farm itself is a living example of green building and sustainability using ideas like multi-cropping to enhance plant health, growing crops that survive extremes of soil moisture, healthy soil to retain moisture, harvesting morning dew in drip bottles and buildings made from traditional mud-brick.

Last but not least local cultural heritage, in the form of traditional sports, music, poetry, crafts and games is being revived and celebrated and every year a special 3-day equinox festival is dedicated to it.  During the festival archery, women’s traditional water pitcher races, stilt races and ancient Baul songs (traditional songs of a philosophical nature) are just some of the traditions that the local youth have learned to appreciate versus Bollywood movies and cricket.

Professor Debal Deb is the driving force behind this extraordinary hub of gentle but powerful grassroots reclamation of land, identity and food security. In 2002 he has established Vrihi (rice in Sanskrit) a seed exchange in the nearby town of Beliatore which is accessible to a greater number of farmers than Basudha.

In the space of just 7 years, starting with a meagre 0.7 acres, Deb and his team have managed to collect over 560 Indian rice varieties.  They now rent a few acres surrounding the farm to accommodate all the cultivations. As I was staying at the farm Deb came back exultant from a New Year foray into Bangladesh where he gave workshops on organic growing and helped local farmers establish their own rice seed exchange.  His elation was especially owing to having managed to locate and retrieve a 20 variety strong instalment for the collection. A number of these rice strains possess the unique and utterly life saving genetic characteristic of resistance to salinity.  One can appreciate how, far from the empty promise of High Yield green revolution varieties, such strains would mean the difference between life and death in geographical areas prone to the recurring and devastating incursions of the Bay of Bengal seawater.  These varieties are now safe in both Beliatore and the Bangladeshi seed bank.

Every June as the monsoon rains soften and moisten the earth the land is ploughed by ox and cart and 2×2 meter plots are planted with the tender rice saplings. Each and every one of the varieties in the collection is grown every year after careful anti cross-pollination planting distances have been worked out.

All work is carried out manually or with the ox.  After the floods of summer (on which young rice plants thrive) growth is completed during the October dry spell.

Come November the first varieties are ready for harvest which runs through to the end of December.  I managed to catch the tail end of it and joined in with sickle in hand for a couple of days cutting and gathering the tall sheaves (some a good 5-6 foot while others only but 3 or 4 depending on varietal behaviour).  Only the best panicles (the ears of the rice) are selected from the very heart of the plots to ensure the purity of next year’s stock and then are subjected to scientific scrutiny for the recording of data.  We helped with the mammoth task of assessing productivity and fertility of the varieties which involved counting and recording viable and infertile seeds on the selected panicles.  That freed Dulal the farm manager so he could concentrate on the myriad of other important jobs. The rest of the crop is harvested and stacked in huge 3 metre tall 6 metre wide round stacks awaiting threshing and providing an unorthodox warm bed for Kukur during cold December nights.

All activities of the Trust are funded by the founder’s contributions and donations from friends. To find out more: www.cintdis.org or google basudha.

This article was sent in by a supporter of Irish Seed Savers Assoc. we would like you to note, that views expressed in articles are not necessarily the views of ISSA.

Everyone has a right to free speech, still,  thank goodness.