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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Dig in with the neighbours
  • Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:52:18 -0700



Dig in with the neighbours
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2009/0318/1224242994067.html

Wed, Mar 18, 2009

A once-derelict patch of earth in Dublin has been transformed into a
community garden where, alongside the peas, herbs and passion fruit, the
neighbourhood spirit has been blossoming, writes GRACE WYNNE-JONES .

KAETHE BURT-O’DEA is glad she doesn’t have her own garden. Digging,
planting and weeding with her neighbours in a community garden is much more
fun, she says. Originally from New York she founded the Sitric Compost
Community Garden in Stoneybatter in Dublin four years ago, turning a once
derelict patch of land into an urban oasis.

Burt-O’Dea says cultivating this tiny patch of ground has made a huge
impact and has helped create a sense of community. Locals gather at the
garden on the first Sunday of each month for convivial cultivation, and
they also share tea and cake.

“It gets you out meeting people and initiates all sorts of exchanges that
wouldn’t happen any other way,” she says.

Many houses in the Stoneybatter area have small concrete yards, making the
garden even more cherished. Two parties are held in the neighbourhood every
year, attracting more than 200 people. Young, old and babies attend, and
there is even a fancy dress parade for dogs. Sofas and chairs are brought
outside and sometimes films are projected onto a wall. Locals bring along
food and the garden itself provides some of the fare.

“At the summer parties we serve Sitric Salad and at the autumn parties we
have Sitric Soup,” Burt-O’Dea says. “There is a DJ, live music,
backgammon and chess, chalk drawing, face-painting and hula-hoop contests
for the kids. This year we hope to add a flea market.”

Burt-O’Dea describes herself as a “born ecologist” and says the
garden has allowed her physically to demonstrate what she believes in.
She’s firmly convinced that our cities need more sociable “common
ground” where locals can gather and “reconnect”.

A youthful 59 years old, she married an Irish man and has lived in Ireland
since 1976, and in Stoneybatter for the past 20 years. Her home contains a
table made out of recycled bicycles and she and her 15-year-old daughter
throw out only a handful of waste a week. The compost they produce goes to
the garden.

THE PROJECT STARTED OFF very simply in early 2005 when Burt-O’Dea and
some neighbours began to compost their kitchen waste. None of them had
gardens and they wanted to put their compost to good use. So they started
to grow vegetables on a strip of derelict land at the end of Sitric Road.
They also added two large compost bins to the site and put up a sign that
said “Compost Here”.

A small conservation grant from Vodafone helped them to transform what had
been an eyesore into an intriguing amenity. “People walking by asked
‘Who is paying you to do this?’ and I’d say I am doing it for
pleasure and it is not my garden it is our garden,” Burt-O’Dea recalls.

In 2008 the garden won second prize for waste management from Dublin City
Council in the Dublin City Neighbourhoods Competition. Burt-O’Dea says
that now the garden is established passers-by ask: “How do you divide up
what you grow?” She tells them: “Anybody can help themselves. We try to
grow things that as many people as possible can use.”

This includes “an exotic selection of salad greens”, tomatoes,
cucumber, broccoli and kale, strawberries, passion fruit and 60 types of
herbs. The garden was recently extended when a neighbour offered an
adjoining piece of land. Burt-O’Dea wonders how she and her fellow
gardeners can share what they have learned with other communities. “There
are lots of people on the dole who would love to do what I am doing,” she
says.

Burt-O’Dea was one of the founders of the Dublin Food Growing Network
(www.dublinfoodgrowing.org), which is developing a map of Dublin-based
food-growing projects. Many community gardens are now springing up around
the country. “It’s a mushrooming area,” she smiles.

Burt-O’Dea’s interest in the social side of sustainability is
professional as well as personal. She has a master’s in advanced
environmental and energy studies and currently works as an independent
consultant in health care design research. “The really important benefits
that come from the garden are social. Being a member of a group is as
important to your health as proper nutrition, and both can be satisfied by
the garden,” she says, adding that local people should have a greater
involvement in urban design. She hopes there will be more Government
support for local initiatives and that five per cent of Dublin will be
“re-greened”.

BURT-O’DEA AND HER neighbours recently created another amenity called the
Benchmark. Located in a recess in a wall on Sitric Road it contains two
iron-mesh cages made by local craftsmen. These “vertical gardens”
contain climbing fruit plants and herbs and hold up a bench. She and some
other green-fingered locals now hope to create “a small park where Sitric
Road connects with Arbour Hill”. A feasibility study for this is already
under way.

“I challenge myself to live my beliefs. I have always done what I do out
of sheer pleasure,” Burt-O’Dea explains. She wears second-hand clothes,
shares a car with a friend and buys her food at local shops.

A separated mother of four, she has also worked as an organic farmer, cook,
market gardener, and design consultant. When she lived in Ballyvaughan, Co
Clare, she bred and trained hunting horses and made “wearable art”
which she sold from her workshop and to galleries in New York.

Her mother is an 85-year-old photographer and her father, in his early 90s,
is a sculptor. He recently completed a commission for Stansted Airport in
Essex. Burt-O’Dea says that deep down she, too, is still an artist.
“Essentially, we are adaptable creatures who must be engaged in a process
of constructive interaction with our environment to remain healthy and feel
alive,” she concludes. And she certainly practises what she preaches.

Convivial cultivation: Sowing the seeds of a new community project

Community gardens are springing up around the country. If you want to start
one, here are some tips from expert Andy Hallewell of the Organic Centre in
Leitrim.

- Find a location for your garden. The grounds of your local community
centre, school, HSE facility or parish buildings may contain a suitable
patch. Your local council may be able to identify derelict land. And sites
are sometimes provided in private gardens.

- Don’t let lack of soil put you off. At Sligo Folk Park a community
garden was established on top of an old car park using raised wooden beds
and imported topsoil.

- Consider the potential for vandalism and possible solutions: installing a
security fence is expensive; getting local young people involved is more
sustainable.

- All gardens need to be covered by public liability insurance.

- Consider hiring a professional gardener to help get the garden

established and to train in gardening novices. A self-taught local expert
could provide the same advice.

- Collect hand tools from among fellow gardeners to save money.

- Find some form of added fertility, preferably well-rotted farmyard
manure.

- Buy a small polytunnel for growing salads and tomatoes.

- The Organic Centre in Leitrim has developed a how-to guide to setting up
a community garden. The guide can be downloaded for free from:
www.theorganiccentre. ie/files/growing_in_ confidence.pdf.

The centre also runs a course entitled How to Become a Community Gardener.

See the Irish Community Gardening website at
www.irishcommunitygardening.org.







  • [Livingontheland] Dig in with the neighbours, Tradingpost, 03/18/2009

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