Interested in growing your own food this year? GIY Week (March 12th to 19th) is the moment you have been waiting for! GIY is a not-for-profit organisation which started in Ireland, that aims to make home-grown food the norm – during GIY Week the organisation is trying to encourage people that have never grown anything at all to sow a seed for the first time. Whether you would like to be self-sufficient or just want to grow some herbs and salads on a windowsill, GIY wants you get growing!
GIY Week 2011 is timed to coincide with the start of the 2011 growing season – GIY groups around Ireland will be hosting events, demos and meitheals to provide would-be GIYers with the skills that they need to grow their own successfully. On Facebook, GIY plans to get over 100,000 people to take a pledge to grow something they can eat (www.facebook.com/giyireland).
To mark GIY Week, GIY patrons such as Clodagh McKenna, Ella McSweeney, Klaus Laitenberger and Joy Larkcom are all hosting events. There will be expert web-chats each evening on the GIY website; a “meitheal Mor” in Seven Oaks Community Garden in Dublin; yoga for GIYers in Darthmouth Sq in Dublin; new GIY group launches in Offaly, Drumcondra, Leitrim and Donegal (including the first off-shore GIY group at Árainn Mhór). GIY will also be at the Inish Food Event in Donegal (organised by the Irish Food Bloggers and Harry’s Restaurant supremo Donal Doherty) and the Potato Day in The Organic Centre, Rossinver, Leitrim.
There will also be visits to some of Ireland’s most inspiring vegetable gardens, including Mount Congrieve in Waterford and the OPW’s Victorian Walled Garden in the Phoenix Park. Local GIY groups will also be working with schools around Ireland to support them as part of the Incredible Edibles programme.
