Monday 27 July 2009

Bia Linn

FADA held the grand opening of our community garden last Saturday, and everything went well. I had done a radio show, press releases and a lot of phone calls to spread the word about this, and I think it paid off – crowds of people came, our network of interested people increased, and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Local poet Des Egan unveiled the wooden sign saying “Bia Linn” (“Our Food”), hand-carved by one of our members. One of our members, a mushroom farmer, gave a presentation on growing your own mushrooms, while another, a nun who has worked in Africa, spoke about Fair Trade. Still another spoke about edible flowers, and I spoke about permaculture. Photographers came from the local newspapers, and The Girl got her picture in the paper.

I was especially pleased with The Girl – as soon as other children started arriving, she led them around the garden in a hand-held chain, telling them, “These are peas – I’ll show you how to take them out of the pods. These are tomatoes – don’t eat the leaves.”

Finally, two musicians set up in the middle of the garden and began playing a mix of traditional and modern folk music and couples danced in the middle of the garden. Picture a young woman singing an Irish-sounding version of Tracy Chapman’s “Talkin’ About a Revolution,” surrounded by greenery, as children laughed and chased each other between the garden beds. That was our day, and it was good.

3 comments:

Ronald Langereis said...

Sounds idyllic, Brian.
Are you sure you describe an event in western Ireland, and not in the northern Peloponnese? You've been invoking an image of Arcadia, it seems.

Adele said...

I am convinced that we could end all the foolishness upon the planet by everyone joining together to throw beautiful and delicious garden parties across the globe! Thank you for bringing us all one step closer to that. And three cheers for the budding docent!

Anonymous said...

congratulations Brian! Best wishes for a great harvest. What a wonderful event.

Cecelia