On Saturday 4th November 2017 a FULL MOON story telling event was held by the ‘Dark Sky Group’ in the new Skybowl Garden in the Ecovillage. We would like to thank the performers on the night: Bee Leitner, Mel White, Andrew Lummis and Nigel Quinlan who ended the story telling with a rollicking tale. Many thanks to John Flannery, our guest Astronomer, who travelled from Dublin for the event and was a font of information, technical and legendary, on our skies.. as well as donating two lovely astronomy books to the Raffle.
Special kudos to the children and young people who also read their own stories or found legends to read.. your courage and inventiveness were much appreciated and ye well deserved your prizes!! Thanks too to all the willing helpers on the night!
We look forward to the next Dark Sky gathering – to be announced here soon!
Dark Sky Group
View a selection of pictures by Eoin Campbell below;
At the Savour Kilkenny Festival, Sunday 29th October, we hosted one of the most enjoyable SpeakEATsy’s yet… Thanks to the organisers of Savour Kilkenny for adding us to the programme, to Willie and his staff at Billy Byrnes, to Costellos Brewing Co; to Johanna at Night Orchard and the girls from Market Kitchen for coordinating the meal; to the performers – Sougata Roy Chowdhury and Shariajdeep Singe al the way from India, the Cloughjordan based Maggie McEntee and the more local warbling folk wonderboys the Savage Jim Breen, and of course Mel White for her spoken word and Paul and Ollie the dastardly dapper Djs of the Boudoir Sessions; gratitude to Darren for the sound, and Ciara, Aaron, Vicky, Shay and Brid for the support on the door and serving up the dishes; to Julie, Ollie and Davie for the compelling intro to the food ecosystem of Cloughjordan Ecovillage; a big thanks for Colm and Laura for the 5 star hospitality and looking after the crew; to local voices Brian, Victor and Dee and of course everyone who came along and made it an evening to remember.
Here are a selection of Eoin Campbell’s pics from our convivial evening in Kilkenny on Sunday, click here to view
A convivial evening featuring a Night Orchard meal with Cloughjordan ingredients, slam poetry, compelling conversations, live acoustic music and DJs to finish. What more could a body and mind ask for!?!
What’s the next step for a local food culture? Can food be a tool to help communities really thrive in uncertain times? And how much fun can we have finding out?
Shared food, words and music are great ways to bring people together – SpeakEATsy is a novel take on these simple ingredients and an impulse to cultivate community. SpeakEATsy has emerged from Cloughjordan Ecovillage, an ecosystem of food innovation in the Irish midlands, where people have chosen to live work and play together.
Join hosts Dr.Oliver Moore and Davie Philip from Cloughjordan, out back in the idiosyncratic aesthetic splendor of Billy Byrnes, for an experience that is far more than the sum of its parts – food, poetry, compelling conversations and music.
SpeakEATsy includes a dedicated meal tailored to theme, with a taste of Cloughjordan and Kilkenny. This includes produce from the multi award winning Riot Rye Bakehouse & Bread School (RAI Cookery School of the Year 2017) and Ireland’s only community owned and operated farm in Cloughjordan.
Peppered throughout the evening slam poets and acoustic musicians bearing their collective hearts – including Cuirt poetry slam winner 2016 Mel White, singer-songwriter Maggie McEntee and local warbling folk wonderboys the Savage Jim Breen.
Stories and compelling conversations will take us deeper into the real essence of the meaning of food and community. We ask – how can we, collectively, through our daily food choices, commit more to our locale and the living world around us? What are the methods trialled in Cloughjordan, how do they work ,and can they be replicated elsewhere? We will hear from local food and sustainability innovators from the Cloughjordan Ecovillage including Julie Lockett of Riot Rye Bakehouse and Bread School, while all manner of food heroes will pop up throughout the night.
Then, dance the evening away to Dastardly Dapper Djs of the Boudoir Session purveying the finest gramophone groovers. That’s two parts 20s swing, one part 50s calypso and a dash of 40s boogie woogie to boot.
The good people of Cloughjordan Community farm need to rebuild their barn – or, better still, build a better one!
This unique community owned and operated farm in Cloughjordan Ecovillage is holding a fun fudraiser with a set of Get-Up-To-Get-Down DJs from the Pressure Drop and Ruaille Buaille stables!!!
DJs Will Softly and Frank Bouchier of ‘Ruaille Buaille‘ join Ollie Moore and Paul Ryan of ‘Pressure Drop‘ for what is the penultimate Dance Party ever in Club Aras na nGael!
Global Beats and Reggae Treats will abound – expect afro house, cumbia, dancehall, funk, disco, and what works to make magic feet move and groove!
Prior to the dancing, there will be a presentaiton on cloughjordan ecovillage and farm, a discussion following on from this, while chai and hot veggie food will also be available – fresh from the farm! Tickets just E5! Visit the Facebook page here
Features citizen soil scientist, David Beacher and the Cloughjordan community farm’s own Kevin Dudley.
This afternoon event is aimed at food growers, farmers and other people interested in soil and agroecology. It will introduce the GROW Observatory is an EU-wide project supporting the emergence of a citizens’ movement to share knowledge and help monitor our European soils. The salon will develop the capacity of Irish citizens to understand soil and to better steward land and includes presentations by Devyn Olson-Sawyer and Ben Whelan of the GROW Observatory and representatives of the People4Soil campaign.
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY FAIR – Féile na nÚll, Apple Festival @ Cloughjordan Ecovillage
It’s that colourful time of year, Féile na nÚll the Apple Festival and Sustainable Community Fair takes in Cloughjordan Ecovillage. From 11am there will be a Little Food Fair with stalls from Night Orchard, Wildfire Pizza, Back Lane BBQ, Lime Tree, Walnut Books and Harmony Gardens. Throughout the day there is apple pressing – bring your own apples! There is also an apple bake contest and activities for all the family. Some of the highlights are a workshop on our relationship to money, a preview of local playwright Joanna Ryan-Purcell’s(Banba Theatre) adaptation of Children of Lir on the Cloughjordan Community Amphitheatre and a presentation and guided tour of the Ecovillage.(see the full schedule below)
That evening from 7.30 there will also be a SpeakEATsy. This is a shared meal, live music, spoken word and a public conversation with professional surfer turned organic farmer Fergal Smith. Booking can be made here.
11.00 – Opening – Celebrating Sustainable Community (WeCreate)
A short introduction to the European Day for Sustainable Communities and our Féile na nÚll
11.00 – The Little Food Fair (Outside WeCreate)
On going throughout the day with delicious local food from local producers
11.00 – Apple Pressing (Outside WeCreate)
Ongoing throughout the day. Bring your apples for mashing and pressing. Up to 15kg pressed for free.
11.15 – Opening of the Apple Bake Off (WeCreate)
Contestants can leave their entries from this time until 16.00 – note there is a €2 entry fee.
11.30 – Our Relationship with Money (1.5 hour workshop in WeCreate Classroom) NEED TO PROMOTE SEPARATELY
Sustainable communities often have a different way of working with money, but how might the personal relationship we have with money now be getting in our way? In this interactive, engaging workshop, money coach, Karen McAllister, will introduce 8 money archetypes and with the help of facilitator, Chris Chapman, will explore their relevance to those of us working towards more sustainable communities and the potential for us to approach our relationship with money differently. We are inviting people to ‘pay from the heart’ for this workshop – come along and find out what that means! For more details on mindful money coaching, please see http://themindfulmoneycoach.com/
12.30 – Pony Rides (ongoing)
12.30 – Apple Identification – A tour of the orchard of heritage apples.
13.00 – Real Bread – Riot Rye Bakehouse & Bread School (WeCreate – 20mins)
13.30 – ECOLEARN – Ecovillage Presentation and Tour (WeCreate Main Space followed by a walk around the project – 1.5 hours)
15.00 – Fab Lab Tour (WeCreate 15mins)
15.00 – Composting Demonstration (Leaving from WeCreate to Compost Demo area – 30 mins)
15.30 – A performance of Children of Lir (Amphitheatre – 30 minutes – if raining in WeCreate)
This short physical theatre adaptation of the Irish classic story where four children are transformed into swans and cursed to roam the oceans for nine hundred years. This play explores separation and coming together, identity, exile, loss and transitioning.
15.45 – Cloughjordan Community Farm Walk (Leaving from the front of WeCreate)
16.00 – Apples and Local Food Culture (Amphitheatre – 30 minutes – if raining in WeCreate)
A discussion on apples as a core element in a bioregional approach to resilient communities.
17.00 – Apple Bake Off – announcing the winners (WeCreate)
Join us for the annual Feeding Ourselves gathering! We will celebrate the soil beneath our feet, the food it provides for our communities, and the agroecological farmers and growers who work the land!! 🌏🌱🌿🌏🔭🔬🌏🌱🌿🌏🔭🔬🌏 And, we’ll have ourselves a speakEATsy in the middle of it all – a community meal, poetry, music, compelling conversation!
Feeding Ourselves 2017 will feature a soil symposium – including an introduction to a fascinating new citizen science project called GROW Observatory – with dedicated sessions on community gardens, sustainable farm diversification, community supported agriculture, and the launch of the Land Workers Alliance in Ireland. We’ll highlight inspiring examples of regenerative (agri)-culture activism – from farm hack to food policy councils.
SpeakEATsy – The now infamous event where food, poetry, music and compelling conversation come together in a convivial setting.
Art Exhibit – The Spicebox of Earth – An exhibition on soil and the ecology of place by mob grazer and all-round food hero Clive Bright.
If you haven’t experienced a SpeakEATsy this is your chance. As part of Feeding Ourselves 2017 we will host the 4th convivial evening of food, art, music, poetry and dancing.
Experience a tasty and thoughtful meander into a world where music and poetry, farming and food, arts and nourishment weave together seamlessly. SpeakEATsy includes a meal, music, spoken word and a public conversation in a convivial community setting.
Join us for the annual Feeding Ourselves gathering! We will celebrate the soil beneath our feet, the food it provides for our communities, and the agroecological farmers and growers who work the land!!
And, we’ll have ourselves a speakEATsy in the middle of it all – a community meal, poetry, music, compelling conversation!
Feeding Ourselves 2017 will feature a soil symposium – including an introduction to a fascinating new citizen science project called GROW Observatory – with dedicated sessions on community gardens, sustainable farm diversification, community supported agriculture, and the launch of the Land Workers Alliance in Ireland. We’ll highlight inspiring examples of regenerative (agri)-culture activism – from farm hack to food policy councils.
If you are a grower, see food as a commons, interested in Permaculture or land-based livelihoods, this event is for you.
Speakers and contributors include Naomi van der Velden (British Permaculture Association), Pavlos Georgiadis (Ethno Botanist, Greece, GROW), Pat Malone (Cloughjordan Community Farm), Ben Whelan, (Cultivate & WeCreate FabLab), Bruce Darrell (RED Gardens), Joe Fitzmaurice (Riot Rye), Dee Sewell (Community Gardens Ireland), Fergal Anderson (Leaf & Root), Thomas O’Connor (Mana Organics), Fergal Smith (Moy Hill Organic CSA, Clare), Roisin Nic Coil (CSA Ireland), Kevin Dudley (Cloughjordan CSA), Kate Carmody (Organic Hemp Farmer Kerry) Mimi Crawford (Crawford’s Farm), Eimhin Short (Growery), David Beecher (Citizen Soil Scientist), Niamh Ni Duill (Transition Kerry), Clive Bright (Rare Ruminare) – plus you and many more. The sessions will be engaging and participative, skilfully facilitated by Davie Philip (Cultivate) and Oliver Moore (Arc2020).
This two-day gathering also features;
The Little Food Fair- An outdoor food market with produce and information from local producers: Wildfire Pizza, The Night Orchard, Riot Rye, Cloughjordan Community farm, Middle Country Cafe Co-op, Crawford’s Farm, the Chilli Farm, Harmony Gardens (NextGen Cloughjordan).
SpeakEATsy – The now infamous event where food, poetry, music and compelling conversation come together in a convivial setting. Art Exhibit – The Spicebox of Earth – An exhibition on soil and the ecology of place by mob grazer and all-round food hero Clive Bright.
Note: this event is a fundraiser for Cloughjordan Community farm.
Accommodation:
Very affordable accommodation is available in Cloughjordan Ecovillage. To book Django’s Eco-Hostel see www.djangoshostel.com or call +353 87 256 9348. Some B&B accommodation is also available in Cloughjordan Unique Setting:
The gathering will be held in Cloughjordan Ecovillage one of Ireland’s leading examples of an ecosystem of innovation: it includes over 55 low energy houses with community woodlands, renewable energy production, a wood-fired bakery, research gardens and the CSA Community Farm. WeCreate Workspace is a co-working space and innovation hub within the Ecovillage and home to Ireland’s first community FabLab. The Cloughjordan Community Farm is an example of community supported agriculture (CSA) and a is a cooperative approach to the supply of food to the community. It currently provides fresh vegetables, eggs and meat to over seventy member households in Cloughjordan.
11.00 – Stalls & Food including; Award Winning BBQ & Pulled Pork by expert ecovillage resident Greg Whelan, James Liston’s baked potato trailer (meat and spuds from Cloughjordan Community Farm), Irish Seed Savers and products from Cloughjordan Community Farm, The Night Orchard, The Apple Farm, Wild Irish Foragers, High Bank and others.
11.30 – Opening of Apple Bake Off
11.45 – Apple Mashing and Pressing Demo with Cloughjordan’s Night Orchard
12.00 – Orchard Tour
13.30 – Seed Saving and Farm Walk with Kevin Dudley (Cloughjordan Community Farm formerly with Irish Seed Savers)
14.45 – Ecovillage Tour with Ollie Moore
15.30 – Workshops & Talks – Open Space Con Traas – The Apple Farm of Tipperary Orchard, predators and low intervention methods of pest management for orchards.
16.00 – The Apple Bake Off – judging in private with Imen McDonnell
16.10 – Forage Walk with Sharon Greene
16.30 – Kids Music Workshop with Chris T-T (Brighton)
16.30 – Poetry Taster
16.45 – Soil Microbiology, Bio-dynamics and Orchards; a discussion led by Rod Calder-Potts(Highbank Organic Orchards, Kilkenny)
17.20 – Apple Bake Off prize giving and drawing of the Apple Raffle
The Irish Food Writers Guild visited Cloughjordan today. Lunch in the Middle Country Co-op Cafe with a menu featuring over 11 local producers and beers from White Gypsy, a tour of the ecovillage, a visit to the Cloughjordan Community Farm, foraging with Wild Irish Foragers & Preservers, a trip to RiotRye bakehouse and bread school, a walk through the community apery, allotments and orchards, as well as an introduction to the research in the RED Gardens.
