Foodie heaven as community reaps the fruits of its harvest

No less a source than the bible tells us that the labourer is worthy of his wages – and that was clearly the case on Saturday when volunteers from the unique Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden on the outskirts of Galway City held a party to celebrate the fruits of their hard work during the year.

The garden’s shed, polytunnels, eating areas and vegetable beds were buzzing as families gathered to feast on an array of food from salads to bacon and cabbage, cooked in the traditional way over an open fire. There was any amount of cakes too, notably a delicious crumble, made with apples from the garden and wild blackberries. Homemade brown bread was served with blackberry and raspberry jam, and there was a sloe preserve, made with the bitter fruit picked in the nearby Terryland Forest Park by Iranian women, Sohila and Myriam.

Produce on display ranged from potatoes, spinach, cauliflower and tomatoes to exotic ‘ancestral’ cucumbers, turban squash and Asian herbs.

This was foodie heaven, but unlike the world of high-end restaurants where locally sourced and ‘foraged’ food comes at a price, there was no charge. Instead people who could afford to were asked to make a donation – with all money raised being reinvested in this community initiative. There was a real buzz with the mix of ages and nationalities demonstrating multi-culturalism and community spirit at its best.

“The idea of the harvest is that we give out what we have produced, and we eat together to get to know each other,” says Brendan Smith, one of the driving forces behind this project.

The Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden was set up four years ago by local people who wanted to create a sense of community in the Headford Road area of the city where housing estates had mushroomed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The result was thousands of houses and families in a place that had no proper social infrastructure.

A Community Centre, which residents had been campaigning for since 1985 has only recently become a reality, while sports facilities were also sadly lacking for the past 30 years.

“There were very few opportunities for people to interact because there were no facilities,” says Brendan.

This garden, developed on the edge of the man-made Terryland Forest Park on City Council owned land, aimed to change that.

“We asked the Council to delineate an area for the garden, and we run courses here, so it’s an opportunity for people to learn life skills,” explains Brendan, who is aptly nicknamed Speedie.  He talks a mile a minute as he guides visitors, including City Mayor Donal Lyons through the different areas of the half-acre site, showing them the colourful sections created by local children before moving on to the orchard, where pear, plum and apple trees sit alongside berry and currant plants. Here, too, is a plantation, where willow trees are being grown with a view to creating baskets and natural tunnels – willow twigs are very malleable, so are ideal for hedging and for tunnels, he explains.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.