opening of community garden

by dunk Tue Apr 12, 2005 12:16

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home

by LOL - (iosaf) Tue Apr 12, 2005 13:39

I thought you spent your time hopping on ryanair from oxford to temple bar.

nice garden.

by john Tue Apr 12, 2005 14:41

How can I contact people who have been involved in creating these gardens?

by Wha? Tue Apr 12, 2005 14:46

Come along this evening, or contact Dunk at his e-mail address above.

by barry Tue Apr 12, 2005 15:34

I used to spend a lot of time in and around the barn, and it was utterly depressing and hopeless at times, although many of the people were doing their best with a bad situation.
Great to see people doin this for the people of that area. Congratulations and fair play.

by dunk Wed Apr 13, 2005 12:40

we got off to a late start, it was lashing rain but we went in and had the tree planting ceremony.
there was new faces, laughter, singing, messing, serious planning, getting wet, sheltering, planting, heading for tea

the garden has very good soil, possibly it was used as a garden in earlier years, on the OS map it is listed as allotments. We wandered around the site, there were no trees, we planted 3 hazel trees and 2 willow.

we then went up to the rich's gaf for tea and bikis and had a chat about how we would like to see things progress and other matters. there was a lovely spirit in the group, most of who had not met each other before. we imagined how things might be in 3 years time.
hopefully the factory that the garden backs onto will be supportive and in time they might even allow us to use their wall for some muralismo

we will meet next in the garden on thursday from 6.30 onward, come along and bring things to plant and tools to use. we will then head up to Seoidíns gaf for a get together.

greening the city - dolphins barn community garden

how it was

neighbours garden

arriving with the trees

first hazel tree being planted

by dunk Wed Apr 13, 2005 12:45

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first hazel is planted

everyone lending their hand

report from the ground

by dunk Wed Apr 13, 2005 12:48

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new life for little willow

by Dunk Wed Apr 13, 2005 14:02

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getting stuck in

by dunk Fri Apr 15, 2005 17:28

details of night 2 at the garden: spud night
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69380&condense_comments=false#comment105149

by Concerned resident Dolphins Barn - Dolphins Barn Resident Sun Mar 19, 2006 01:41

Those persons gardening on bank overlooking the canal are trespassing. Land is a valuable commodity and we all have to buy our own houses plus whatever land surrounds it. This land is also a prime site? Did they get permission to use this land for gardening by the surrounding factories? Is their another agenda in mind when they decide they are tired of gardening. They are squatting on this land and I am quite sure that they know the value of it. One of the factory owners at the moment is very disturbed by these trespassers, and will be contacting them.

by dunk Tue Mar 21, 2006 19:52

we met brian from the factory, we had a good discussion. they have known about the garden for nearly a year now, we had tried to make contact with the factory before
the council is supporting us in this project, nearly everyone we talked to or shared food with in the area support us, in fact we have not recieved any negative complaints yet, as far as i know
we have had the support of last years deputy lord mayor who came and weeded for about an hour in the garden.

amongst other things the garden is raising questions about this cities "development",

what are your primary concerns, what agenda do you fear exists?

i dont fully follow this comment : when they decide they are tired of gardening

why not come down some sunday and meet people in the real world and voice these concerns

all the best

dunk, 1 of the garden crew

by Paul Baynes - one of the gardeners... Thu Mar 23, 2006 16:53

"Land is a valuable commodity and we all have to buy our own houses plus whatever land surrounds it. This land is also a prime site?"

The point is, up until the community garden was begun last April, this land was not in use. it was overgrown, desolate waste land. As you say, land in Ireland is valuable, particularly in the cities. And it is valuable in cities because it is scarce. So it doesn't make much sense for land to be lying idle. This is the point of the garden. We are putting land to good use - land which was otherwise in DISuse. And the intention is to use the land in a project that is open and beneficial to the greater community.

"Did they get permission to use this land for gardening by the surrounding factories?"

As Dunk has said, the warehouse management know we have been using the land in this way, and we also have received a grant from the city council.

Thanks for your comments - your questions are very understandable and we've been very open about the project from the beginning because we thought that people might have suspicions and worries about what we were doing. This is why we leafleted some of the houses in the neighbourhood, and held a public meeting and exhibition in the local library. We were not just informing people what we were doing and looking for support, but were also looking for PARTICIPATION in the project, which is a totally open project. This is not a closed group of people who are trying to take over some land. The idea is to set up a garden for the benefit of the community as a whole. This is my conception of things in any case; I can't speak for anyone else. We have been touch with the Rialto Community Network, and some of the members of the Rialto Environment Network are involved in the community garden.

I hope we have addressed some of your concerns, and as Dunk says, you are most welcome to come and speak to us directly while we are gardening.

by K - Dolphins Barn Resident Fri Mar 24, 2006 03:27

Yes, land is valuable, and if you are so interested in the community go and buy your own land and then go and do your gardening and give shares to all interested parties. You are trespassing on lands and infringing on the privacy of residents in the area. Just because an area of land is unkept it does not give you the automatic right to take it over.

by fergus - Dolphin's resident Fri Mar 24, 2006 12:15

"Yes, land is valuable, and if you are so interested in the community go and buy your own land and then go and do your gardening and give shares to all interested parties."

K and others concerned about land value-
I dont think the point of the project is really to profit from vegetables, as far as I can see from the canal walk its hardly intensive production over there. From the looks of the various promotional posts this group are always putting out, i'd say its more of an enviromental thing, or just a fun activity.
Your comments are a classic ignorant Irish sentiment which only sees things in relation to their economic value. We haven't travelled too far from the days of "The Field" and "Valley of the Squinting Windows" it seems. It's pure Irish begrudgery and small minded jelousy.
Your basic thrust seems: "I spent a ridiculously expensive amount of money on my home, how dare this community group try improve the area unlegislated and for free, without having to spend ridiculous amounts of money as well".
Maybe you should direct a large amount of ire towards the property speculators who make us spend such a large amount of our income on a small bit of land instead of the easy target of these well meaning hippies and local gardeners - people actually trying to improve our area for all! To quote John Bowman recently, because of the speculators, we maybe the last generation able to retire. Thanks to people like you K and your mentality! Goodwork, I'll make sure to get my kids to make a card for you called thanks for giving us a hyper-inflated concrete paradise, now I have to work until I'm eight-five!

I'm no greenfingers, but for one enjoyed seeing it develop last summers on my mid-week walks. T

To quote "The Rocky Road to Dublin" film, we truely are a
"race of self-interested urbanised peasents with no moral centre".

Our attitude to land is reaping the seeds of a disaster in 20 or so years.