Yesterday was the harvest of a part of the West Cork Bantry community supported agriculture (CSA) oat crop. The smaller field of a bit less than an acre was harvested by hand using scythes. It was great to see how this was done in the times before mechanisation – the farmer remembers doing this only 15 years ago! For me it was a very salient reminder of how much work there could be in a bowl of porridge oats if it wasn’t for modern combines and mills.

The field is in a stunning spot on the Sheep’s Head – so here’s a short video as a reminder of the day.

It’s amazing that any of the crop survived the summer we’ve had – so hats off to everyone involved and best of luck with getting the rest of the harvest in (the big field is to be harvested by combine) and drying it.

[Edit - Madeline has a great video here...]

Here’s a great idea for people who don’t have a garden or who have the energy to garden more than there own space:

The idea is simple. There are many older or busier people who have gardens they struggle to look after but which they like to see being used productively, and there are many younger and more able people who would like to grow food, but have no access to land. In effect, Garden Share acts as a dating agency, matching the two together.

The Totnes Garden Share Scheme on the BBC » Transition Culture

I’d be interested to hear of anyone setting up similar initiatives in Ireland.

Groundbreaking projects at the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place in Sussex may have to be axed because of a £100m shortfall.

The money is needed over the next 10 years to maintain its work to store rare seeds from the whole plant world.

BBC NEWS | Seed bank ‘running out of funds’

If the Millennium Seed Bank was a financial bank, governments would be falling over themselves to give it the money… (via Fluffius Muppetus)

Below are links to some UK and Irish forums that are good for getting advice on growing food. Do leave a comment if you know of any more good ones.

• Grow Your Own
• Kitchen Garden
• River Cottage
• SallyGarden Smallholding
• Garden Organic (members only)
• Irish Gardeners
• Gardening on Boards.ie
• Country Talk and Tips

It’s been a long time in gestation but I’m excited to be writing the first post for ‘Get Growing‘ – a site dedicated to growing your own food. The aim is to provide inspiration and information to encourage more of us to start producing and eating things we’ve grown ourselves.

From small acorns…

There are lots of reasons why I wanted to start writing this – reasons that will be covered in future posts – but a particular motivation for starting now is that I’m about to begin a new garden. I’ve grown a few radishes as a kid and had a few lettuces in the back garden over the years, but I’ve never seriously spent time tending a garden and growing a good proportion of my own food.

Why am I starting to garden now? Where is the garden? What will be on this website? All questions to be answered over forthcoming posts.

For now it’s ‘time to get growing’…