Online Garden Workshops
In reaction to the changes in the way we live and work following the announcement of the COVID-19 Pandemic in March 2020, Dee moved many of her workshops to the Zoom online platform, offering support and education in various ways:
Disability Sectors
With support from Carlow County Development Partnership, Dee worked with two disability centres, bringing their clients together on an online platform. Materials were provided to workshop participants, and they followed along with ‘live’ activities. These workshops proved very popular and beneficial and have since been replicated.
Community Education
As an Kilkenny Carlow Education Training Board Tutor, Dee designed three, over-subscribed six-week workshops in liaison with participants during the spring of 2021, sharing how she grows food for people and wildlife and the basic principles behind her practice. Course notes and slides were uploaded to the Cloud where participants could access any follow-up work. An opportunity to engage and ask questions was encouraged throughout.
Youth Services
A series of online workshops was designed for member families of the Foróige Just Grow programme, with Grow Kits provided to each household and activities designed to engage families from toddlers to teens in food growing.
Interactive Video Support
To support a disability group who were still meeting in person, Dee designed a programme and accompanying videos that she shared on her YouTube channel to support them. Meeting online weekly, Dee was able to see and comment on their progress, make suggestions for work to be undertaken during the following week in their polytunnel, and create video content to help with their next projects.
