{"id":13667,"date":"2015-09-13T18:53:30","date_gmt":"2015-09-13T17:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greensideup.ie\/?p=13667"},"modified":"2024-04-18T15:41:18","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T14:41:18","slug":"was-electric-picnic-ready-for-a-community-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/was-electric-picnic-ready-for-a-community-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Electric Picnic Ready for a Community Garden?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Suzanne Campbell of RTE Drivetime asked me early on the Friday morning if festival goers at the Electric Picnic<\/strong> were ready for a community garden in the midst of their music and arts festival. I stumbled a response and it didn’t air – I wasn’t able to give a direct answer as we’d never done it before. Now the festival is over I’ve had time to reflect. I believe that EVERYONE<\/strong> can be ready for a community garden once they’ve been given\u00a0the opportunity to experience and get a flavour of what they’re about, no matter where they appear.<\/p>\n A\u00a0*recent study found that\u00a0experiencing nature makes us more likely to want to save it.<\/strong> I wonder if Cultivate<\/a>, before they invited several groups to create the pop-up community farm and garden at Global Green in Electric Picnic<\/a>\u00a0already knew that…<\/p>\n We only met once, several months earlier, but the groups involved in the garden share a passion for the environment, health and quality of food. Within the space of a few hours on the Thursday before the Electric Picnic opened to the public, we worked together to create an area of tranquility and calm in the midst of an eclectic, chaotic festival that was expecting around 50,000 people to pass through its gates. We quickly\u00a0felt a tangible sense of acceptance as we pooled our plants, resources and ideas and enjoyed each others company as we did so.<\/p>\n We succeeded in creating a community garden that became a welcome retreat for some and a place for others to connect with like-minded people in as natural environment as you can build in a small, festival space. We created the garden with a few straw bales, a pile of pallet chairs and dozens of container grown fruit, vegetables and trees and it worked.<\/p>\n For three days, we were immersed in plants, people and music. We shared stories and conversations with people who are doing their best to make our world a better place, and were hugged for doing so. While we were there we learnt from and soaked up the positive energy from one\u00a0another.<\/p>\n Community gardens allow us the opportunity for expression and connection and it’s one of the many reasons I’m so passionate about encouraging and supporting them.<\/a><\/p>\n If you keep reading, you’ll find out about some of the people involved in building this little garden in the Global Green eco-village, as well as some of the inspiring community projects taking place in Ireland, where people are\u00a0making changes within their own communities.<\/p>\nCreating a Community Farm & Garden at Electric Picnic<\/h2>\n
The Community & Farm Garden in Global Green<\/h2>\n
Community Gardening by the Coast<\/h3>\n