{"id":14817,"date":"2016-12-19T16:28:43","date_gmt":"2016-12-19T16:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greensideup.ie\/?p=14817"},"modified":"2016-12-19T16:28:43","modified_gmt":"2016-12-19T16:28:43","slug":"recipe-for-friendship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/recipe-for-friendship\/","title":{"rendered":"A Recipe for Friendship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Community<\/a><\/p>\n

Sharing Food <\/span><\/h2>\n

December is a time of year synonymous with friendship as we exchange cards, gifts, hugs and best wishes.\u00a0<\/span>Last week a group of community gardeners and stakeholders involved in \u00a0Gleann na Bearu garden in Bagenalstown, Co Carlow<\/a> sat together and shared food. <\/span>We were celebrating the achievements of the 11 people who had just completed a 12 week horticultural pilot programme I\u2019ve been facilitating in the garden. I asked one of the community gardeners, Susan, if I could share the Kale and Spinach Soup recipe she made for the occasion using produce from the garden; you\u2019ll find the recipe below.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though the format was similar, this gardening course was different from others I\u2019ve been involved with. It goes a step further in that the group will be undertaking three more modules in the New Year funded by Carlow County Development Partnership (CCDP), namely First Aid Responder, Manual Handling and Basic Machinery. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All this basic training will combine to provide members of the group with a Certificate they will be able to present to future employers, giving the community gardeners a helping hand back to work if they ever need to use it. Their work experience is ongoing, albeit in a voluntary capacity in the community garden.<\/span><\/p>\n

I <\/span>wrote a case study about how this garden began and their progression over the last two years on the Community Gardens Ireland website<\/span><\/a>, but as we were all reminded by Denis Shanahan from Respond during the end of year celebration, <\/span>\u201cit was due to the willingness of all the stakeholders to work together, that the garden and the people who meet in it were given the best support we could offer them.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Carlow Youth Services, CCDP, Carlow\/Kilkenny Education Training Board, Respond Housing and Carlow Council through Local Agenda 21, as well as Greenside Up have all put time, money and effort into this project and in a way, Susan\u2019s soup was a marker for us all on its success to date.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gleann na Bearu Community Garden Went Live on Facebook:<\/em><\/p>\n