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Grow It Yourself Ireland (better known as GIY) in Ireland that aims to give its members the skills and confidence needed to grow vegetables and fruit successfully.
Contents
History
GIY was founded by journalist and author Michael Kelly in 2008. Having grown his own fruits and vegetables for several years, he discovered there was no local food growers group in Waterford, so he set one up himself.
Early in 2009, Kelly with the aid of some of his fellow growers in the Waterford area decided to set up GIY Ireland, with the aim of opening a GIY group in every town in Ireland. There are now over 80 active local GIY groups in Ireland, and five groups based in Australia.
Activities
Each local group will hold a monthly meeting where there will be a variety of activities, including: guest speakers, seed and seedling swaps, garden/farm visits and demonstrations. Members are also encouraged to form meitheals with their fellow GIYers to complete any gardening related tasks that would be to big for one person to do alone e.g. making raised beds or pruning an orchard.
In 2010 GIY Ireland took part in the Bloom Festival. With the help of Award winning designer Fiann ó Nualláin, volunteers from many different GIY groups around Ireland grew the vegetables and helped to assemble GIYs entry, called "The GIY Edible Garden", into that year's Festival. GIY also ran a schools competition to get school children to design a scarecrow for the garden, with the winning entry being selected to stand in the garden. The entry managed to win a silver medal in the "Show Gardens" category.
On December 14th 2014 work began on the GIY National Food Education Centre on a three acre site on the Outer Ring Road at Ardkeen, Waterford City, Ireland. The facility which is due to open in September 2016 will feature a grow school, cookery school, 60-seat home-grown food café, farm shop and training gardens on which food for the cafe and school will be cultivated.
Patrons
GIY has managed to attract a number of high-profile celebrities as their patrons. The current patrons are: