What a brilliant day on our third Friday on Farm with our amazing project collaborators. We started with delicious scones made by Rena followed by meditation and reflection in the forest.
Then we made mini meadows from recycled paper, soil and organic meadow seed. After that Lisa went through the joys and challenges of being a beekeeper. Sad news today that one hive didn’t survive the very wet winter… a stark reminder of the importance of Farming for Nature and ensuring that pollinators have enough food and wild spaces to survive.
Mona made a delicious bake with chard from the garden and salads (grown by the group) with gorgeous porridge bread made by Caroline AND delicious cake by Aine! We were really inspired by our events last week with Jennie (High Luncheonette) and Lily and the importance of hospitality and food.
We prepared and set the bean bed in the glorious sunshine
Magic in nature! Thank you to everyone who came for the Dawn Chorus with Barry O Donoghue and Rena Blake at The Barna Way… thanks to all the birds who performed in the early morning symphony and to Jennie Moran of High Luncheonette for her delicious porridge
We have had an amazing few days and are delighted to be part of the MOYA Festival
“What we sow here now today will bloom tomorrow…”
The beautiful voice and lyrics of singer songwriter Katie O’Connor opened the MOYA Festival on the Earthlings stage in the woodland at The Barna Way.
This reminds us of the importance of setting our intentions and vision for the future we want to B!
Then came the beautiful words of artist Jennie of High Luncheonette at Brilliant Ballybunion Goes Wild!! This was our first public event and we had a magical evening celebrating food and music in the heart of nature with our community collaborators and their guests.
We are delighted to work with the talented Lily Toomey as a Creative Food Collaborator with Brilliant Ballybunion. For the last few days Lily has prepared the most amazing plant based food using as much locally sourced ingredients as possible from The Barna Way, Leagh Farm and Manna Organic, Tralee
Not only have we been nourished by her food, but also inspired by her research into Irish bogs.
It was lovely to see all the connections and collaborations with Lily, Jennie Moran (High Luncheonette) and Katie O’Connor music, weaving the web of creative talents connected to our wonderful town Ballybunion.
Thanks to Bob, Mike, Joe, Gerry, Hugh, Natalia for all your amazing work behind the scenes to create the forest venue and the spaces for people to gather
Thanks to Creative Ireland for funding our project and events through the Creative Climate Action Fund
A Brilliant day today at The Barna Way creating land art/ a willow dome/bird hide with magical portholes! Lots of great teamwork and fun using all natural materials including willow and handmade flax rope…. A great team of willow warblers!
Lots of delicious local salads from Leagh Farm and soup and microgreens from Barna.
We spent the afternoon busy in the potting shed and polytunnels planting and transplanting baby plants.
Great news, we are delighted to collaborate with Badly Made Books on a beautiful Brilliant Ballybunion journal.
The journals will be used by the community collaborators and artist Lisa Fingleton over the next year and a half to document our Creative Climate Action journey with Creative Ireland. All printed on recycled paper
We were delighted to welcome our new Brilliant Ballybunion Community Collaborators to our first event at The Barna Way. It was great to get the opportunity to finally meet each other after all the planning and preparation. What a fantastic group with such a range of lived experiences, skills and passion for Ballybunion, this amazing place we call home.
We were treated to fantastic food, picked earlier in the day by chef Lily Toomey. A delicious Spring nettle soup with kale crisps! We walked the land and were just in time to see the beautiful red blossoms on the Elm trees. We made our way through the native woodland (now almost 4 years old and over our head in some parts) and back through the Ivy Grove and older trees on the Peace Path.
We tested out the new wellingtons in the mud, after weeks of rain before heading back for tea and coffee at the She-Bean. It was really heartwarming (despite the 8°C temperature and impending storm!) to hear everyone’s hopes and motivations for joining us on the Brilliant Ballybunion journey.
