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Friday on the Farm 5 July 2024

Jul 5, 2024 | Events, News

Another great Friday on the Farm. Thanks to Steph from Rituals of Plate for a wonderful ContemPLATE workshop. We started with a grounding and mindful walk to the polytunnel where we connected to the plants, fruit and veg through drawing. A reminder to ‘walk beautifully on the earth’ in the words of John Moriarty

Then we harvested some food and had a wonderful feast prepared by Stephanie. She encouraged us to reflect not just on the importance of what we eat but how we eat! Does the often frantic pace we eat reflect our lives? How do we slow down and acknowledge the life of the food and the length of time it takes to grow, before it is eaten by us?

After lunch Rena Balke took us on a visual journey through the last few months through her beautiful photos and then she and Lisa took us around the gardens of The Barna Way to look at how the food we planted is growing (slowly outdoors this year due to the cool weather) …

Finished the day with our usual reflections and plans for the next events with project manager Gráinne

Friday on the Farm 4 June 2024

Jun 7, 2024 | Events, News

We had another brilliant day at Friday On The Farm at The Barna Way. Fantastic to see the meadows in full bloom with ragged robin, plantain, buttercup and lots of cuckoo spit (the home of tiny green frog hoppers).. the magical scent of honeysuckle and lots of bird song.

Great to have the weather for the pizza oven with sauce from last year’s tomatoes and freshly picked salads grown by the group.

Lots of drawings, journaling and great conversations.

Wild About Life 2 June 2024

Jun 2, 2024 | Events, News

As part of Brillliant Ballybunion we are running a Wild About Life programme with ecologist Dr Joanne O Brien.

Earlier this summer we had planned to go Dolphin watching but as the weather forecast threatened wind, we decided to reschedule that event and hold a Bioblitz at The Barna Way instead. As it turned out we had a beautiful sunny day with only moderate wind.

Dr Joanne O Brien brought lots of resources to help us identify different species. We divided into different teams, identifying trees, grasses, hedgerow plants, insects, birds and mammals. We took photos on our phone and sketched in our Brilliant Ballybunion journals.

Different species of trees included oak, ash, alder, whitethorn, blackthorn, elder and alder, rowan, scots pine. In the meadows the wild orchids and ragged robin were starting to give way to the clover, buttercup, rush, vetch and grasses.

We compared our bio blitz with a previous study done by Dr Joanne O Brien and Dr Barry O Donoghue. There were some new species but a notable absence of mammals and butterflies on the day. The first hares didn’t show up until the following morning at The Barna Way!

Joanne stressed the importance of protecting space and habitats for nature and the challenges presented by conflicting demands for land use including the production of food. Brilliant Ballybunion tries to integrate biodiversity, creativity and food into everything we do.

We were treated once again to delicious food by chef and artist Stephanie Sheahan from Rituals of Plate. Stephanie harvested the food from the garden and served a great vegetarian feast for everyone.

Ballymaloe Trip

May 18, 2024 | Events, News

What a brilliant day at Ballymaloe Food Festival!! Lots of great conversations about food and how to create healthy, inclusive and resilient soil and food systems in the context of biodiversity loss and climate change.

Well done to our community collaborators Antoinette and Sean for joining Lisa on stage with Karen O’Donoghue and thanks to Darina Allen for the big Brilliant Ballybunion shout out! The whole group brought great energy to the stage and the whole event!

Brilliant Ballybunion is opening our eyes and hearts and we are learning so much already from this experience with this amazing group of people.

Worth the long bus trip from Ballybunion to Ballymaloe!

Friday on the Farm 3 May 2024

May 10, 2024 | Events, News

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

Dawn Chorus

May 4, 2024 | Events, News

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

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