Interested in growing your own food this year? GIY Week is the perfect opportunity for you to give it a try! Don’t let is pass for another year – 2012 is your year! The good news is that once you sow a seed, you’re a GIYer!
GIY Week 2012 is timed to coincide with the start of the growing season and GIY groups around Ireland will be reaching out in their communities to attract new members locally and highlight the movement as a whole throughout the country. GIY HQ will be doing a national publicity campaign and hosting some key regional events in each province. Last year there were over 40 events held during GIY Week nationwide. We are hoping to top that in 2012!
GIY Week – The BIG Idea
Our GIY groups around Ireland will be hosting talks, demos, events and generally getting out and about in their communities to promote all things GIY. For more details check out your local GIY groups page on this site.
Our BIG IDEAS for GIY Week 2012 are:
Sow an Xtra Row! We are encouraging GIYers to plant an extra row of vegetables which they could then donate to a deserving local initiative such as a old folks home, St Vincent de Paul, hospice etc?
Pop up Gardens in public spaces – in 2012 we want to challenge the perceptions of where our food comes from. We are encouraging GIY groups to create mobile vegetable patches (think containers, tubs, tires, etc) that can be dropped in to public spaces (e.g. car park spaces, train platforms etc) and then taken away again. The idea of growing vegetables in public spaces like this will challenge people’s perceptions that GIYing can only happen in large gardens.
Bring a Seedling to Work – many people are daunted by the idea of growing their own food and at GIY we believe that we have to help them get over that initial daunted phase. A great way to do this is to give someone a seedling. This GIY Week initiative encourages GIYers to bring some seedlings to work and simply hand them out to co-workers. It’s like a GIY version of “paying it forward”.
GIY Regional Gatherings
During GIY Week we will be hosting mini “Gatherings” based roughly on the format of our national Gathering in September. The events are designed to promote GIY at a regional level and offer potential GIYers the opportunity to come and find out more about how to grow their own vegetables and about GIY groups in their area.
