Heritage Week Events at Westside Food Forest

Third Space Galway are delighted to be once again hosting in-person community talks and mindful nature walks as part of our social permaculture platform for this year’s Heritage Week events with special guests, Brian Gaynor from Trees on the Land and native irish speaker Colm de Bhaildraithe, facilitated by TSG Curator and Permaculturalist, Martina Finn.

When: Sat August 21st 

Time:  Workshop 1 – 11am with Brian Gaynor, Trees on the Land 

Workshop 2 – 12.15pm Colm de Bhaildraithe 

Where: Westside Food Forest in the Westside Amenity Track 

TSG will be hosting 2 workshops on Saturday the 21st August at our Urban Food Forest and demonstration regenerative food plot at the South West corner of the Westside Amenity Park. The first talk will commence at 11am and will be held in English by our guest Trees on the Land and Agroforestry advisor Brian Gaynor, who will explore with us the future development of the Food Forest on the site. TSG have partnered with the Trees on the Land scheme, planting trees and offsetting carbon footprint over the last number of years and are delighted to be extending their partnership this year. The second workshop will commence at 12.15pm at the same location and will be held in Irish by Colm de Bhaildraithe, with a focus on the herbal lore, medicinal plants and rich biodiversity of the site. TSG Curator Martina Finn will introduce both talks and give an introduction to permaculture ethics and regenerative cultural principles and practices.

To book a space on either workshop please email thirdspacegalway@gmail.com with your name and contact details.  

Please ensure all appropriate C19 protective measures are adhered to all all times – including social distancing requirements. 

Spaces are strictly limited to 15 people per workshop so please register your interest early

About us:

TSG Galway based Eco-Agri Hubs and community culture platforms act as regenerative ‘living’ educational labs, flexible experimental open creative spaces, offering a place for conviviality, community conversation and celebration; whilst also sharing practical skills, showcasing regenerative and organic horticulture principles, small-scale farming, urban agriculture, green infrastructure, social innovation, mindful living and community resilience.

This year as part of Galway City Council’s Healthy Green Spaces we are extending our project further to develop the Westside Edible Landscape and Urban Food Forest and we are delighted to host these workshops for Heritage Week, offering the local community a mindful walk around the site, to deepen their connection and knowledge of the area, and together with invited guests explore its future potential and facilitate the communities input into its future design and development.
During this workshop we aim to gain insight and advice from Trees on the Land Advisor, Brian Gaynor, Agro-forestor and landscape designer who will offer some ideas for future design plans and possibilities, sharing information and experience on community action and ‘Trees on the Land’ projects taking place elsewhere. 

We are also delighted to have native speaker and biodiversity advocate, Colm De Bhaildraithe, join us at 12.15pm  offering a mindful walk and talk as gaeilge, exploring how permaculture and regenerative practices support a multitude of species onsite and gaining further insight through the beneficial relationships and use of the natural and cultural heritage embedded within the site, through its herbal lore and our native Irish language.

For both workshops Martina Finn, Permaulturalist and Educator, will give an introduction to the Westside Food Forest, and background to TSG’s Engaged Ecological, Social Arts platform, and its Edible Landscape and Permaculture in the City projects and future plans for the Edible City Project. Martina will begin with an introductory walk of the area, with an invitation to engage in a mindful sensory experience of the site, following on with an introductory talk outlining the background context of this creative community response to climate change, biodiversity loss, food sovereignty and sustainable community food systems; its early stages of development, influences, permaculture and agroforestry designers, to its current plans and aspirations for the site under the Healthy Green Spaces Initiative in partnership with Galway City Council.

Engaged Ecology is a radical new experiment in embodied bio centric learning, offering space and opportunity to reconsider our interbeing and relationship with the more-than-human world, and find solutions to the environmental and social crises of our time. Regenerative practices engage mindful practices, being, walking, observation, deep looking, deep listening, contemplation and connection. 

Brian Gayonor Trees on the Land Advisor 

Trees on the Land is a cross-border initiative working to establish young native trees across All Ireland. We run an annual tree planting event with trees being distributed and planted between December and March each year. We provide simple schemes for the community and landowners to access quality native tree mixes each season.  We work with farmers, smallholders, community groups, councils, schools, colleges, sports clubs and many other landowners to coordinate sites to accommodate trees. Our vision is to establish tree cover and woodland in rural and urban areas that will grow for many years and provide valuable resources, beneficial ecosystem services and a lasting legacy for future generations.

For more information please visit website – https://www.treesontheland.com/

Colm de Bhaldraithe 

Is gaeilgeoir òn chliabhàn colm agus tà sè ag conaì i Maoinis le 20 bliain. Tà sè fèin agus a phairti theis gairdin a fhàs ar shuìomh atà rite leis an ngaoth agus ar leic eibhir. Tà nios mò na 50 crann èagsùl, 24 èan èagsul, beachain agus feileacàn agus chuile cineàl l feithead acu sa ngairdin .

Colm was brought up through Irish in dublin and has lived in Maoinis, South Connemara for 20 years. Starting with a bare windswept granite site, he and his partner have grown a garden containing over 50 tree species, 24 bird species and innumerable plants and insects.

The Westside Food Forest was created by Third Space Galway with the assistance of agroforestry advisor Istvan Markuly, in partnership with the local Westside community, Conservation Volunteers Galway and the Galway Youth Centre.The goal of the project is to use regenerative horticulture and permaculture principles to transform underused urban spaces into biodiversity-rich and edible ecosystems.

Is iad Third Space Galway agus an pobal áitiúil i gcomhpháirtíocht le Coiste Bailte Slachtmhara na Gaillimhe a chruthaigh Conair Bhuantalmhaíochta agus Bhithéagsúlachta na Gaillimhe le Islvan Markuly. Is é an cuspóir atá leis an tionscadal seo leas a bhaint as prionsabail athghiniúnacha ghairneoireachta agus bhuantalmhaíochta agus spásanna uirbeacha atá folamh nó gan úsáid a athbheochan ina n-éiceachórais a bhfuil ard-bhithéagsúlacht ag baint leo agus a dtáirgtear bia iontu.

TSG regenerative Eco-agri hubs have become more important than ever with the recent COVID-19 related restrictions and growing social awareness of the vital necessity for health and well being for people to be intimately connected to nature and living ecosystems, to have access to locally grown organic food, as well as green, biodiversity rich spaces within walking distance from their homes.

A regenerative design approach, reflecting nature’s intelligence, one that utilises nature based solutions in creating opportunities for people and nature to thrive together, is a reflection of our natural and agricultural heritage while also now re-emerging as the way forward in both the recent regenerative agriculture and the Biophilic City Movements. There is increasing awareness of the importance of green infrastructure and natural places in the city, supporting relocalisation, urban agriculture, edible landscaping, biodiversity, tree planting and tiny forests, to tackle city pollution reducing our green house gas emissions and ongoing local climate change related challenges.

TSG have been to the fore in offering creative spaces to start this regenerative process and as part of the new City Council Decarbonisation Zone, we aim to make these public places be seen as a place of critical community importance and not only perceived as places to be maintained by city council but to be engaged with and utilised by the local community in meeting our greatest challenges. 

We look forward to meeting you all on Saturday for what should be a nourishing time of learning and growing. Ta failte roimh cach. 

Bígí linn!!

Please ensure all appropriate C19 protective measures are adhered to at all times- including social distancing requirements. 

Children are welcome but must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Please do not attend this event if you:

-have had sudden onset of at least one of these symptoms: cough, fever, shortness of breath.

-travelled outside of Ireland or been in contact with a positive COVID-19 person in the last 14 days.

-loss of smell or taste.