Features
From Creamery to Courthouse to Co-op
The first Creamery Co-operative in these islands started in Dromcollogher in 1889, so when the centenary approached, the wise elders of the community looked to commemorate the event in a variety of ways. A creamery museum with a cafe was agreed as an essential, but the more ambitious wanted something extra, something living and relevant that would relate to farming. An acre of land beside the museum was purchased and suddenly there were all kinds of possibilities. Should the land be used for a farm machinery heritage museum, an enterprise centre, or something else?
In parallel, during the dark eighties, a group of teachers at the local Vocational School were restless with a curriculum that was heavy on the academic and offered little to many of the students from a rural background. Working with an E.U. funded project in Shannon Comprehensive School, a bold alternative to the Leaving Cert was proposed. This included a range of modules from growing herbs and vegetables to food preparation, social and cultural studies, mini companies and co-operatives, appropriate technologies, community based learning, oh, and the first email computers called Minitel were introduced directly from France. This programme called Senior Cert was very successful and later became Leaving Cert Applied which is now a feature of many schools throughout the country.
So when the Dromcollogher community council got its new acre and needed a project, the local vocational school had several years of organic growing experience. With a young biology teacher, Kay Kennedy, as Principal who had a ‘can do’ philosophy, and an energetic CEO Sean Burke, the match was ready for striking and the college was born.
The Early Years
So how do you start an adult, full-time course in Organic Horticulture with goodwill, but no modules, no books, no students and an old creamery for a classroom? The spring and summer of 91 were hectic. To move from an eighth of an acre with thirty willing teenage students, to an acre in the centre of the town, was in hindsight a bit of “build it and they will come”.
They did come, seven brave souls, four local and three residential. That autumn was cold; the creamery building was freezing. With a small electric heater, even the hardy visiting teacher and experienced grower, Dolores Keegan had to keep the coat on in the classroom. By Christmas we had lost one to the appeal of central heating in urban Galway. Echoes of the crew of the Irish Rover were beginning to sound.
The Organic and Co-operative Ethos
At this crucial stage a local Leader Group, Ballyhoura Development, was looking at projects with a potential to grow. John Quinn, their dynamic rural development officer, had a gift of speaking the language of farmers, growers, students and various departmental officials. With precision, simplicity and colourful graphs, he explained that worthwhile projects usually involved a minimum of five years to come anywhere close to fruition, and in the case of education, the outcomes were much more long term than could be measured by normal economic parameters. He outlined to farmers and policy makers at sceptical board meetings that organic was the growth sector of agriculture across Europe, and linked with the co-operative tradition in Ireland, it had potential to revitalise agriculture with a range of produce that could give us a massive competitive advantage.
Of course John Quinn was right, and year by year the numbers did grow. Later we negotiated access to the local courthouse which was warm with an open fire and lots of wooden seats. At this stage we were joined by Maria Browne who acted as secretary, student welfare officer, accommodation and local liaison person, which, along with dozens of other duties, she still continues with today. The drawback of having to leave the building once each month to facilitate the court was a minor inconvenience and helped to bridge a number of gaps as lawyers, growers, gardaí and the general public mixed in the co-op café, enjoying soup and salad sandwiches grown across the street and paying for the privilege. The climax of this relationship came one March during the newly declared National Tree week when recycled lawyer, organic student and nursery man, Ted Cook, asked permission of the Judge to address the court. Rising to the occasion, and as business was otherwise quiet, he granted the request. Then, in a flow of eloquence, the tradition of tree planting from the time of the French revolution was linked with a variety of causes of our time including Sellafield Nuclear Plant and the destruction of the rivers and woods of Coolatin, all crying out for environmental justice.
Landmark Events
There were many of these but a few especially stand out.
- Getting the first organic modules in Ireland accepted and nationally certified was a major achievement, giving academic status and validation to the course at what subsequently became F.E.T.A.C. level five.
- Renting a further Enterprise Acre allowed the college to expand to a second Diploma year and this brought recognition of modules at level six standard. IOFGA, and in particular David Storey (ar árdán Dé go rince sé), was most helpful and acted as advisor as well as external examiner.
- Getting on-going support from the V.E.C. for the work of the college was also crucial, as frequently we were told this should be the work of the Department of Agriculture and not Education. Key teaching colleagues, Marion Fox, Tom Quinlan, Michael Hennessey, Frances Cregan, Jim Quinlan and Sinead Neiland developed, updated and delivered new modules, giving the course recognition and visibility in the community and nationally. Later we were joined by Liam Lenihan, Catherine Caulwell, Eimear Brophy A.E.O. Brendan Burke Principal of Hazelwood College, Brendan Keily and Maeve Grant bringing new insights, experience and energy.
- Partnerships with other agencies were essential, so contacts were made with Teagasc, F.A.S and the local Leader groups. The FAS partnership provided support for a number of years for a farm manager and allowed us to rent some more land to give students experience with cattle and sheep. Mary Lynch and John Hartnett were priceless colleagues in this project.
- Further partnership was formed with an organic college in Umbria, Italy allowing our students to gain work placement for three weeks in a country where organic growing and adding value to food was well established. Italian students also spent time in Ireland with some of the best farmers and growers here. Colleagues, Sinead Neiland, Eamonn Murphy and Grace Maher acted as tour guides, taxi drivers, peace makers, wine tasters, interpreters and auditors and followed in the footsteps of St Frances of Assisi. This partnership with Italy has been further extended via the Slow Food Movement which we are now part of and affirms much of the organic ethos, including the vision of committed buyers of our food as “co-producers”.
- The organic collective, a mini cooperative of student growers, together with staff and occasional outside mentors, met weekly to plan cropping, places to visit and organise the sale of trees, herbs and vegetables for the local markets.
- Graduates’ projects. The college has been very fortunate in the quality of staff and learners we have drawn over the years. A variety of projects have taken shape around the country and abroad from field scale vegetable growing to home gardens. Our graduates have initiated community gardens, farmers markets, an arboretum, an earth education centre, dozens of school gardens, books, publications, television programmes, art exhibitions, drama and a film, all inspired by the organic learning experience.
- From the early days, the college had a dynamic relationship with the Irish Seed Saver Association. Our joint search for heritage seeds and apple trees came to success in finding Appletown Wonder, a lost, self-rooting, very tasty, desert apple that lay on its last roots near Feoghanagh, some four miles from the college. When sharing the joy of its identification with Anita Hayes, founder of Seed Savers, she calmly noted “Sometimes if only we have the patience to observe, nature may be just smiling back at us”. This tree, one of the gems of our heritage, is now growing in the college front lawn and in the Seed Savers collection in Scarrif, Co. Clare.
- Our courses were strengthened further by partnership with Irish Aid. The reasoning, put so convincingly by Grace Maher, was that development aid to the majority world and food security issues should be focused on organic and sustainable agricultural projects. This partnership led to the course in Sustainable Development where a global and a local view as well as fair trade were studied as core issues.
- The Distance Learning Programme, developed here nearly ten years ago with colleague Tom Atkins, is a blend of home study through weekly notes available on line and visits to the college at weekends, as well as a very active chat room that keeps learners in continuous contact with each other and their tutors. The programme has allowed learners who can’t come in as day students to gain a nationally certified standard of learning as well as build together another organic learning community with the communication tools of our time. This course, initially supported by the Department of Agriculture, is still not recognised by the Department of Education for staffing or resource support. Despite the challenge of staffing and in the spirit of “can do”, these programmes still blossom with the guidance of Paula Pender, Kathleen Lynch and with some assistance to the learners from the National Organic Training Skills Network.
- Some ten years ago the college gained secure premises in the Vocational school which was vacated by an expanding Hazelwood College. These premises, as well as the classrooms, have an acre of land attached and the college has just this year rented further adjoining land for field scale vegetable production.
- Like the organic movement as a whole, the college has a long way to go. Perhaps our greatest challenge is to engage our creative, collective intelligence with the earnestness, spirit and humour that has sustained rural people over the years.
- It is in this project that we as growers, educators, scientists, artists, singers, dancers, musicians, writers, film makers and story-tellers can play the vital role.
- Organics, food and the meitheal, are the good news stories of our time. Telling these stories in a multi-sensory and participatory way is where teachers become co-learners. Somewhere in the white heat of this dynamic mix, there develops a kind of sixth sense, a moment of joy, equivalent to a new lamb being born. It is at that moment that we have a renewed sense of hope and of infinite possibility, or as we say in Irish; Dóchas as aithinne a cur ar ár n-aislingí.
None of the above or indeed the college itself would have been possible without the generous help and commitment of the staff, the students, graduates and colleagues in the VEC who have been priceless. The organic community which we are proud to be part of and the local community are our life blood. There is a host of individuals and associations, too numerous to mention, that continue to give us advice and material support as they have done over the past two decades. To everyone who assists and guides us we say a sincere Buíochas Ó Croí.
Gillian Westbrook has been appointed to the new position of
General Manager with IOFGA. Coming from a background in the regulatory area...
