The Community Garden Network volunteered to help coordinate a pop-up Community & Farm Garden in Global Green at the 2015 Electric Picnic. While we were there we met some inspirational groups and community gardeners from around the island who are now much more aware of the Network and each other.

Dee Sewell of Greenside Up posted a blog about the set up and groups involved, asking the question “Was the Electric Picnic Ready for a Community Garden?” which you can find here. However, the following are some lovely reflections from Fionnuala of East Clare Co-op of her experience there. We hope you enjoy Fionnuala’s poem.

Our Co-op in the Electric Picnic in 2015

Co-creating collaborating in Global Green

We took a look about before setting our stall

(Well in fairness our stall was no stall at all)

We planned 2 round tables out there in the air

For our own eclectic picnic back home in Clare

Off we went with a curious glee

You won’t believe the sights we did see

a huge gold rimmed mirror, a bed in a tree

A stilted man in a skirt and acrobats 3

A big London bus,  a caravan in the air

A machine to de-programme you, tattoos for your hair

Make a wish, Gerry Fish, Giant’s Jug and Chair,

Attention to details, signs of great care

Body paint, tophats,  Oxfam vintage sale

2 men holding hands- at least I think they were male.

In every direction were sights to be seen,

creative, engaging, clever and green.

We were mosaicing all day near big bales of hay

In a beautiful garden that was made in a day

A garden with seedlings, food baskets and knitting

Pallet planters, benches- all perfectly fitting

With its own water feature and exciting bike races

Away from the chaos, a pleasant oasis

A man made of waste, a bomb made of seeds

Surfboards and knitting, without any weeds

Urban and rural we made it all flow

How did we do it? I’ll never know

Duncan Stewart arrived  in no great haste

Resilience, car sharing, giving out about  waste

We must work it together, climate change is here

The crisis, now bad will worsen we fear

I see the boy who lost his life in the sea

A victim, an innocent refugee,

And tears start swelling up in me

We are drowning in a sea of apathy

I want to shout out above this crowd

Wake up! Wake up! Do the Earth proud

Get involved, get connected, share the wisdom inside

Love your community with energy and pride!

The All Ireland final!  We caught the end in a tent

Up Galway we shouted, but those hurlers were spent

The cats got their cream again Ah no surprise there

Not like 13 when we took Liam to Clare

Seorla  from  Sligo with 3 kinds of dancers,

Step, set and seanos – those light footed prancers!

And married men on the tear raving wild on the shots

And Curious faces belonging to tots

We are tiling to beats with a buzz and a boom

And a woman nearby sweeps up with her broom

We took a stroll out in the chilly night air

And feel the vibrations and the wind in our hair

Big wheels, a circus, and architects boxes

A woman with an udder, and  big furry foxes

And a beach down in trenchtown past the big sailing boat

And a hula hoop whirling round some ladies throat

A  gentle black giant nearly 2 metres tall

A chick in a poncho, 2 lads in a brawl

Body and Soul ah we had to see that

Everyone says that’s where It’s at

grass roofs tiny tea, a flirt in a yurt

And man on a fence in a big flowery skirt

A warm fire to sit by and look up at the stars

And wonder of planets like Venus and Mars

And the night amphitheater to dance with the wind

And terrible toilets that look like they’ve sinned

Good Grub, Hot Tub and trees that looked weird

And plenty a young fella wearing a beard

And back to the main drag where anything goes

Bamboozled by choice and led by my nose

Salty dog cottage bog Imagination abound

With a sea of messiness all over the ground

From Clare to Calais, foraging the waste

To house some homeless in another place

What is the time? It is asked of me

Back home to reality

“It’s 10 past debauchery”