One Change: Growing your own food is one of the most impactful changes we can make for environment
By Manchán Magan
Irish Times
Jan 21, 2020
Excerpt:
The situation in Ireland is far murkier, as anyone who has tried to get their local authority to allocate land will know. Yet the few allotments that do manage to get established tend to be remarkably vibrant, with neighbours, families and friends working together, exchanging ideas, information and the fruits of their harvest. As well as being communal, they are also intergenerational, with children working alongside parents and grandparents, learning how food is grown and how the seasons dictate our lives.
The mental and physical health benefits of gardening have been well proven. Research from Bristol University and University College London found that microbes in soil stimulated the brain cells in laboratory mice to produce serotonin, altering their behaviour in a similar way to antidepressants such as Prozac.
Yet, unless we begin to demand and agitate for them, we will never get allotments on the scale they exist in Europe or in English cities like Newcastle, which has more than 3,000 plots available at 61 sites.
We should all ask our local council if allotments are provided in our area, and remind local councillors that the Government has specified them as a key part of the All Ireland Pollinator Plan 2015-2020. Currently, Cork city has only one local authority allotment site, while Galway city has two. Dublin South Central has seven, but most tend to have long waiting lists, as do many of the private allotments, such as Glencullen Farm in the Dublin foothills.
Via Gardening http://www.rssmix.com/
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