Why GIY?
"When GIY started up that was brilliant for me. There were all these other people who all shared something with me. They might not share everything that I felt about issues or may have different views, but we were all linked by growing our own food ... It just seemed like it was made for me. And the local group is brilliant, I’ve made lots of friends and we’re doing all sorts of interesting things and building a real community. I have learnt such an enormous amount through GIY. It’s like being on a university course in growing your own food.”
Alexis Guilbride, GIY Dungarvan
GIY in the Media
"How do you deal with the consequences of jobs evaporating in towns, and all the mental troubles that it will inevitably cause as people tumble into depression, lethargy and relationship meltdowns? Can there be a simple answer? Yes. Join GIY. Get yourself motivated by getting your garden rotavated."
John McKenna, Irish Times, Tuesday 20th September 2011
GIY Org Structure
GIY Ireland Ltd is a company limited by guarantee not having any share capital (CRO number 477525) it is a registered charity (CHY 18920). GIY Ireland’s voluntary Board of Directors currently consists of 7 people. The Board meets quarterly. GIY employs nine people part time - three of them are based in our office in Arclabs Research and Innovation Centre in Waterford.
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About GIY
Our vision is for a healthier, more sustainable and more connected world where people grow their own food.
We inspire and empower people to grow their own by bringing them together in community groups and online to share tips, advice and expertise.
Founded in Ireland by Michael Kelly in 2009 there are now over 12,000 people involved and over 100 GIY groups. The organisation started in Australia in 2010 and will launch in the UK in May 2012.
The Problem
Go to your local supermarket and chances are, what you will see on the shelves are imports of highly-processed, unseasonal produce - broccoli from Kenya, mangetout from Senegal, carrots from Guatemala and so on. The way the food chain currently operates has implications for our health, community, the environment, the economy and jobs.
So, what’s the solution? Write an angry letter? Lobby a politician? At GIY we believe that change begins with the decision to sow a seed – if we can encourage enough people to grow their own vegetables, we can transform the food chain and bring some common sense back in to our relationship with food.
The Solution
Grow the food yourself! At GIY we want people to experience what we call GIY Joy - the special type of joy that you get from sowing seeds, sticking your hands in the soil and growing your own food.
We do this by bringing people together in community groups and online to help each other grow. There are over 100 GIY groups and approximately 12,000 people involved between our community groups and the online social network at www.giyireland.com.
Join the GIY revolution and help us to make home-grown food a reality in your community!
Where did it all start?
Journalist and author Michael Kelly set up the first GIY group in Waterford in 2008. Michael and his wife have been growing their own food for about five years and went in search of a local food growers group for them to join so that they could learn from some real experts and get to know other like-minded folk in the area. But there was no such group, and being a sucker for a hare-brained project, Michael decided to set one up.
100 people showed up at the first meeting of GIY Waterford and the group continues to meets monthly in the city. Not long afterwards other GIY groups were formed in neighbouring towns. Michael and Dave Curran spent nearly two years driving around Ireland in a battered old GIY-mobile, starting GIY groups in towns from Navan to Nenagh, Belfast to Bantry, Limerick to Lucan. Things have got a little more sophisticated since, but the ethos of GIY remains the same - we're all about bringing people together so that they can grow their own food more successfully. So an idea that started local, has gone regional, then national and now international – GIY has recently launched in Australia and will launch in the UK in 2012.
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