Seed of an idea bears rich fruit for garden duo

Lifestyle –  Judy Murphy meets two energetic women who have restored an old garden to become a community resource

A special Harvest Festival at Doorus House, four miles south of Kinvara, will take place next September, marking the 10th anniversary of a unique community enterprise.

The Community Orchard Project has seen a derelict, neglected garden brought back to life and production, complete with fruit trees, polytunnels, beehives, pizza hut, a bio-diversity garden and a pergola, in an initiative led by two local women.

The Community Orchard Project was the brainchild of Lynn O’Keeffe-Lascar, who was joined early on by Anna Jeffrey Gibson.

It consists of slightly less than an acre to the rear of Doorus House, which was built in the late 1860s and once owned by the de Basterots, a wealthy French family, who were friends of Lady Gregory. They used it as a holiday home until the 1940s. It then changed hands and remained in private ownership until it was taken over by the Irish Youth Hostelling group, An Óige in the 1960s.

Unfortunately, the hostel has been closed for the past two years, although the women are hopeful it will re-open – it’s the last of the organisation’s hostels to remain closed.

“When we started the walled garden it was a busy hostel and there is also the caravan park at Traught beach, so there was a lot of activity,” explain the two women.

The restoration of Doorus walled garden began 10 years ago, thanks to Lynn, who is originally from Oranmore. She’s not from a farming background, but she always loved gardening and, after her Leaving Cert, did a course in organic gardening in the UK before returning to Ireland.

She didn’t have enough space for a garden in the house she and her husband, Nico, were renting locally, so she put out feelers and the postman told her about the garden at Doorus House. She approached An Óige who were receptive to the idea. At the time it was completely overgrown and they were happy to have somebody take on the challenge.

She put up a sign looking for volunteers and Anna came on board. Born in England and reared in Dublin, her parents were both botanists and she has a degree in science from Trinity College. Like Lynn, she has a passion for gardening. She and her husband, Ivan have their own garden on their farm between Kinvara and Ballindereen, but she was eager to get stuck into this project too.

“The learning curve has been very steep since we took it over,” says Anna with a laugh. 

You wouldn’t think that to look at it now. There are 70 fruit trees – 50 of them traditional apple varieties – three polytunnels, several allotments, a small wilderness garden, and a recently planted herb bed  – made with car and tractor tyres  – containing everything from wild rocket to wormwood.

All the garden’s trees were sponsored by local families, so there is a real sense of ownership among the community and people regularly visit to check on them.

From the get go, the women got involved with the Clare-based organisation, Seedsavers, which works to save traditional Irish fruit and vegetable varieties.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.