The last two months have been busy and exciting – meeting new people and visiting new places!

Dungarvan Food Festival - despite inclement weather, we had 2 great forages on Clonea Strand. Loftus Hall (Nuns beach) provided a dramatic setting for our May forage, and we found 4-5 edible seaweeds on a sunny windy evening. The children in this group were so knowledgeable about the creatures living on the rocky shore, reminding us that we share the seaweed, along with all other resources on the planet.

The source of our food is something I’ve been interested in for a long time and it seems very topical right now. Food labelling is not as reassuring as people may have thought or so it appears from the horsemeat in beefburgers scandal. Overfishing is depleting stocks of most species worldwide. The energy required to produce one calorie of food is about 12 calories, using intensive farming methods.

We share the elements of all life planet – carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen along with sulphur, phosphorus, calcium, iron etc. These elements cycle through our bodies as we consume them in food and water. We are part of a whole ecosystem and as our numbers increase, we are becoming more aware of shortages in all resources – the ones we use directly in food and those used to grow/process/transport/cook that food.