TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL

SOW and GROW

A good friend of mine recently sent me an urgent email: “Met this amazing girl last night.  
She has just started her own business teaching children how to grow food and plants. I believe strongly that this skill has not been passed on to children over the Celtic Tiger years.
You might consider giving her a mention in your food blog.”

That was how I first heard of Ailish Drake, the lady behind Sow and Grow which works with crèches, play-schools, after-school clubs and primary schools providing creative gardening and nature programmes for children. The kids at the crèche or school will be encouraged to explore and discover all about gardening.

Ailish told me that she started the business in April of this year. “I am currently doing a summer run of classes in crèches at Castleconnell, Newport and Murroe, but as crèches are quieter for the summer, I have a lot of interest for September. I will be running programmes in both schools and child care facilities in the autumn, including parent and child classes.”

“Currently I cover Limerick City and County, North Tipp and East Clare. However I am hoping to expand the business to Cork City and its environs in Spring 2012. I have started a blog on my website and I would love anyone from anywhere to follow it and my Facebook page, as I will have lots of tips for gardening with kids and projects to do at home.”

Ailish grew up on a dairy farm on the Cork Limerick border. Her background is in architecture and garden design. “Having spent many years out in the garden with my Dad as a child, I became passionate about gardening and growing my own. My little boy and my many nieces inspired me to bring my passion to kids in crèches and schools. They are never too young to get started growing their own too!”

“It is so important for kids to know about where food comes from and it also gives them the confidence to taste new things and eat simple veg like peas in the pod, they usually they turn their noses up at the frozen alternative. It doesn't have to take a huge amount of time or space; a few simple pots will grow a lot. I also do birthday party packages, which can be anything from individual pots for the kids, or planting a butterfly garden or wildlife window box.”

Sow and Grow provide training, consultancy and demonstrations for local groups, schools, allotment holders and individuals. “We also specialise in garden and landscape design. Also, check out our great birthday party ideas, and make that special day just a bit different!”

Thanks to Mairead O’Brien of Nash 19 who put me in touch with Ailish. I too believe that we, especially us city dwellers, have too quickly lost touch with much of what was good in our past, even though most of us are hardly a wet week off the land.

We can never really go back – times and places change – but through programmes like those set up by Ailish we can re-connect and appreciate what was good then and that will help us and our kids and grandchildren appreciate what is good now and into the future.