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 "But not everyone's interested in growing vegetables." I'm having a bit of a heated debate with Mary, an avid flower grower in the town.
"It's all you hear at the moment, grow this, eco that, crisis this and crisis that. All I want to do in the garden is grow a few colourful flowers and relax and forget about all of the troubles in the world. "The colour has risen to Mary's face like a Moville sunrise as she continues to protest about the growing movement of edible horticulture "At one time we had a balance of gardening. David Hamilton would be in the flower garden on Gardeners' World and there would be a bit at the end of the programme about growing the vegetables and tell you how to spray on the chemicals, now it's the other way around. Flowers have become sidelined." She states animatedly throwing her hands about in the air to mimic airborne gardening, if there is such a thing.
Mary continues without drawing breath. "Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of saving the planet, but why does it have to be me? All I want to do is grow a few petunias."
"There needs to be a balance", I say wisely, picking a bit of dormant information from my brain. "Like in garden design, there needs to be a bit of style, flow, scale and symmetry, texture, colour and above all balance when it comes to gardening." I'm not making much sense but continue. "Gardening will find its balance soon, inter-planting the veggie bed with flowers might be a start." I've mentioned vegetables again.
"There you go again" Mary interjects."You haven't got past the first sentence and you're talking about bloody vegetables again!" I try to lower her blood pressure level and try and dig my way out of the hole I just dug, "I see the whole issue of gardening as one entity. Flowers, vegetables, shrubs trees, they are all the same." It didn't work.
"Not they are not!", Mary argues and continues gasping, "and I won't be made to feel guilty about not saving the planet or eating home grown carrots when I'm deadheading the roses. I don't want to grow vegetables, or get a raised bed for that matter, what's wrong with growing things in the ground. Why does everything need to be put in beds?" Mary's arms are now flailing like wind turbines. I'd better not start that topic of conversation.
I look at my watch and give the impression that I have to get over to the other side of the road for something extremely important. "It's been good talking to you." I say politely shuffling my feet to the pavement edge. "Got to go"
"And another thing," Mary has taken to shouting to me from across the High Street, "I'm fed up of being told that I have ‘Cash in my Attic'. Just because there's a recession on doesn't mean that I want to go around selling everything to raise a bit of cash. The same goes for saving money on food." I'm nearly out of ear shot now and slip down a side road out of view. I keep my dignity and refrain from running.
When I bumped into Mary on the street, I was going to mention that there was a talk on in Carndonagh about the food crisis by someone from Equador as part of the Latin American Week. It's probably a good idea that I didn't.
Beauty is all around
Mary has had a bit of an effect on me though as I walk back home through the town along the shorefront, I'm concentrating on the freshness of spring flowers. This is a beautiful time of year, with new growth emanating from the ground and promises of things to come. It's a great time of year to lift and divide any of your favourite perennial plants now.
The bright yellow glow of daffodils from the containers George has planted in the town look lovely in the fresh spring sunshine. We have a vase of beautiful double trumpet daffodils from our own garden on the kitchen table which light up the whole room. New growth is everywhere and the sunshine is reflecting off of the delicate leaves of crocus's, primroses, violets and aconites that are growing all over Inishowen. Walking through Swan Park, the familiar smell of wild garlic wafts into the air, it's like seeing an old friend. There's beauty all around and just for Mary, I have managed to write one whole sentence without mentioning the vegetable garden. That is of course apart from the wild garlic; you can pick the young leaves and add them to your spring salad. Sorry Mary, I tried.
I'll have to have a look in our attic when I get home.
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In the Organic Garden 
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Speaker: Richard Intriago (Head of Small Farmers Association of the Coast of Ecuador and elected representative of (La Conferencia Plurinacional e Intercultural de Soberanía Alimentaria) Intercultural and Plurinational Conference on Food Soverignity in Ecuador
Location: Carndonagh Library, Co.Donegal
Date: Tuesday 12th April 2011
Synopsis of Talk: Jonathan O'Gorman
Richard began by explaining the key differences between “Food Security” and “Food Sovereignity”.
Two commonly used definitions of food security come from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA):
●Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social[23] and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.[24]
●Food security for a household means access by all members at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food security includes at a minimum (1) the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and (2) an assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways (that is, without resorting to emergency food supplies, scavenging, stealing, or other coping strategies). (USDA)[25]
These definitions raise some key points of debate. For example, who determines what is safe and what is nutritionally adequate? Who determines what is socially acceptable? In particular, the definition of Food Security makes no assertions as to the means of production, distribution and consumption of food. Neither does it rule out the use of potentially harmful chemicals in food production, nor the production, distribution and consumption of genetically-modified food as a means of implementing global Food Security strategy.
Food Sovereignity is different in that it refers to the “claimed right of peoples to define their own food, agriculture, livestock and fisheries systems, in contrast to having food largely subject to international market forces”.
Richard then went on to speak about his experience in Ecuador as a farmer and as a political activist in the organisation of farmers and community groups throughout Ecuador.
He spoke at length about organic farming techniques, the production of compost, the use of natural fertilizer, the distribution of food at local level through community markets.
As a political activist Richard is one of eight elected representatives of La Conferencia Plurinacional e Intercultural de Soberanía Alimentaria. This organisation is comprised of over 60 groups comprising of local farmer and consumer organisations, indigeneous tribes, universities and various other social and cultural organisations throughout Ecuador. Together these dispersed groups formed one organisation with 8 elected representatives to formulate national policy on Food Sovereignity and related issues. Through amendments to the Constitution of Ecuador this group has thus far succeded in introducing Food Sovereignity as a basic right for all Ecuadorians. This Group also has the right to present policy documents and legislation in relation to Food Sovereignity to the Ecuadorian National Assembly (equiv. Dáil). Ecuador is therefore the first country in the world to include Food Soverignity as a basic right for its citizens in its Constitution. In particular, the definition of Food Soverignity in the Constitution of Ecuador specifically sets out the right of citizens to produce, distribute and consume food that is free from chemicals, inorganic fertilizers and mechanised production techniques. It also declares the right of citizens to determine what food is culturally appropriate to them rather than this being determined by an exterior power such as a government or faceless market speculators.