Growing Awareness

Last weekend saw the final event in the hugely successful Taste of West Cork festival in Skibbereen.

A huge festival market ended the festival's 10th season which has been one of the most well attended yet.

I was in Skibbereen the weekend before to take part in some of the first events of this year's season. Having talked specifically on the potato last year, I was asked back to give a broader talk on the importance of plants as sources of food and their central place in human society.

"Harvesting the Sun: How plants make food" was well attended and I thoroughly enjoyed the very plant-orientated focus of the Growing Awareness project of which my talk was a part.

Image: Taste of West Cork

Having borrowed an old bakery premises from Field's supermarket (itself a reminder of how important plants are for our 'daily bread') the organisers set to work creating a festival box office but also a lecture space and a huge exhibition highlighting the importance of plants for food.

The Growing Awareness exhibition was the result of many hours hard work by so many organisations and individuals. It was great to see my own students from the UCC MSc Organic Horticulture class, based nearby, making a contribution. The result was an accessible, vibrant and interesting exhibition on plants that will contribute to people's awareness of how important plants are to society. The organisers are to be commended for their foresight and hard work.