I LOVE THE earthy, rural Irish tradition of the ‘meitheal’, where people used to come together on neighbouring farms to help with a time-sensitive task like saving hay or harvesting.

The meitheal was effectively a cooperative labour system – it was a cashless transaction, with the meitheal members (meithealers?) expecting no payment in return for their work, but safe in the knowledge that when their time came to have a job completed, the meitheal would visit its largesse on them too.

Meitheals also created community spirit but at a time when communities were already pretty tight, it’s safe to say that community building wasn’t the primary reason for having one. It was simply an entirely efficient, speedy and cheap way to get a major job of work done.

The ‘meitheal’ spirit has always been at the heart of everything we do in GIY – this movement is about people coming together in communities (and online) to help each other to grow food. Much of the time it is knowledge rather than labour that is being exchanged, but sometimes GIY groups also have actual, physical meitheals and very useful they are too when there’s a major job of work to be done in someone’s veg patch or at a community garden.

Last weekend a meitheal visited my own garden here in Dunmore East. The job of work to be done? Putting in a new fruit garden and a reconfiguration of half of my veg patch – the latter job necessitating moving raised beds around and the like (work which would be almost impossible without a posse).

I was struck most by the brutal efficiency of the meitheal – a daunting piece of work made simple by the sheer number of willing arms (and backs). With the job done after two hours, we shared a steaming bowl of soup sitting outside on a cold early-spring morning, surveying our work with satisfaction and putting the world to right. As always this meitheal was about getting a job done, but the sense of camaraderie and community is what will bring us all back next time round.

Things to do this Month – March

To Do

Continue to prepare ground – there is still time to prepare a plot to grow veg this year. Fork or rake over existing beds, breaking up large clods of earth. Cover new seedlings with fleece if a frost is due. Start your daily slug patrols and lay beer traps. Don’t let new-season weeds take over – get on top of them with weekly hoeing.

Sow

Indoors: lettuce, aubergine, peppers, cucumbers, celery, celeriac, sweet corn, basil, leeks, summer cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, parsley, courgette, French beans.

Sow outdoors or under cover: broad beans, red cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, spinach, kale, Brussels sprouts, onions, leeks, turnip, peas, radishes, early lettuce, asparagus.

Plant your first early seed potatoes, as soon as weather conditions allow.

Harvest

This month you could be enjoying (from the ground and from storage) onions, leeks, parsnips, potatoes, some varieties of lettuce, mint, sprouting broccoli, kale, rhubarb, chard, the first of the spring cauliflowers and cabbage, and spinach (perpetual, spinach beet).

Recipe of the Month – Kale and Black-Eyed Pea Soup

This feels more like a broth than a soup, but it’s delicious and makes a virtue of kale which is so wonderfully in-season at the moment. This will make a great healthy lunch or if you want to turn it in to a hearty supper, add 100g of cooked pasta (something small like macaroni) and serve with crusty bread. Serves 6.

Ingredients:

· 2 tablespoons coconut oil

· 1 small onion, diced

· 6 large carrots, chopped

· 2 stalks of celery

· 2 cloves garlic, minced

· 400g tin dried black-eyed peas or pinto beans.

· 1.8l vegetable stock

· 225g kale, chopped

· 1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary

· 1 teaspoon finely chopped dried sage

· 1 teaspoon cumin

· 1 chili-pepper, finely chopped

Instructions

In a large saucepan on medium heat, add coconut oil and onions and cook until softened. Add in celery, carrots, and garlic and cook until the mixture is nice and caramelised and cooked through. Add herbs, spices and a good sprinkling of salt and pepper and stir well. Pour in the vegetable stock, beans, and kale. Cook for 1-2 hours on a medium heat until the beans and carrots are tender.

Tip of the Week – Sowing

As we have now moved into March, this week I will be doing my first sowing (on a heating mat indoors in the potting shed) of lettuce, annual spinach and oriental greens (mustard, pak choi, rocket) for later transplanting out in to the polytunnel.

This is the start of my monthly succession sowing of all these vegetables, which I will sow at the start of each month between now and August. I generally sow two 8-module trays of lettuce, two of annual spinach and two of oriental greens – I’ve found this is enough to give me a pretty consistent supply of each, without any major shortages or gluts. Sixteen heads of lettuce a month (four a week) should be enough for most people!

Later in March, the seed sowing will really start to heat up. Early potatoes will go in the ground outside some time after Paddy’s Day and before end of month. In the potting shed (for later transplanting), I will be sowing my celeriac crop and the first succession sowings of calabrese, cauliflower, celery and scallions.

Michael Kelly is a freelance journalist, author of ‘GROW COOK EAT’ and founder of GIY.

GIY’s vision is for a healthier, more connected and more sustainable world where people grow some of their own food. Each year they inspire and support over 60,000 people and 800 community food-growing groups and projects around Ireland, and run food-growing campaigns, events and publications. www.giyireland.com

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