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Our Farm A Giy Story S01E05
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00:01just trying to work out how to get my tickets for tomorrow for all together now cause me and
00:07make our going to be performing I always wanted to perform at a rock festival but I'd never really
00:14imagined it'd be a talking gardener but you have to start somewhere anyway that's enough
00:18of that crap anyway I'll get on with some work it's been a tough few weeks for the team here
00:29in Waterford and with the dust only just settling we're back at GIY HQ to check in with Mick to
00:34see
00:35how things are holding up and what happens next it's been you know a really bruising month to be
00:42honest like it's been pretty brutal for everybody and you know we were really focused I think on
00:50thinking about what's the highest impact work that we do what's the core of what we do and trying to
00:54save as much of it as we could I think going forward GIY is going to be much kind of
01:00leaner
01:01completely focused on our work in schools on that side of the house you know the the farm and the
01:07veg box all that is it's all heading in the right direction and feels really positive so it's like
01:12it's just a question of kind of pushing on now for the next couple of months and making it work
01:16I might not be here anymore but my my work in food advocacy will continue that that is who I
01:24am
01:24that is that is what I do that is my passion and I'm excited for for here I'm excited for
01:31for them to
01:32to continue their work and and to hopefully see what they can do and and and I'd love to you
01:37know make
01:37sure that that they are you know surviving and doing well Irish Richard and the team the the best
01:42of luck you know um and and like I said I just hope that they'll continue that mindset and it's
01:47not just
01:48for this year it's for next year and for the years to come you know you can't just fix something
01:52just
01:52to just to you know scrape by it's got to be changed that's implemented you know for for the future
01:58I think if we can get through this we can get through anything
02:03meanwhile Claude is feeling the pressure too but for the first time this season the veg boxes are
02:08full with produce grown entirely on the farm so it's Claude's job to boost veg box sign-ups try sell
02:15more veg over the counter and keep these tills ringing ching ching I feel like all I've ever heard the
02:22last ages is hungry gap hungry gap hungry gap in the kitchen they're using preserves or there's
02:26blank stuff in now it's all our own stuff which is really really good if we're not getting the
02:30numbers for veg box we need to find other ways to sell it I think they've kind of forgotten that
02:35the shop is there and they're trying to get other places and other companies and other people to
02:40buy it when we need to sell it from our own shop we have our own customer base here who
02:44know what
02:45we do so we should sell it from here yeah I think me and Richard need to have a talk
02:48and try see what
02:50we can do with the veg here at the shop and try and pick it up between the two of
02:54us maybe it'd be a
02:54really good idea Richard hi Richard and what can I do for you and so I'm looking to talk veg
03:05sales in
03:05the shop what in a silly voice yeah I'm nervous that's why you could be in what way do you
03:14want
03:14to talk so I'm thinking about maybe lowering some of the prices of the veg so I can sell more
03:19of them
03:19instead of like the veg going to waste or having to bring it into the kitchen yeah great are you
03:23going to put the whole lot down or are you going to just things are in surplus or um I
03:28don't know
03:29well that's why I'm coming to you you because you had your old market stall I thought you might be
03:32able to help me I would go down to the supermarket conventional prices but I do think the grab-and
03:41-go
03:41thing that sounds good people don't like getting that that's what people are used to in supermarkets
03:45but a bit of communication like woohoo tomatoes straight off the farm and you're going to have
03:51the grapes oh the great did well last year actually do you want a trial bunch to see what they're
03:57like
03:57so you can tell people how delicious they are 100% there you go thank you
04:06um do you think I need like more space like more boxes more maybe spread them out like the grapes
04:13rather than in the trays if you had them like on your counter but like I could put more crates
04:19down
04:19below maybe with more stuff in it and more stuff that sounds like your expertise not mine but um I
04:24think to learn from you not really for marketing in a shop
04:31a few weeks back we watched Richard and Katie herd the pigs into a new patch of land
04:35yeah I don't know about this now Richard come on oh did you hear Richard I'm struggling here
04:41come on come on why aren't they eating my food
04:48their mission clear the area the natural way well the pigs have done their job and now it's Richard's
04:53turn he's heading back to see what's left behind and maybe uncover what's been hiding beneath the
04:59brambles all this time a few weeks of clearing and I really can see what what I've got as a
05:09garden
05:09it's uh as I say it's an orchard and the old maps indicated it probably was and it definitely is
05:16a restoring an old orchard is one of those things you like to be able to do as a grower
05:20debating when
05:22I should tell Mick about our findings down here really I'm a little bit worried we could end up
05:27with glumping pods or something down here but uh we'll work towards an orchard at home
05:35with a plan forming in his head Richard needs to call in the big guns he's managed to get Mick
05:40to
05:40the farm but this won't just be a friendly catch-up can he convince Mick to invest in this passion
05:45project
05:46time for Richard to make the pitch and hope for the best they've done some job of clearing in here
05:50haven't they there's a pig path there to follow a pig path following following in the trotters of
05:57greatness that was like practically Shakespearean there Richard yeah it's one of my many talents really
06:06uh and have a look at this it's the largest apple tree of genuinely ever seen wheat you see they're
06:13clearing away and look at that for an apple tree oh my god absolutely huge wow more apples over there
06:21there are yes and they have blossoms which means they're gonna produce they're gonna fruit right
06:26yeah so explain that make you start with the blossoms and then the bees come along and then
06:32you get the apples in the season you've got hit the nail on the head yeah you got it again
06:37so we
06:38could we could restore this for I'll make only a couple of grand a couple of grand yeah how high
06:47on
06:47the priority list is is this do you think I know you're gonna ask me about money and the return
06:52is
06:52something like 10 years down the road a bit I mean this is a garden you can't think in terms
06:59of money
06:59it'd be amazing to have this restored but like is it priority is what I'm I think we need more
07:05information before we can call that I suppose so you'd be grand a bit more information then we can call
07:13it at the moment it's not yet and I'm a bit afraid to tell Richard he's saying you know it'll
07:21only cost a
07:22couple of grand it's a couple of grand like how many feckin veg boxes do you have to sell to
07:26make
07:26back a couple of grand and I and I I just know from previous experience it's a couple of grand
07:31is
07:31just the beginning of it and to turn this into what he wants to turn it into it's gonna cost
07:35could
07:36cost like five grand and we just don't have that to spend at the minute when we're still struggling to
07:40get the numbers up right come on pig pig pig let's go somewhere where you're not finding other projects
07:47for me to do come on pig pig pig pig pig I just can stay there then with the orchard
07:57pitch wrapped
07:57and Mick not willing to part with money we're heading back to Waterford because while the growing happens
08:02on the farm the selling well some of that happens right here at the GIY cafe Alan and the front
08:08of house
08:09team aren't just serving food they're showcasing the produce every day on the plates they know
08:14they've got a role to play too in this project as we see ourselves hearing in grow HQ has been
08:20that
08:20ability to showcase and we can explain to our customers that look everything we put on the plate we grow
08:28ourselves so you can also grow that at home so we were trouble we're here to try and I suppose
08:33not so
08:34much educate people inform them that this is what you can do and you don't need a big
08:39space to be able to grow you don't need a big space to be able to cook we are more
08:43than a cafe that
08:44that we are a social enterprise it's not about making profits it's more about trying to educate
08:49inform customers and of what we do the veg boxes is it is a big part of that you put
08:55me on a flat white
08:56in the cappuccino for 13 please Zoe yeah I suppose it's hard to quantify that the amount of veg boxes
09:02we've I suppose contributed to selling and I'm sure that there should be a certain number of
09:09contributed to us because in the fairness to the guys they're always trying to chat to people and
09:14letting people know that that that this is an option available for them to buy but yeah I'm sure that
09:20they might not but that there's there's a good portion of them should be contributed to us
09:33back on the farm the team are knee-deep in the harvest for this week's veg boxes but not
09:38everything's going to plan there's trouble in the cabbage patch and it's serious enough for Gary to
09:43call him back up Richard is on his way we can probably throw it up there what you reckon yeah
09:50yeah look at that that was beautiful 10 days ago big food now we're gonna be pushed to find 25
10:00good
10:00ones you see this one's just starting to split but even that's gone beyond there no one's gonna buy
10:08that and there's no disease nothing wrong with them purely no way to sell them we'll call it a day
10:15Gary yeah all right I mean I can't if we don't have the 25 for the box and we don't
10:20the shop isn't
10:21going to sell more than 10 over the weekends all right okay yeah I'm sure Mick's aware of this he'd
10:26like to sell more but we're not going to pay the rent if we're leaving crops in the field
10:35a lot of labor goes into it they can't harvest it
10:40the warning signs have been there for weeks too much veg not enough customers and for Richard it's
10:45the final straw he's called Mick to the farm not for a chat but to see the problem with his
10:50own eyes
10:51because if they don't start shifting this veg fast it won't be going into boxes it'll be going to the
10:56pigs yeah have a look mate please don't look oh wait yeah I see what you mean yeah they've split
11:02so
11:03what they were beautiful a week or two ago and like how much how much are we getting for each
11:07one
11:07of these when they're when they're good like retail we're getting 150 so like we value them in the box
11:11there's a lot of lost money here in this a lot and uh yeah I mean it's you consider all
11:17of the time
11:18gone into propagating them transplanting them weeding them and then we get nothing for them and we're
11:25going to have this crap happening again I mean it's demoralizing for the staff it makes me think
11:30of retraining as an accountant uh you know it's it's heartbreaking seeing it I mean I I like obviously
11:37I'm thinking about the figures obviously the money that's been lost but on a level there's such
11:42beautiful food going to waste or being fed to the pigs it's like it's kind of heartbreaking right
11:47yeah on many levels so let's sell them yeah okay while Mick's facing the harsh reality of cabbages
11:57turning to compost elsewhere on the farm things are no less chaotic Anya's chasing hens again because
12:03some of them have escaped and they've made a run for it yeah go on I'm caught now that's it
12:08go on
12:09there you go now you're captured again they like to take their chances don't you now in you go
12:21gotcha gotcha in you go
12:30these are the worst ones for escaping aren't you hey Bob Bob's a good boy good boy Bob
12:47with staffing already stretched thin Cloda who's been holding the fort in the shop is heading off
12:53on maternity leave the other thing that's in the back of my mind is when are you going on
12:57math leave because like obviously that's an extra layer of so I leave in like seven weeks I think it
13:02is okay so we've got seven weeks to learn how to do these things yeah find someone train them up
13:09yeah and get them comfortable to do it as well we need to talk to Alan about that as well
13:14just to
13:15to see how we can get that moving so that's really important too we need to get that up in
13:22the next
13:22week yeah definitely if this slipped through the cracks what else might he be missing I'm just kind
13:29of really really terrified that we're going to miss something and that there's some kind of piece of
13:34the puzzle that we're we're just not covering so if anything else comes to mind just let me know
13:39and hopefully um between the three of us we can kind of keep all the balls in the air hopefully
13:45I'll text you if you think of anything yeah it'll become apparent as we have to do things yeah exactly
13:49yeah it's step by step yeah it's one foot in front of the other for now yeah all right thanks
13:54a million
13:54lads bye see you later it's a few weeks on and we head back out to the farm where the
14:04team are busy
14:04pulling vegetables out of the ground things are starting to shift and for once it's not more
14:09problems and Richard has some good news this might just be the break we've all been waiting for
14:16box scheme numbers have been ticking up shop sales are improving the wastage is slowing down and we are
14:25getting a fair bit coming in to cover costs I mean we're not for profit so it's not profit we're
14:31going
14:31for it's covering costs and that's starting to happen now so it's yeah it's it's a relief is the feeling
14:39really it's amazing that we're harvesting for a purpose and and we're not wasting it and the fact
14:45that I've been involved from start to finish it's and it's an achievement for everybody here involved
14:51and it's great to see what we can grow and sell and produce I have a good feeling now that
15:00the garden
15:01has turned a corner I'm supposed to be a bit basic about it that we're going to survive you know
15:07things are going out being sold and looking at the figures for last month we're paying away now in
15:15the garden so good with the garden finally turning a corner and the veg flying out the door it's a
15:23small win that the team so desperately needed and just as things are settling Mick gets to call he's
15:29been waiting for soil expert Mike Walsh is ready to show him behind the scenes at SETU in Waterford
15:35where the soil samples from Curramore are being tested it's time to swap the wellies for a lab coat
15:40and find out if the soil really is as good as Richard says it is this is very fancy for
15:46a bit
15:46of bit of soil test and I just thought I was going to you know a bit of an old
15:50MPK test but look all
15:51this gear this is great they're very privileged let's do it hi Patti how are you nice to see you
15:56again welcome to the lab thank you very much wow look at this this is our our soil yeah this
16:01is your
16:01soil so the scores we took out the day in the field yeah and we took them in and we're
16:05looking
16:05at the soil structure with this equipment this is called a high prop and it basically measures the
16:10porosity of the soil and we can use that to assess the soil structure so the next thing I done
16:14was
16:15hem soil textural analysis okay which is over on the desk here all right basically if you see these
16:20these are like the sand fractions in so in soil so we divide it into wow and yeah basically different
16:26sieves sizes so this comes from yeah so once the organic matter has been dissolved off okay so Mike
16:33is it fair to say the more the more DNA we find means there's more life in the soil and
16:38the more
16:39life in the soil the better it is is that oversimplifying it no well generally higher the organic matter
16:46content yeah more life you have inside so we're more likely to find a bigger population of microbial life
16:54yeah like your bacteria and your fungi yeah this will bring everything down to the bottom and oh
17:02yeah it'll separate the solution from the solids basically um so I can take out the DNA part
17:10now so see how the solution has come through here yeah so the DNA is currently here okay and we'll
17:16add
17:16water okay and leave it sit for five minutes and then we'll spin it again in the centrifuge and we'll
17:24end up having I am the DNA in the bottom of this container okay so patty has some DNA extracted
17:33in
17:33the vial and the next step is crucial they need to find out if the sample is viable so while
17:38Mick steps
17:38back Patty gets to work analyzing filtering and checking the results it's delicate detailed science but it
17:45could be the key to proving just how alive the soil is at the farm this is my soil we've
17:52got a sample
17:53that's viable yeah we need to send that off to tell us like is it full of life is it
17:57or is it not
17:58exactly and we'll hear back in about six weeks six weeks time usually okay it gives you a sense of
18:05how
18:05deep Mike is kind of is going with this testing and that's going to be super exciting to get those
18:10results back and see what we're actually dealing with like incredibly compact stuff and Patty like
18:15those are stuff like amazing Mick rushes back to GIY HQ they need to keep the pressure on now that
18:22the
18:22veg box numbers are on the rise and he's got a favor to ask Richard he needs social media content
18:28about the veg box this week and Richard is the obvious choice to talk I wonder how this is going
18:34to go no you love your camera appearances so 30 seconds of fame yeah have you anything interesting
18:41you can say about these yeah yeah please don't hold them up there it looks like you're commenting on
18:49something come on we go outside down here maybe yeah definitely not down there I know you like to
18:56kind of be passionate for a long time about stuff so you'll want to talk literally you'll want to
19:02talk so I need you to keep this tight like 30 seconds max alrighty ready one two three right there's
19:13a new
19:13thing in the box this week it's a squash they've come on a couple of weeks early with the hot
19:18summer
19:19I think probably my favorite veg in the garden so these are in the box this week they are one
19:24in
19:24every box fantastic thanks a million see that wasn't actually too bad I know that's perfect right
19:32edgy it's grungy bit like yourself yeah absolutely thanks for doing that
19:47with the social media video finally in the bag it's time to switch gears because this afternoon
19:53Nick and Richard aren't just growers they're performers I've made it but they give me a free
19:58beer they're heading over to all together now the huge music festival happening literally on the
20:03other side of the garden wall a car more really amazing and while makes trying to play cool Richard
20:08he's very excited I have to try and find Nick though I won't be too upset if I don't but
20:14you know
20:15I'm performing with make but you know I suppose I understand myself and make one to sell the idea I
20:29suppose of sustainable food production and how what we're doing here and trying to make a success of
20:35is food production which doesn't take the planet out I've got the job of making gardening rock and roll
20:45so yeah are you excited to give this talk well as excited as ever sorry I'm excited as I ever
20:57am
20:59Jesus Christ I hope you're gonna bring a bit more enthusiasm than that I could take to this
21:05I think it's gardening please give a round of applause to Nick and Richard
21:16the next step for us was we started a veg box scheme so this is one of the boxes you
21:20can see in front of us
21:21it looked a lot fresher when it was harvested this morning but everything's gone a bit flaccid
21:27and at my age I know the feeling but it could be a bit more I apologize for his for
21:36those that
21:37innuendo the most nutritious the most nutrient-dense food that you can eat is in that box is in that
21:43box it's whatever is in season in your in your local area at any particular time of the year I
21:49really would urge anybody I mean you live locally please buy some of a veg yeah Phil have made it
21:56now
21:56I've got a purple wristband I got free beer you know okay there's no underwear thrown on stage
22:03but I was prepared for that if it happened but yeah I think finally after all these years I'm not
22:11just a
22:11gardener I'm also a rock star on a more fun side I'm looking forward to seeing my colleague Katie
22:19who's performing in her band I might even get my dad dancing out
22:27kind of nervous for her actually because it's a big second stage and but they're amazing go on
22:32let's see you dancing yeah come on they're going to start now any minute look forward to seeing you
22:36dancing oh you'll be amazed
23:17well Richard what do you think about excellent loved it loved it you're right up the front in the
23:23moss pit there that's my hearing's not so good these days I want to hear the band have to get
23:28right up there
23:31next week it's the final chapter of the season the team pushes on determined to finish strong
23:37Richard calls in an apple expert as he quietly hatches a plan for the orchard's future Clodagh expands
23:43the shop one last time before maternity leave and the garden finally hits its stride just in time for
23:49GIY to cater the biggest banquet of the year Nick chase a soil test results that could change everything
23:55and he looks to the future with some possible conservation projects as the team gathers for
24:00one final celebration they look back on a season of chaos graft heartbreak and plenty of growth it's
24:07all coming up in the finale of the series
24:37you
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