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00:01just trying to work out how to get my tickets for tomorrow for all together now
00:06cause me and make our going to be performing I always wanted to perform at
00:11a rock festival but I'd never really imagined it'd be a talking gardener but
00:16you have to start somewhere anyway that's enough of that crap anyway I'll
00:19get on with some work it's been a tough few weeks for the team here in Waterford
00:29and with the dust only just settling we're back at GIY HQ to check in with
00:34Mick to see how things are holding up and what happens next it's been you know a
00:40really bruising month to be honest like it's been pretty brutal for everybody
00:47and you know we were really focused I think on thinking about what's the
00:51highest impact work that we do what's the core of what we do and trying to save
00:55as much of it as we could I think going forward GIY is going to be much kind of
01:00leaner completely focused on our work in schools on that side of the house you
01:06know the the farm and the veg box all that is it's all heading in the right
01:10direction and feels really positive so it's like it's just a question of kind
01:14of pushing on now for the next couple of months and making it work I may not be
01:17here anymore but my my work in food advocacy will continue that that is who
01:23I am those that is what I do that is my passion and I'm excited for for here I'm
01:30excited for for them to to continue their work and and to hopefully see what they
01:34can do and and and I would love to you know make sure that that they are you
01:38know surviving and doing well Irish Richard and the team the best of luck you
01:43know and and like I said I just hope that they'll continue that mindset and
01:47it's not just for this year it's for next year and for the years to come you
01:50know you can't just fix something just to just to you know scrape by it's got to
01:55be changed that's implemented you know for for the future I think if we can get
01:59through this we can get through and
02:03meanwhile Claude is feeling the pressure too but for the first time this season the
02:07veg boxes are full with produce grown entirely on the farm so it's Claude's job
02:12to boost veg box sign-ups try sell more veg over-the-counter and keep these
02:17tills ringing ching ching I feel like all I've ever heard the last ages is
02:22hungry gap hungry gap hungry gap in the kitchen they're using preserves or
02:26there's buying stuff in now it's all our own stuff which is really really good if
02:29we're not getting the numbers for veg box we need to find other ways to sell
02:33it I think they've kind of forgotten that the shop is there and they're
02:36trying to get other places and other companies and other people to buy it when
02:41we need to sell it from our own shop we have our own customer base here who know
02:44what we do so we should sell it from here yeah I think me and Richard need to have
02:48a talk and try see what we can do with the veg here at the shop and try and big
02:52it
02:53up between the two of us maybe it'd be a really good idea Richard
02:59hi Richard what can I do for you and so I'm looking to talk veg sales in the shop
03:06what in a silly voice yeah I'm nervous that's why you could be in what way do
03:14you want to talk so I'm thinking about maybe lowering some of the prices of the
03:17veg so I can sell more of them instead of like the veg going to waste or having to
03:21bring it into the kitchen yeah great are you going to put the whole lot down or
03:25are you going to just things are in surplus or I don't know well that's why I'm
03:29coming 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
03:40think the grab-and-go thing that sounds good people don't like it that's what
03:44people are used to in supermarkets but a bit of communication like woohoo
03:48tomatoes straight off the farm and you're gonna have the grapes oh the
03:53grapes did well last year actually do you want a trial bunch to see what
03:57they're like so you can tell people how delicious they are 100% there you go
04:02thank you do you think I need like more space like more boxes more maybe
04:11spread a wider like the grapes rather than in the trays if you had them like on
04:16your counter but like I could put more crates down below maybe with more stuff
04:20in it I don't know that sounds like your expertise not mine but I think not really
04:27for marketing in a shop a few weeks back we watched Richard and Katie herd the pigs
04:48have done their job and now it's Richard's turn he's heading back to see what's left behind and
04:56maybe uncover what's been hiding beneath the brambles all this time
05:04a few weeks of clearing and I really can see what what I've got as a garden it's as I
05:11say it's an
05:11orchard and the old maps indicated it probably was and it definitely is a restoring an old orchard is
05:17one of those things you like to be able to do as a grower debating when I should tell make
05:23about our
05:23findings down here really I'm a little bit worried we could end up with the glamping pods or something
05:28down here but we'll work towards an orchard at home with a plan forming in his head Richard needs to
05:38call
05:38in the big guns he's managed to get Mick to the farm but this won't just be a friendly catch
05:43-up can
05:43he convince Mick to invest in this passion project time for Richard to make the pitch and hope for the
05:48best they've done some job of clearing in here and there's a pig path there to follow a pig path
05:55following in the trotters of greatness I was like practically Shakespearean there Richard yeah it's
06:04one of my many talents really and have a look at this it's the largest apple tree of genuinely
06:09being of a steed weed you see they're clearing away and look at that for an apple tree oh my
06:18god
06:18absolutely huge wow more apples over there there are yes and they have blossoms which means they're
06:24going to produce they're going to fruit right yes I'm explaining that make you start with the
06:29blossoms and then the bees come along and then you get the apples at the end of the season you've
06:34I've hit the nail on the head yeah you got it again so we could we could restore this for
06:40I'll
06:41make only a couple of grand a couple of grand yeah how high on the priority list is is this
06:48do you think
06:49I know you're going to ask me about money and the return is something like 10 years down the road
06:55a bit I mean this is a garden you can't think in terms of money mate it'd be amazing to
07:00have this
07:01restored but like is it priority is what I'm I think we need more information before we can call
07:06that I suppose so you'd be grand a bit more information then we can call it at the moment
07:16it's not yet and I'm a bit afraid to tell Richard he's saying you know it'll only cost a couple
07:22of
07:22grand it's a couple of grand like how many feckin veg boxes do you have to sell to make back
07:26a couple of
07:27grand and I and I I just know from previous experience it's a couple of grand is just the
07:31beginning of it and to turn this into what he wants to turn it into it's going to cost could
07:35cost
07:36like 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
07:47projects for me to do come on pig pig pig pig pig I just can stay there then
07:56with the orchard pitch wrapped and make not willing to part with money we're heading back to Waterford
08:01because while the growing happens on the farm the selling well some of that happens right here at the
08:06GIY cafe Alan and the front of house team aren't just serving food they're showcasing the produce
08:12every day on the plates they know they've got a role to play too in this project because we see
08:17ourselves here in grow HQ has been that ability to showcase and we can explain to our customers that
08:25look everything we put on the place we grow ourselves so you can also grow that at home so
08:31we were trouble we're here to try and I suppose not so much educate people to inform them that this
08:36is what you can do and you don't need a big space to be able to grow you don't need
08:41a big space to be
08:41able to cook we are more than a cafe that we are a social enterprise it's not about making profits
08:47it's
08:47more about trying to educate inform customers and of what we do the veg boxes is a big part of
08:55that
08:55you put me on a flat white the cappuccino for 13 please Zoe yeah I suppose it's hard to quantify
09:01the amount of veg boxes we've I suppose contributed to selling and I'm sure that there should be a
09:08certain number of contributed to us because in the fairness to the guys they're always trying to
09:13to chat to people and letting people know that that that this is an option available for them to buy
09:18but yeah I'm sure that they might not but there's there's a good portion of them should be contributed
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
09:52look at that that was beautiful 10 days ago big food now we're going to be pushed to find 25
09:59good
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 no disease nothing wrong with them purely nowhere to sell them we'll call it a
10:14day Gary yeah all right I mean I can't if we don't have the 25 for the box and we
10:19don't the shop isn't
10:21going to sell more than 10 over the weekends all right okay yeah I'm sure mix aware of this he'd
10:26like
10:26to sell more but we're not going to pay the rent if we're leaving crops in the field a lot
10:35of labor goes
10:36into it they can't harvest it the warning signs have been there for weeks too much veg not enough
10:43customers and for Richard it's the final straw he's called Mick to the farm not for a chat but
10:49to see the problem with his own eyes because if they don't start shifting this veg fast it won't be
10:54going into boxes it'll be going to the pigs yeah have a look mate these don't look oh wait yeah
11:00I see
11:01what you mean yeah they've split so they were beautiful a week or two ago and like how much
11:05how much are we getting for each one of these when they're when they're good like retail we're getting
11:09150 so like we value them in the box there's a lot of lost money here in this a lot
11:13and yeah I mean
11:15it's you consider all of the time gone into propagating them transplanting them weeding them and then we
11:23get nothing for them and we couldn't have this crap happening again I mean it's demoralizing for the
11:28staff it makes me think of retraining as an accountant you know it's it's heartbreaking
11:34seeing it I mean I I like obviously I'm thinking about the figures obviously the money that's been
11:40lost but on a level there's such beautiful food going to waste or being fed to the pigs it's like
11:45it's kind of heartbreaking right yeah on many levels so let's sell them yeah okay
11:54while Mick's facing the harsh reality of cabbages turning to compost elsewhere on the farm things
11:59are no less chaotic Onya's chasing hens again because some of them have escaped and they've made
12:04a run for it yeah go on I'm caught now that's it go on there you go now you're captured
12:13again they
12:14like to take their chances don't you now in you go gotcha gotcha in you go come here now there
12:29you go
12:31these 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 Clodagh who's been holding the fort in the shop is heading off on
12:53maternity leave the other thing that's in the back of my mind is when are you going on mat leave
12:57because
12:57like obviously that's an extra layer so I leave in like seven weeks I think it is okay so we've
13:03got
13:03seven weeks to learn how to do these things yeah find someone train them up yeah and get them
13:11comfortable to do it as well we need to talk to Alan about that as well just to to see
13:16how we can get
13:17that moving so that's really important too and we need to get that up in the next week yeah definitely
13:24if this slipped through the cracks what else might he be missing I'm just kind of really really
13:30terrified that we're going to miss something and that there's some kind of piece of the puzzle that
13:34we're we're just not covering so if anything else comes to mind just let me know and hopefully um
13:40between the three of us we can kind of keep all the balls in the air hopefully I'll text you
13:45if you
13:45think of anything yeah it'll become apparent as we have to do things yeah exactly yeah it's step by
13:50step yeah it's one foot in front of the other for now yeah all right thanks a million lads see
13:54you
13:54later
14:00it's a few weeks on and we head back out to the farm where the team are busy pulling vegetables
14:05out of
14:05the ground things are starting to shift and for once it's not more problems and Richard has some good
14:11news this might just be the break we've all been waiting for box scheme numbers have been ticking
14:18up shop sales are improving the wastage is slowing down and we are getting a fair bit coming in to
14:27cover costs I mean we're not for profit so it's not profit we're going for it's covering costs and
14:33that's starting to happen now so it's yeah it's it's a relief is the feeling really it's amazing that
14:41we're harvesting for a purpose and and we're not wasting it and the fact that I've been involved
14:46from start to finish it's um it's an achievement for everybody here involved and it's great to see
14:52what we can grow and sell and produce I have a good feeling now that the garden has turned a
15:02corner I
15:03supposed to be a bit basic about it that we're going to survive you know things are going out being
15:10sold and looking at the figures for last month we're paying away now in the in the garden so good
15:19with the garden finally turning a corner and the veg flying out the door it's a small win that the
15:24team so desperately needed and just as things are settling Mick gets to call he's been waiting for
15:30soil expert Mike Walsh is ready to show him behind the scenes at SETU in Waterford where the soil samples
15:36from Curramoar being tested it's time to swap the wellies for a lab coat and find out if the soil
15:42really is as good as Richard says it is this is very fancy for a bit a bit of soil
15:47test and I just
15:47thought I was going to you know a bit of an old MPK test but look all this gear this
15:52is great they're
15:53very privileged let's do it hi Patti how are you nice to see you again welcome to the lab thank
15:58you
15:58very much wow look at this this is our our soil yeah this is your soil so the cores we
16:02took out the day in
16:03the field yeah and we took them in and we're looking at the soil structure with this equipment
16:07this is called a high prop and it basically measures the porosity of the soil and we can
16:12use that to assess the soil structure so the next thing I done was hem soil textural analysis okay which
16:16is over on the desk here so all right basically if you see these these are like the sand fractions
16:21in
16:21so in soil so we divide it into wow and yeah basically different sieve sizes so this comes from
16:28yeah so once the organic matter has been dissolved off okay so Mike is it fair to say the more
16:35the
16:35more DNA we find means there's more life in the soil and the more life in the soil the better
16:40it is is
16:40that oversimplifying it no well generally higher the organic matter content yeah more life you have inside
16:49so we're more likely to find a bigger population of microbial life yeah like your bacteria and your fungi yeah
16:57this will bring everything down to the bottom and oh yeah it'll separate the solution from the
17:04soil basically so I can take out the DNA part now so see if the solution has come through here
17:12yeah so
17:13the DNA is currently here okay and we'll add water okay and leave it sit for five minutes and then
17:21we'll
17:22spin it again in the centrifuge and we'll end up having the DNA in the bottom of this container okay
17:30so patty has some DNA extracted in the vial and the next step is crucial they need to find out
17:36if
17:36the sample is viable so while Mick steps back patty gets to work analyzing filtering and checking the
17:42results it's delicate detailed science but it could be the key to proving just how alive the soil is at
17:48the
17:50farm this is my soil we've got a sample that's viable yeah we need to send that off to tell
17:56us like is it
17:56full of life is it or is it not exactly and we'll hear back in about six weeks six weeks
18:01time okay it
18:04gives you a sense of how deep Mike is kind of is going with this testing and that's going to
18:09be super
18:09exciting to get those results back and see what we're actually dealing with like incredibly compact
18:14stuff and patty like knows her stuff like amazing
18:18Mick rushes back to GIY HQ they need to keep the pressure on now that the veg box numbers are
18:23on the rise
18:24and he's got a favor to ask Richard he needs social media content about the veg box this week and
18:30Richard is the obvious choice to talk I wonder how this is going to go no you love your camera
18:36appearances so my 30 seconds of fame yeah have you anything interesting you can say about these
18:42things um yeah yeah please don't hold them up there it looks like you're commenting on something
18:50come on we go outside so down here maybe yeah definitely not down there I know you like to kind
18:56of be passionate for a long time about stuff so you'll want to talk literally you'll want to talk
19:03so I need you to keep this tight like 30 seconds max all right are you ready one two three
19:12all right there's a new um thing in the box this week it's a squash they've come on a couple
19:16of
19:16weeks early uh with the hot summer I think probably my favorite veg in the garden so these are in
19:22the
19:22box this week they are one in every box fantastic thanks a million see that wasn't actually too bad
19:30I know that's perfect right edgy it's grungy a 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
19:52Mick 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 other
20:03side of the garden wall at Curramoore really amazing and while Mick's trying to play it cool Richard
20:08he's very excited I have to try and find Mick though I won't be too upset if I don't but
20:14uh you know
20:15um I'm performing with Mick uh but um you know I suppose I understand myself and Mick want to uh
20:27sell the
20:28idea I suppose of sustainable food production and how what we're doing here and trying to make a
20:34success of is food production which doesn't uh take the planet out I've got the job of making gardening
20:42rock and roll so uh yeah are you excited to get this top well as excited as I ever am
20:54sorry I'm excited as I
20:56ever am Jesus Christ I hope you're gonna bring a bit more enthusiasm than that I could take to this
21:05Pete's gardening please give a round of applause to Mick and Richard
21:15the next step for us was we we started a veg box scheme so this is one of the boxes
21:20you can see in
21:21front of us it looked a lot fresher when it was harvested this morning but uh everything's gone
21:26a bit flaccid and my age I know the feeling but uh it's um it could be a bit more
21:33I apologize for his
21:35for those that innuendo the most nutritious the most nutrient dense food that you can eat is in that box
21:43is in that box it's whatever is in season in your in your local area at any particular time of
21:48the year
21:48I really would urge anybody I mean you live locally please buy some of her veg yeah I feel
21:55I've made it now I've got a purple wristband I got free beer um you know okay there's no underwear
22:03thrown on stage but I was prepared for that if it happened uh but uh yeah I think I finally
22:09after
22:09all these years I'm not just a gardener I'm also a rock star on a more fun side I'm looking
22:17forward
22:17to see my colleague Katie who's uh 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 uh but they're amazing
22:32go on let's see you dancing yeah come on they're going to start now any minute look forward to seeing
22:36you dancing oh you'll be amazed
23:17you
23:18well Richard what do you think of that yeah excellent loved it loved it you're right on me
23:22you're right up the front in the mosh pit there that's my hearing's not so good these days
23:27I want to hear the band have to get right 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
23:42Clodagh expands the shop one last time before maternity leave and the garden finally hits its
23:47stride just in time for DIY to cater the biggest banquet of the year Nick chases soil test results
23:54that could change everything and he looks to the future with some possible conservation
23:58projects as the team gathers for one final celebration they look back on a season of
24:03chaos graft heartbreak and plenty of growth it's all coming up in the finale of the series
24:33you
24:34you
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