Wild Acre Farm

Tallamh

Claire Templar has been living at Wild Acre Farm, near Ballyhaunis since 2015.

Originally from the UK she moved to Ireland in order to live closer to the land and explore self sufficiency and living more lightly on the earth, with food production and vegetable growing always a core part of this. Production has increased year on year as her skills and experience of growing in this challenging climate increased.

Wild Acre Farm has a one acre garden, designed using Permaculture Principles, including orchard and perennial systems with a 1/3 acre no dig vegetable garden and 2 polytunnels which house tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, courgettes, aubergines and herbs in the summer, and are used for salad growing through the winter.

Claire has always gardened here using ‘more than organic’ no-dig methods and has a keen interest in Permaculture design and regenerative agriculture to rebuild soil and grow nutrient and mineral dense, healthy, abundant fresh vegetables, fruits and salads.

She has also been teaching Permaculture, gardening and practical skills here since 2017.

Before moving to Ireland, Claire was a systems designer, project manager, business process engineer, computer programmer, IT trainer, chef, horse riding instructor, kindergarten teacher, clothes designer and multiple business owner. Not all at the same time obviously… but she doesn’t really like to sit still…

Cailleach Podcast

Imbas

I have been dreaming into this creation for a long time. Was I waiting for the most auspicious time? I’m not sure but it seems to have arrived!​ I was particularly inspired by others who had interview me for their podcasts (Maureen Howard’s Eco Living In Action and Finn Wendle’s Regenerative Livelihood.) It seems that even with fairly basic technical skills and equipment I could get going.

As I send it out into the multimediaverse my intention is that some or all of its elements will form their own connections for an audience that also hopes to be a part of the regeneration of life on earth.

There are 8 threads: Interviews, Story Time, Identity, Well of Being, Eco-System Thinking, Mediations, Ireland the Ancestors, & Hands On. There are 8 release dates on Celtic seasonal festivals.

In late 2020, I am recording and editing by the fireside in An Seanteachín, like a Seanchaí I am telling tales for these times or perhaps for the future ones, like my granddaughter Violet who was born in 2019, for her they might be tales of long ago.

Inspired and supported by my husband, my children, my granddaughter and my amazing wider family, friends community and interviewees on this podcast.

Irish Seed Savers

Tallamh

Our main objective is to protect Ireland’s food crop heritage for future generations. Our work focuses on the conservation of heirloom vegetable seeds and Irish heritage apple trees. In recent years we have expanded the scope of our work to include crop varieties from all over the world that are suitable for Ireland’s unique growing conditions.

Irish Seed Savers Association maintains the country’s only public seed bank, with over 600 non-commercially available varieties of seed. We also house the national collection of Irish heritage apple trees in our orchards, with over 180+ unique varieties.  Throughout the year we run a wide range of workshops, host school tours, and invite the public to participate in our events days. We encourage communities to come together to share seeds and plants, all with the aim of promoting Ireland’s biodiversity.