Helping out<\/h3>\n
Members join in on some farm activities, mostly planting and harvesting the field scale crops \u2013 onions and potatoes especially.<\/p>\n
Indeed, over a dozen local volunteers help out with all aspects of running this community owned farm. Along with growers Francie Wollen and Alice Taylor, and farm supervisor Pat Malone, the team includes interns from around Europe who come as European Solidarity Corp volunteers.<\/p>\n
In Irish, the word\u00a0meitheal\u00a0<\/i>is used when people come together to help each other out when there are big group jobs to be done. Traditionally this meant activities like saving hay. Meitheals survived up until the 1950s, but eventually, the extractive colonial structures imposed on agri-food in Ireland were too much for this communal approach to farming to survive beyond small pockets of resistance.<\/p>\n
Meitheals have made a comeback in recent years. Our tree planting on the farm in March was a great way to revive the meitheal \u2013 2000 trees don\u2019t plant themselves!<\/p>\n
Our new grower Alice explains how we planted trees for syntropic farming:<\/p>\n \u201cWe planted out rowan, hazel and birch into our alleys, between beds, at intervals of 6 metres. These trees will be the backbone of our syntropic alleyways. The trees we leave un-coppiced for the biodiversity, deep roots, nutrients and water retention provided, and also the beauty and shade.<\/p>\n \u201cAlong the rest of the alley is densely planted hawthorn (white thorn), and willow, which will be coppiced regularly. This coppicing will send signals to the other trees (and crops), to grow strong instead, whilst the coppiced and dropped young branches will bring in essential nutrients to the soil, as organic matter, to balance out the carbon:nitrogen ratio, to increase fungal and bacterial activity, and maybe act as micro havens for beneficial bugs too.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Once set up, syntropic systems are a minimal interference form of agriculture, favouring no dig and even minimal mulching and compost.<\/p>\n Cloughjordan Community Farm loosely follows biodynamic guidelines. Alice notes that that March morning \u201cwas a fruit day on a descending moon\u201d, making it \u201ca perfect day for planting trees and encourage their fruit.\u201d<\/p>\n At present, the syntropic trial is on just two of the farm\u2019s seven fields.<\/p>\n Trialling and then integrating agroecological and regenerative elements and approaches helps prevent the soil from becoming exhausted. Growing on the same 6-8 acres (3 hectares) for 15 years can be extractive.<\/p>\n To deal with this we have trialled and implemented various regenerative practices over the years. There is a strong focus on high quality compost and mushroom\/bacterial inoculations; composted farmyard manure (brought in); and up to 1\/3 of the land has been in a green manure at any one time.<\/p>\n Specific beneficial plants have been grown but not harvested on the land, to nourish the soil. Sometimes this is a colourful collection of plants including vetch and mustard, sometimes just a simple grass.<\/p>\n There is also a member\u2019s area on the farm called Cuan Beo. This is a welcoming place where members can try out their own growing, often experimenting with new crops or styles. It\u2019s a colourful part of the farm, where there are also activities such as community seed saving sessions and other workshops, many of which are open to the wider public.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.arc2020.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/alice-planting-trees-2-sq.jpeg\")
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\nAlice planting trees<\/em><\/p>\nPlanting trees for syntropic systems<\/h3>\n
Experimenting with new practices<\/h3>\n
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