Sustainable Living Event Brigits Garden

Sustainable Living -Maireachtáil Inbhuanaithe

 

7th and 28th September 2025

Join us in Brigit’s Garden for a creative, inspiring and practical weekend of skills and information to help us all live more sustainably. Choose between traditional skills workshops with excellent tutors and avail of free talks.

Saturday 27th

• Dry Stone Wall Building, full day
• Willow Basket Weaving, full day (same workshop Sat & Sun)
• Wild Foraging, full day
• Free guided walkabout on Sustainability in Action in Brigit’s Garden, PM

Sunday 28th

• Willow Basket Weaving, full day (same workshop Sat & Sun)
• Introduction to Scything, full day
• Forest School-inspired day camp for children, half or full day AM & PM
• Coil Mat Weaving, half day AM
• Wildlife-friendly gardening, half day AM
• Herb Walk and Salve-Making , half day AM
• Herb Walk and Making an Aromatherapy Spritzer/Spray, half day PM
• Free talk: What is the link between a cup of tea and climate change?
• Free guided walkabout on Sustainability in Action in Brigit’s Garden, PM

Lunch is included in full-day workshops and can be booked separately for half-day workshops. It will comprise a hearty soup, homemade brown bread, a selection of autumn salads, and tea/coffee with cookies.

Numbers are limited so early booking for workshops is advised. Read more about each course below and click to register! No advance booking is required for the free sessions.

This weekend has kindly been supported by funding from Community Foundation Ireland and SSE Airtricity Generation Green Community Fund.

Saturday 27th September Workshops

Dry Stone Wall Building with Fergus Packman

Saturday 27th Full day workshop, 9.45am – 4.30pm. €85, includes coffee break with scones and lunch.
Learn from a master wall-builder how to construct a traditional drystone wall out of local limestone. You will be hands-on, learning the techniques of laying the foundation, choosing the best stone, building the wall and capping it off.

This workshop will be held outside so please dress appropriately. Steel-toed boots are recommended if you have them. Gloves will be provided.

Foraging with Jörg Müller

Saturday 27th Full-day workshop 9.45am – 4.30pm. €85, includes coffee break with scones and lunch.

An engaging, hands-on day of foraging with Jörg, expert forager, medical herbalist and founder of Solaris Tea. We will explore many of the culinary, medicinal and energetic values of wild plants in Brigit’s Garden. Includes a classroom part where we will prepare the herbs into a wild herb smoothie and a foraged tea.
Please bring good footwear and dress for the weather.

Willow Basket Making with Thomas Delaney

Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th Full-day workshops (same workshop Sat & Sun), 9.45am -4.30pm. €90, including coffee break with scones and lunch.

Learn the ancient craft of weaving baskets out of willow from a master basket-maker. Over the day you will make a traditional breadbasket to take home.

Sunday 28th September Workshops

Introduction to Scything with Andrew Ilsley

Sunday 28th Full-day workshop 9.45am – 4.30pm. €85, includes coffee break with scones and lunch.

Experience the ancient skill of cutting hay and grass with a traditional Austrian scythe. You will learn all aspects of the craft, including the proper posture and movement for effective mowing, and how to sharpen and maintain a scythe. Andrew will also advise on meadow management and the ecologically friendly and low-impact benefits of scything.

All equipment provided. Please wear suitable outdoor clothing and strong footwear.

Forest School-inspired day camp for children

Sunday 28th – morning session 9.45am – 12.45 pm and afternoon session 2 – 4.30pm, €12 each.

Children ages 6-11 are invited to join us for a half or full day of nature adventures in our Forest School-inspired day camp. Lots of fun with natural crafts, activities and games. Camps are run by a fully qualified leader with years of experience bringing children into nature.

Camps will be outside so please dress children appropriately and pack snacks and lunch, if you wish.

Coil Mat Weaving with Carol Barrett

Sunday 28th, morning workshop, 9.45am – 12.45pm. €38, includes coffee break with scones.

Expert crafter and forager Carol will show you how to make your own handcrafted place mat from sedges and cord using natural, locally-sourced and sustainably harvested materials. All materials will be provided.
This workshop will be held in the group shelter in the woodland – please dress appropriately.

Wildlife-friendly gardening with Kay Synott

Sunday 28th Morning workshop, 9.45am – 12.45pm. €38, includes coffee break with scones.

Gardens are important for wildlife. This practical workshop will show you how to turn your garden into a vibrant home for butterflies, birds, bats, bees and other pollinators. Kay will cover simple, cost-effective measures for providing food, water and shelter for a range of wildlife, and advise on the best plants. Suitable for gardens of all sizes.

You will also get a chance to make a bird feeder or fat-ball holder to take home.

We will meet in Brigit’s Garden, and then walk across the road to Kay’s garden, where the workshop will be held. It will be mainly outside so please dress appropriately.

Herbs for Healing – a Herb Walk and Salve-Making with Tonja Reichley

 Sunday 28th Morning workshop, 9.45am – 12.45 pm. €38, includes coffee break with scones.

Join herbalist Tonja for a meander around the meadows and hedgerows to discover what flowers and plants are ready for harvest, to infuse in oils for healing and nourishing salves for the body. We will identify wild and cultivated plants, learn the ethics of wildcrafting and which parts of the plants to use for a variety of remedies. You will learn how to make a herbal infused oil and create a salve to take home.

Full day option – take both of Tonja’s workshops with lunch included, €85 (add both workshops and lunch to your cart and add coupon code: 2herbs).

Scented Herbs – a Herb Walk and Making an Aromatherapy Spritzer/Spray with Tonja Reichley

Sunday 28th Afternoon workshop, 2 – 4.30pm. €34.

Journey with Tonja around the Celtic Gardens discovering herbs, trees and flowers that hold resonance for each of the seasons, especially engaging our olfactory sense of smell. We will discover herbs of Lughnasa and ways that we can work with them, mirroring ways our ancestors may have used them. You will take home the scents of Lughnasa through creating a seasonal aromatherapy spray or spritzer.

Full day option – take both of Tonja’s workshops with lunch included, €85 (add both workshops and lunch to your cart and add coupon code: 2herbs).

Free talks – no booking required

Sustainability in Action with Declan Doherty and Jenny Beale

Saturday 27th 2.00 -3.15pm and Sunday 28th 3.30 – 4.45pm. Free session, all welcome

Join us for a walkabout to see sustainability in action in Brigit’s Garden – we will look at solar PV for generating electricity, battery storage, a biomass boiler, an anaerobic digester and composting for food waste, cordless electric garden machinery and planting for biodiversity. There will be lots of information, tips and discussion, with ideas to take home.

What’s the link between a cup of tea and climate change? With Jacinta Barins

Sunday 28th 2.15 -3.15pm in the Hazel Room. Free session, all welcome

Expect to be engaged, informed and inspired as retired UN diplomat and climate mentor Jacinta offers a ‘climate conversation’ on this vital topic. She will demystify climate change, look at why we need to take action, and lead a practical discussion on what we can all do and how we can have an impact.

This weekend has kindly been supported by funding from Community Foundation Ireland and SSE Airtricity Generation Green Community Fund.

 

Sustainable Living Day at Brigit’s Garden September 22nd offers opportunity to cultivate skills to to help us live a more sustainably.

Cultivating traditional skills can allow us to buy less and build, create and grow more.

Join us for a creative, inspiring and practical day of learning traditional skills with excellent tutors in the beautiful surroundings of Brigit’s Garden. Come away with a finished product that you made yourself (in most workshops) and the lifelong skills to make more!

There will also be a Forest School-inspired day camp for children to facilitate parents attending workshops.

Choose between full-day workshops in Stone Wall Building or Basket Weaving, and half-day workshops in Herbal Walks and Making Salves & Sprays, Organic Gardening, and Creating with Natural Materials.

For the half-day workshops, you can take two on one topic or mix-and-match between them.

Lunch will include a hearty soup with brown bread, two salads, tea and coffee. Lunch is included in full-day workshops and can be booked separately for half-day workshops.

Kids can be booked in to the Forest-School inspired camp for a half-day or full-day.

Numbers are limited so early booking is advised. Click on the headings to learn more about each individual workshops.

Building drystone walls with Fergus Packman

Day workshop, 9.45am – 4.30pm. €85, including all equipment, coffee break with scones and lunch

Willow Basketmaking with Thomas Delaney

Day workshop, 9.45am -4.30pm. €95, including all equipment, coffee break with scones and lunch.

Herb Walk, Foraging and Salve-Making with Tonja Reichley

Morning workshop, 9.45am – 12.45 pm. €33, including all equipment and coffee break with scones.

Scented Herb Walk and Making a Seasonal Spritzer with Tonja Reichley

Afternoon workshop, 2 – 4.30pm. €30, including all equipment and tea break.

Organic gardening – sustainable weed, pest and disease control with Kay Synott

Morning workshop, 9.45am -12.45pm. €33, including all equipment and coffee break with scones.

Wildlife-friendly gardening with Kay Synott

Afternoon workshop, 2-4.30pm. €30, including all equipment and tea break.

Making Rush Mats with Carol Barrett

Morning workshop, 9.45am – 12.45pm. €33, including all equipment and coffee break with scones.

Make a set of Ogham sticks with Carol Barrett

Afternoon workshop 2 – 4.30pm. €30, including all equipment and tea break

Forest School-inspired day camp for children

Morning camp 9.45am – 12.45pm and afternoon camp 2pm – 4.30pm, €18 each.