A LOVE OF THE LAND
As part of the Scene And Heard festival, the voices of Ireland’s female farmers take centre stage
IRISH storytelling tradition is steeped in that of the seanchai, those who passed down tales of life and love at the fireside long ago.
We have also a lived experience of working on the land, ploughing the furrows of our rich green fields to provide sustenance.
As part of this year’s Scene And Heard festival, a new event will combine both of these things.
Adapted and facilitated by Lucy Holmes, an Irish actor and writer working across stage and screen, Voices Of Irish Farmers: A Love Story brings farming, the storytelling tradition and our food sources to the fore through the stories of three women who work in the farming industry.
‘I will be on stage narrating it and weaving these stories together, but Voices Of Irish Farmers: A Love Story is real people telling their real stories and their real experiences,’ Lucy says of the event, which takes place in Smock Alley this Sunday at 2pm. ‘We have three women farmers across three generations, we have musicians playing music and an immersive tasting so that the audience, while they’re listening to these three stories, can taste the work that these women do.’
Though she didn’t grow up on a farm, Lucy’s own background is in rural Westmeath so she has an affinity with the women who will be on stage. ‘Back in early December, I got contacted by an International think tank called Food Tank,’ Lucy explains. ‘They have done storytelling events across the world with farmers and food workers and people who work across the agricultural industry to talk about the food system and highlight the work that they do.’
This is the first event that is being done in Ireland and Lucy was the perfect person to take it on board.
‘The reason we went specifically with these three farmers is that when they were sharing their experiences, they were incredibly enthusiastic and generous with their stories, and particularly the kind of setbacks that they’ve faced, but also the joys and the reason that they keep doing what they do, and keep working. It was their generosity and just how insightful they were into their work, that’s ultimately why they ended up working with these three incredible women.’
To choose the women, Lucy reached out to farmers across Ireland but eventually came up with three wonderful women in the form of Carina Roseingrave, Ailbhe Gerrard and Sophie Bell.
Carina works on a mixed farm called Burren View Farm, known for sustainable, grass-based farming in the Burren region of Co Clare. Carina has set up her own free range egg enterprise, works with dairy and has a herd of pedigree cows.
Ailbhe Gerrard is the owner of Brookfield Farm, a diverse farm operation that includes native Irish woodlands, beekeeping for honey production, organic certified lamb and the cultivation of tillage crops just outside Nenagh, Co Tipperary.
Sophie Bell is a young Cavanbased agriculturalist known for raising dairy heifers and modernising her family farm. She is a fulltime farmer, works another full-time job and is also a social media advocate for young female farmers.
‘The reason that we chose three women is because this year is the year of the Irish farmer, according to the UN,’ Lucy says. ‘It’s really important that we celebrate their voices and celebrate their stories to highlight the work that goes into our food systems that a lot of us don’t think about on a day-today level.
‘When I was contacted to work on this, it wasn’t known that I had always grown up around animals and around farms. I was very aware of what was going on just by the nature of where I lived. It was only in the past few years that I’ve moved to Dublin, that I’ve really become aware of how little people think about these things, because they don’t experience it firsthand.’
Lucy feels it is important that these rural stories get heard across Ireland and not just in Dublin.
‘The more I have talked to people about this while working on the project, the more they have mentioned that they take for granted the fact that they can walk into a supermarket and pick up their milk or their eggs,’ she says. ‘They don’t think about the amount of work that goes into what these farmers do, day in, day out, making sure that we can get our food. But beyond that as well, a lot of people aren’t aware of the struggles that women in farming may face.
‘It definitely comes with certain challenges that other farmers may not experience.
‘I think the narrative around Irish farming can often be, particularly within the arts, quite doom and gloom. What we want to do with this is celebrate that work instead.’
Scene And Heard, The Festival of New Work, is now ten years old and is running until February 29 at Smock Alley. The festival covers all areas of the arts from dance to music and theatre, with new shows at the fore. There is everything from comedy to music, a play about Linda Martin, dance, music and so many other performances across the two weeks. There are free shows but also everything is a reasonable ticket price.
That’s Gary Barlow says his bandmate Howard Donald has been manipulating him for decades, by making sure the group always stays near a golf course on tour – so he can slip in a round before a gig.
Donald, 57, pictured with his bandmates either side of him, has apparently been prevailing on the tour manager to book him, Barlow and Mark Owen into hotels as close as possible to top courses. Barlow, 55, said: ‘Me and Mark had a big discovery on our last tour. One morning we were like: “Why are we staying two hours from the gig?” ‘And we were quizzing our tour manager, who’s been with us for 30 years. She went: “Well, it’s Howard’s golf.” And I realised: “Bloody Singapore... are we here again because of Howard?” She replied: “Yeah, he’s playing in the morning.” ’