GIY launch ‘al desko’ Food Growing Challenge #givepeasachance
Norah Casey was on hand to join GIY (Grow It Yourself) and Cully & Sully in throwing down the gauntlet for Irish businesses to sign up to the ‘al desko Food Growing Challenge’ with the top budding growers walking away with a prize bag worth €5000.
The initiative, dubbed ‘Give Peas A Chance’, aims to get 500 teams of up to five work mates joing together and growing peas at work over a 12 week period. The teams will receive a GIY pack of containers, seeds and soil plus expert growing tips and training advice from GIY founder Michael Kelly.
Commenting at the campaign launch Michael said, “Here in GIY we are big believers in the power of small food growing experiences to help people to develop a deeper appreciation for food as a path to better health. Food growing helps people to see the link between great ingredients and great meals, and growing on your desk really challenges misconceptions about where food can be grown and shows just how easy it can be. The GIY@Work phenomenon is fueled largely by the interest in employee wellness with employers starting to see how food growing can impact positively on physical and mental health. It can also offer lessons about teamwork, problem solving and persistence that are highly applicable to the office – and of course the inter-desk rivarly creates a great buzz.”
The Give Peas a Chance campaign brings the ‘green corporate’ concept to a new level, encouraging employees to sign up for some office farming and to view pea-shoots as just another part of the office scenery. All teams who take part are encouraged to log their growing adventures on social media and a dedicated online blog. The winning team will win vouchers to visit Ballymaloe House & Cookery School worth €1500, and best of all they also get to donate a community garden worth €3,000 to a local cause of their choice, from a local hospice or school to care home.
Helping to launch the campaign with GIY and Cully & Sully Norah said, “”As the publisher of Food & Wine Magazine I have a passion for good food and we’re delighted to support and promote GIY. I grew up eating food straight from our garden and I love the idea of the “al desko” challenge – it’s competitive, fun and creative – all the best ingredients for business and growth.”
The Grow It Yourself food phenomenon has firmly established itself in the Irish food scene – Each year GIY inspires and supports over 60,000 people and 1500 community food-growing groups and projects around Ireland with food-growing campaigns, events and publications.
Speaking at the event Cullen Allen (AKA Cully) at Cully & Sully said, “At Cully & Sully we love good food. We know that for good food you need great ingredients. Fresh is best when it comes to food and you can’t get fresher than growing your own … Even at work… In fact it’s EasyPeasy! We are delighted to hop into bed (a raised one of course) with GIY to try to get everyone growing at work.”
For more details and to register for the desktop growing challenge log onto www.cullyandsully.com/
#givepeasachance