J.C Garden Fair (the) 1st
This J.C refers to Johnstown Castle in county Wexford not the lord in heaven, though I uttered something like that in my head when I saw the gaff! Sprawling out into the Wexford countryside embalmed in high summer sunlight of the hot sort, all Gothic revival with lakes full of swans, nudey statues on colonnades, follies at every turn and what seemed to be an extensive leisure path etching out over the wider estate for one to take the air. Unfortunately I didn’t get much of a chance to explore because as usual I’d left writing my labels up until the very final hour… I will be returning as a punter though because the place looks and most importantly, feels really interesting with just the right amount of genuine dodgy history to give it an edge and Victorian fancy to imagine stepping through a time portal; look down and you could find yourself in a corset and bustle.. cis males included.
I met Ciaran, the head gardener of Johnstown Castle way back in May where he mentioned they were going to launch a new garden fair and would I be interested. Of course I would! Being new to this plant stall thing I’ll take any offer, especially one so relatively close to home to flog a bit of stuff…fast forward to July 13th and I can report the whole team really managed to pull it off with apparent ease! Everything felt well thought out. From a stallholder’s point of view getting on and off site, parking and location of the stalls in the courtyard with the castle as a back drop, couldn’t have been better!
I caught glimpses of Ciaran grafting all day; from meeting stall holders at 7am for setup and directing us to our pitches, to leasing with various other staff members, zooming about on the buggy, setting up the talk tent moving chairs and display screens and then walking to meet every stall holder with Caoimhe the events co-ordinator at the end of the day to get our feedback and thank us for coming. I thought to myself of what a brilliant example he is of what anyone who has worked as a gardener on an estate knows; when you include the head gardener and their team in garden based events and allow them to be involved in the conception and implementation of it, you create an event that runs seamlessly and beautifully and has the capacity to truly reflect the whole business in a positive light. To be honest, from the outside I got the impression that all the departments at Johnstown work really well together. It’s incredible how much you can pick up on things when there is politics or disjointed and imagined power structures between departments.
It could also be because the people that seemed to be driving this event are young, full of energy, can-do attitude, creativity and a friendly non-asshole demeanor. From the always cheery and upbeat, informative but concise emails from Caoimhe, to Ciaran’s exhaustive no job too big or small work ethic and the friendliness of the whole garden team also grafting on the day, they’ve managed to create a fantastic event that will only surely grow into something that Bloom should be more of (small Irish, sustainable nurseries/garden businesses) and Ballintubbert should be less of ( pink/red corduroy trousers and massive ticket prices). Straddling the line between quality horticulture and horticultural debate whilst still recognising and including normal gardeners is so important, that’s how positive change will really happen… the lads at J.C may very well be, the new Irish horticultural messiahs… or they might just be really, really good at their jobs. Either way, if management/board members are reading this, lose these guys at your peril! Pay them well, treat them well, appreciate them with more than just pats on the back and nice words, they are serving you above and beyond!
