cultivate.ie

Democratic, Inclusive and Creative Neighbourhoods

A networking and peer-sharing opportunity for community catalysts and practitioners of creative place making. This dynamic session will explore how we apply neighbourhood-based, participatory and inclusive processes to community-led housing, and other cooperative initiatives.

Join us in Cloughjordan for a day with Joseph Rathinam, a south Indian community activist. With inputs from Sinead Cullen, Peadar Kirby, Nathaniel Whitestone, SOA, Common Knowledge & WEAll IRELAND. Hosted and facilitated by Davie Philip & Chris Chapman

In-Person Active Workshop - 11.00 - 17.00 - Tuesday October 11th 2022
WeCreate Workspace, Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Tipperary
Places are limited to 40 people. Pay what you can. Suggested contribution €20

Tune in to the Live Podcast - 16.00 - 17.00
Participants share their ideas in this online session live from WeCreate.

Info & Booking This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Lunch at the Food Hub - €12
Booking essential - pay directly on the day.

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Permaculture Design Course 28th July to 6th August 2023, in Cloughjordan Ecovillage

Cultivate’s Permaculture Design Course provides a platform to learn &  share some of the practical skills that are becoming increasingly more important in light of our rapidly changing world, thus helping to foster resilience in our local and global communities.
The principles and ethics of Permaculture provide us with the design system for the future.

"Permaculture is a way of life that strives to create a sustainable, self-sufficient, and harmonious relationship between people and the earth."
- Rosemary Morrow, permaculture teacher and author

"Permaculture is not just about gardening, it's about designing sustainable human settlements and rethinking the way we live."
- David Blume, permaculture teacher and author

This course is UK Permaculture Association Accredited. Successful graduates of the course will be fully accredited by the U.K. Permaculture Association with a Permaculture Design Certificate. 
This course is designed, hosted & organised by Cultivate in association with Sustainable Projects Ireland and Cloughjordan Community Farm.

For more information or to apply for a place please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or contact Philippa on +353 (0)505 426

Course Fees start from €600 for the 10 days, and concessionary places are available. You can secure a place by paying a deposit of €200 either directly to Cultivate or via Paypal here:

Wellbeing Economy Alliance

We're delighted to announce the formal launch of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance's Ireland Hub with this interactive event - a follow-up to the Hub's successful online gathering in June.

We’ll hear from leading global visionaries Kate Raworth of Doughnut Economics and Katherine Trebeck of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance. They will join with Jennifer Wallace of the Carnegie UK Trust, core members of the new WEAll Hub for Ireland, the Irish Doughnut Economics Network and other local Irish activists to help identify the strategic actions that are needed to shift values and reorient our economies toward wellbeing policies and practices, to create an island of wellbeing.

Date: Tuesday October 19

Time: 12:30-2pm Irish time

Book a place here

Cultivate is a co-organiser of this event, along with FEASTA, the European Health Futures Forum and QUB School of Law and Social Justice Ireland.

Learning Journeys and Study Visits

Visit Ireland's Only Ecovillage - Learn about Living and Working Sustainably

Cultivate, in partnership with Cloughjordan Ecovillage, designs and delivers one to five day programmes for groups around a particular topic or topics of interest related to the transition to a low carbon and resilient society. These can include Green Building and Sustainable Energy, Local Food, Food Security, Community Energy Transition, Local Enterprise, Digital Manufacturing, Community Resilience and Sustainable Living.

We tailor the tours for each group and work with them to devise a personalised itinerary on their specific area of interest.  These study tours can range from one to several days, depending on the itinerary developed, though we recommend at least two days to allow for a more immersive experience.

Cloughjordan is a traditional Irish village which is now also home to the Cloughjordan Ecovillage. This is where we share our experience and knowledge with groups of all ages, sizes and interests.

Activities are based in the Ecovillage and can include tours, talks, practical workshops and social events in Cloughjordan and the surrounding area. We can also work with groups on transport, accommodation and meals. Groups interested in continuing professional development can participate in industry specific workshops and talks.

For more info, options or booking: email Veronica at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Diversify Diversification - What’s Possible in Rural Ireland?

On the 22nd April, Cultivate hosted a blended event featuring both physical and online participants held in WeCreate at Cloughjordan Ecovillage. This blended event built upon the report “Rural Ireland on the move: farm diversification and just transition” which is an attempt to collect reflections on how Irish farmers can extract more from value chains environmentally and was supported by Arc2020 and UCC’s Centre for Co-operative Studies.

For the full article and report, go to ARC2020.eu

Realising our Potential

A Question of SCALE Publication

A Question of SCALE: “Imagining a cooperative, community-led approach to regional resilience” (SCALE also being the acronym for Supply Chains and Local Economies).

Cultivate produced this framing paper with Green Foundation Ireland and the Green European Foundation. It is part of the Climate Emergency Economy transnational project, which includes Green House Think Tank, UK and GroenLinks, Netherlands.

The process began by bringing together some new, and old ideas for shortening supply chains and strengthening local economies into a position paper, which was distributed to 50 researchers and cooperative advocates. We then invited them to a webinar in September 2020 to discuss and build on the ideas. 10 illustrations as well as the findings from the webinar were then synthesised into the final framing paper.

The paper introduces and explores the potential of the Social and Solidarity economy, Doughnut Economics, Just Transition, The Commons, Community Wealth Building, Federated co-ops new co-operative approaches.

Question of Scale Framing Paper is available on the GEF website here..A Question of Scale - PDF

Read more: A Question of SCALE Publication

A Question SCALE Podcast

A Podcast featuring some of the contributors to the Question of Scale Webinar and Framing Paper was recorded in Cultivate’s new digital studio in WeCreate Workspace.

This production is available here  https://youtu.be/TnQaq_E3xaA

Framing Paper A Question of Scale - PDF

00:00.00 - Introduction
Davie Philip - Cultivate/ Ecolise.eu, Ollie Moore - Cultivate/ ARC2020
00:02.18 - Resilience - A Guiding Principle for a Just Recovery & Transition
Dirk Holemans - GEF
00:08.10 - Climate Emergency Economy
Jonathan Essex - Green House, UK, Bram van de Glind - GroenLinks, Netherlands.
00:17.10 - Introducing Doughnut Economics
Dr. Carol Power - Centre for Co-Operative Studies at UCC
00:28.00 - Just Transitions & Community Wealth Building
Sinead Mercier, Sean McCabe - TASC
00:46.00 - Historical Perspectives on Cooperatives in Ireland
Tommy Simpson - GFI
00:53.50 - Cooperatives Now
Sam Toland - Solid Network,  Aoife Hammond - Dublin Food Coop

Production - Eoin Campbell (JustMultimedia)
Music and Tech Support - Darren Flynn
The project is made possible with the financial support of the European Parliament to the Green European Foundation. The European Parliament is not responsible for the content of this publication.