Dig in and plant — or gift — a tree at a Hometree summer school

The tree-planting charity has planted more than 100,000 trees already and is holding a summer school this month as well as regular volunteer days

Tue, 07 Jun, 2022 - 11:20

Caroline Delaney

There is a proverb that goes: the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

Hometree wasn't around 20 years ago but the tree-planting charity is hoping that it will be a mighty oak itself when the first of its trees are two decades old. What began as a small community garden project in 2015 has literally grown — more than 100,000 trees have been planted, many more are in the seedling stages and there's a Hometree summer school taking place later this month (June 24-26).

The Hometree HQ site is 16.5 acres of land between Ennistymon and Lahinch, County Clare. And there is a 2.3 acre site at Avoca/Knockanree in County Wicklow.

A Hometree volunteer day. Pictures: Malcolm McGettigan

Ray Ó Foghlú is Hometree's landowner engagement coordinator and education officer — he's a woodland conservationist with a background in environmental science.

He points out that Ireland was once a land of forests. "At one time, up to 80% of the country was covered in native wildwood. But now it's just 1-2%. Of course, we know it's not possible to go back to what it was once — we don't want trees to be seen as displacing land use — but if we could increase our native trees it would help biodiversity and with our climate challenges."

Many charities aim to put themselves 'out of business' by tackling a problem so successfully. Is this something Hometree ultimately wants to achieve?

"We don't think it will ever happen that we will have 'too many trees' or that we will have a forest covering huge swathes of the country — it's more that we want to incorporate more trees into the Irish landscape, with all the benefits that woodlands bring."

You don't have to have acres of unused land ready to fill with willow and alder, Hometree holds regular tree planting and maintenance days where young and old can come along and learn how to plant and manage trees. [The first and third Saturday of each month 10am-4pm here.]

Tree planting day with volunteers, Hometree

Hometree also offers corporate days and offsite visits to partner projects and education days for all ages so people living in suburbs or apartments can also get involved. And if you really don't want to get your hands dirty or want to give a long-lasting and rather useful present then there are gift packages with anything from a single to 1,000 native trees planted on your behalf.

Farmers are also looking to Hometree to get help with planting trees — for many reasons.

"Of course, many are aware of the benefits of trees and farmers love and have good knowledge of nature and there are also people who have inherited farms but can't or don't want to work full-time as a farmer. They see the advantage in integrating trees into a farm, whether it's shelter for farm animals or diversifying forage. But is also marginal land that is suitable and some payments for eco system services that may make this more attractive."

"If farmers could be 'rewarded' for eco system - providing habitat, sequestering carbon etc it could be a game changer. You won't get rich from it but with our farm-forest EIP (European Innovation Partnership) if a farmer has say three hectares of forest they could get a one-off payment of €1,200 from Hometree and then a recurring payment of €1,200 a year for 15 years."

A farm's least productive field or even boundary stretches may be suitable for this.

While the trees would be "strictly non-extractive" besides thinning and cutting dead wood, "we would want to reassure farmers that planting trees is not a suicide mission for their farms."

Hometree's Ardnaculla Summer School will feature four days of workshops for the community, landowners and farmers to discuss, see and learn about the benefits of woodland.

Volunteers get stuck into tree planting with Hometree in County Clare

"We'll have experts in land regeneration, conservation, herbivore management, agroforestry, workshops in seed sowing, and adapting to climate change. Along with feasts at the fanciest place in town (Pot Duggan's), live music and songs!" says Ray.

"Keynote speakers Alan Watson Featherstone, Mary Reynolds and Pippa Hacket, are just a few inspirational people attending; it's a unique opportunity to listen and interact with people like this in a laid back, fun setting. Our mission is to be a conduit to the natural world and the people who know how to restore it and are curious to get involved. These events will be gently facilitated, super informative and help move us a step forward in living in partnership with nature. So if you are a farmer, landowner, student or generally interested in connecting with nature and understanding the challenges of working within complex systems, these four days are for you."