VOICES FROM THE LAND by Explore Carrick-on-Suir

Saturday 13th December • 2PM-4.30PM • Ormond Castle

Part of the Tractors & Tudors Festival

Please note: This is an intimate event with very limited seating due to the historic nature of Ormond Castle, and no additional tickets can be added. The programme lasts up to three hours, so we kindly ask all attendees to remain for the full duration.
Thank you for your understanding…it helps keep the space focused, comfortable, and enriching for everyone present.

PANEL DISCUSSION — WEAVING THE THREADS TOGETHER

OUR SPEAKERS

Voices from the Land brings four remarkable speakers — each grounded in their own craft, tradition, and relationship with the land — to explore how people have lived with, worked with, honoured, and learned from the land across generations.

This is a celebration of deep memory, rural wisdom, creativity, and community stewardship.

Mick Kelly — Founder & CEO of GIY

Topic: Food Empathy, Nature-Led Living & Community Wisdom

Mick Kelly is the founder and CEO of GIY, a social entrepreneur, author, TV presenter, and “hacker grower” who has inspired thousands to reconnect with land and nature through growing food. A decade in IT ended with one simple moment — a supermarket bulb of Chinese garlic that sparked the creation of GIY and a mission to bring food empathy back into everyday life.

Mick has co-presented and produced three seasons of Grow Cook Eat (RTÉ / Amazon Prime) and the acclaimed RTÉ One series Food Matters. An Ashoka Fellow and member of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild, he has written five books, including the award-nominated GIY Diaries, and his writing has appeared in The Irish Times, The Irish Independent, and Food & Wine Magazine.

At Voices from the Land, Mick explores how growing food reconnects us to heritage, community, and the rhythms of the natural world — a modern expression of timeless rural wisdom.

Ben MacCaoilte — Poet, Teacher, Archaeologist & Performer

Topic: Story, Soil & the Spirit of Place

Ben moves in the world where poetry, archaeology, folklore, and lived experience intersect. A teacher, archaeologist, and performer, he explores how story, memory, and landscape shape who we are. His work carries a deep reverence for the old ways — for the language of the land, the myths beneath the soil, and the threads that bind community to place.

At this event, Ben will delve into the meeting point of story, soil, and spirit — how land holds memory, how people carry story, and how the two continually shape one another.

David Keohan (Indiana Stones) — Researcher of Traditional Irish Stone-Lifting

Topic: Stones, Ritual & the Physical Memory of Heritage

Known widely as “Indiana Stones,” David is the leading voice in Ireland’s revival of traditional stone-lifting heritage. His RTÉ documentary Made of Stone brought national attention to Ireland’s lifting stones — monuments of endurance, ritual, and community memory.

David’s work uncovers the stories encoded in these stones: rites of passage, tests of strength, local legends, and the unspoken bond between people and landscape.

At the event, David will speak about the physical tradition of stone-lifting — how these stones act as anchors of identity, ritual, resilience, and belonging.

Eimear Burke — Chief Druid (Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids) & Seanchaí

Topic: Ritual Traditions, Myth & Ireland’s Spiritual Relationship with the Land

As Chief Druid of the Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids, Eimear Burke stands at the crossroads of storytelling, ritual practice, and ancient wisdom. She carries Ireland’s spiritual traditions with grace, humour, and clarity — connecting myth, ceremony, and seasonal cycles to modern life.

At Voices from the Land, Eimear explores Ireland’s rich ritual heritage: the turning points of the year, the symbols that guided our ancestors, and the stories that help us stay rooted in something deeper.

The event concludes with a shared conversation between all four speakers, chaired in an open, welcoming style that invites reflection, honesty, and humour.

Together they’ll explore:

• Memory & belonging

• Community stewardship

• Ritual & seasonal wisdom

• Heritage carried in body, story & soil

• How ancient knowledge speaks to modern challenges

• And what it means to truly live with the land today