Anna joins Flower Farmers of Ireland at Bloom festival

Mullingar will also be represented at Bloom (related story here) by local flower farmer and RTÉ ‘Climate Hero’, Anna Browne.

Anna will be representing the Flower Farmers of Ireland (FFoI) on the Garden Stage, on Monday June 3 at 2.15pm, talking about one of her passions, ‘Growing pollinator-friendly cut flowers’, and will be working with other FFoI members from the east coast and midlands regions at the association stand (No 16) in the Nursery Village.

On offer will be lush fresh Irish-grown flowers, plants and a range of dried flower items, as well as information about the association and its aims.

Bord Bia Bloom is a world-class, uplifting and innovative horticulture, food, and drink experience with nature and sustainable living at its heart.

Originally created to promote plants, garden design, horticulture and gardening, Bord Bia’s role in promoting food and drink has allowed Bloom to develop further. The show has grown into something which makes for a great day out, and offers a huge range of practical information on everything from gardening, to growing fruit and vegetables, cooking and culture.

Anna ‘grew up growing’ on her family’s farm by the shores of Lough Owel and her love of all things plant-related stayed with her throughout her career in the IT sector.

These days, she can almost always be found either out in a field or garden, or passing on her skills through one of her educational ventures.

Anna regularly delivers workshops and courses at The Refill Mill, Cúige Studios, Westmeath County Libraries and other venues, and her ‘Lake County Learnings’ series is currently in its second successful run. ‘Lake County Learnings’ has been funded by the Westmeath Arts Office, which enables Anna to offer the classes to a wider audience.

Anna’s events are focused on sustainability, so she covers a diverse range of topics, including soap-making, sourdough bread-making, composting, and of course all things flower-related.

She’s an active member of the Flower Farmers of Ireland and a passionate advocate for locally-grown flowers.

In another first for 2024, and another collaboration with the Westmeath Arts Office, Anna will be taking part in ‘Cruinniú na nÓg’ on June 15. She’ll be running a Kombucha-making workshop in the morning and a flower-crown workshop in the afternoon. Both events are free but booking is required, and places are sure to fill up quickly, so go to cruinniu.creativeireland.gov.ie as soon as possible to reserve yours.

If you can’t get to Bloom, you can catch up with Anna on her own website (bigskyflowers.ie) or her Podcast. ‘Practically Green’ (practicallygreen.ie), a sustainability-focused collaboration with Eibhlin Fitzpatrick (founder of the Refill Mill). The first four episodes of ‘Practically Green’ are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the Acast network.

Anna is also a regular guest on Midlands 103 and Athlone Community radio.

The Flower Farmers of Ireland (flowerfarmersofireland.ie) is the foremost association on the island for commercial growers of flowers and foliage for the cut-flower market. Cut flowers are the pretty face of a multi-million euro commercial activity; Irish growers face massive competition from bulk foreign imports, with little support from government at any level. This year will be the first time the association will have an official presence at Bloom.

For more information on Bord Bia Bloom 2024, go to bordbiabloom.ie.