The village of Rossinver has become the location for a flood of 'willing workers on organic farms', writes Susan McKay.

Aisling O'Connor grew up on a small farm in Glencar in north Co Leitrim with the certainty that once she was old enough, she'd leave. "I couldn't wait to get out," she says. "Getting a good Leaving Cert result was your passport. All my aunts and cousins and neighbours were leaving. Emigration, or moving to Dublin or Galway, was just what you did. It didn't come into your frame of mind that you'd stay."

Now, at the age of 31, she's back, working at the Organic Centre in Rossinver, and loving it. She's not the only local to return, and the centre has also drawn into this beautiful, but once abandoned place a collection of people from all over Ireland, as well as further afield - from England, Germany and New Zealand.

This land is not unlike Patrick Kavanagh's "black hills that look North, eternally". It used to be said that even the crows brought sandwiches when they flew over Co Leitrim. During the Troubles, local Border roads were cratered by the British army, and Rossinver was cut off from Garrison village, its nearest neighbour in Co Fermanagh. The roads quickly grew over with wild roses and brambles.

They are open again now, and rushy fields which used to be regarded as fit only for sheep, are flourishing. The gardens and polytunnels at the centre are bursting with produce - potatoes, spinach, peas, beans, herbs, peppers, lettuces of every shape and colour, apples, pears - even grapes and chillies. There are also glorious flower gardens, and at weekends the Grass Roof Cafe serves food prepared by chefs from Dublin and Edinburgh.

O'Connor went to Galway University and then set off to travel the world.

"I did a lot of 'WWOOFING'," she says. That stands for "willing workers on organic farms". She spent several years working on farms in Mexico, the US, Spain, Sardinia and New Zealand. "I got interested in all sorts of ideas about land and rights and self sufficiency. It was very inspiring, but I didn't know how to apply what I'd learned. I came back to Glencar in 1999 to think about what I was going to do." The Organic Centre had been set up in 1995, while she was away. She did its Fás course on horticulture, set herself up in an eco-friendly caravan on her father's land, worked as a private gardener for a time, and then returned to work for the centre. "The centre has been a brilliant presence in north Leitrim and the Peace Funds have opened up a huge potential for job creation," she says.

"I work with primary-school children in the North, as part of a cross-community, cross-Border project, and for the community food project in Sligo. The health board is involved, too. It is all about teaching people gardening skills and how to eat well and live well. There are a lot of part-time farmers round here and you see them driving to the supermarkets in quads to buy food. They are disconnected from the land. They depend on grants." The centre now provides advice and training for farmers. A local farmer harvests wild flower hay from meadows within its grounds. He also keeps cattle there in the winter, and gives the centre manure in return.

Many of the organic centre's projects are aimed at people on low incomes. One involves an organic community garden in a troubled housing estate in Enniskillen. Ingrid Foley was a lecturer in Dublin who moved to Co Leitrim (her father's home county) with her husband and their three children several years ago. She works on the community food project. "One group I work with are asylum seekers from a direct provision hostel in Donegal," she says.

"There are Syrians, Afghanis, Sudanese, Bellorussians and Somalians. They were so excited when they dug their first heads of spuds. They love the polytunnels for the heat, and they love to see the chillies growing. We are experimenting with growing produce from their countries. They get so bored and depressed with their lives here. They learn English through the gardening. We really want to develop the integrative work with them and we have big plans."

Foley also runs her own vegetable-growing business, delivering boxes in her local area.

"The ground is appalling. Oh Jesus, it is terrible. It takes a lot of hard work to build up the fertility," she says. "But this place is inspiring. People see that it can be done - and if it can be done here, it can be done anywhere." The director of the centre is Hans Wieland, a teacher from Germany who came to Sligo with his family in 1985 and set up an organic cheesemaking business. "The centre started in a wooden hut," he says.

"Ten years on, we have these beautiful buildings and we are one of the biggest local employers. We have around 24 staff and a flow of people coming through on our courses. Some of them come back to work here, others set up their own businesses." The impact on the local community has been huge. "Local bed and breakfasts have got a lot of business, and local cottages have been restored," he says. "This area, down as far as Carrick on Shannon, is now part of a designated 'Green Box' tourism scheme. We help train local accommodation providers to become green - where to source cotton sheets, how to cook organically, how to compost and so on. Local restaurants are using organic produce more and more. We push them a bit." Bryonie Reid is from Co Down, and her husband, Craig Sands, is from New Zealand, though his family is Irish. The young couple moved from Belfast to the lovely Glenanniff valley near Rossinver. Craig works for the centre and for local gardeners. Reid has just finished a PhD.

"We are renting a house now, but we are looking to buy a few acres," she says. "We'll either buy a derelict cottage and restore it, or we'll build a house from straw bales. I'm hoping to do a course at the Living Architecture Centre in Leitrim village.

"There is a community of people who came here because of the centre, and there's also the sculpture centre in Manorhamilton. There's a good social life. There's the Glens Centre in Manorhamilton and there's the mobile cinema. There's a lot going on." The organic centre is one of the sponsors of the annual Green Festival in September.

Dubliner Dolores Keegan, who trained in the National Botanic Gardens, was a pioneer of the organic movement in Ireland. She moved to Co Leitrim in the mid-1970s to set up Eden Plants at Rossinver. She's been away and returned since then. "Leitrim was seriously depressed in the 1970s. Everyone was leaving. Local people just thought we were mad - there is a rural suspicion of the new, and a negativity." Back then, farmers sat in the bars of Manorhamilton dismissing the new-comers. Then a co-op shop selling produce from local growers as well as "blow-ins" was set up in the town, and attitudes began to change.

Now, one of the things Keegan most enjoys about the centre is its relationship with local old people.

"The Active Age group comes here once a week. They come in with shining eyes and smiles. They have organic soup for lunch and they have a session of yoga or making cards. They love it. There's something subversive about that. We're getting to the old people."

For more details, see www.theorganiccentre.ie or tel 071-9854338