January 2024

A whole new year of flowers, food and fun in nature.

Jan 30, 2024

So here we are, at the end of January. Weather wise it’s been either wet, windy or frosty with only a few days where it was lovely to be outside.

Just on the topic of spring flowering bulbs, you may have lost bulbs in the wet weather that we had since last June. (I know!) These bulbs like to be really dry after they finish growing, and many may have rotted with all the rain. I like to grow bulbs in pots when I first buy them ,and then the best place for them is under a deciduous tree - I just dump out the pot once the leaves have died back, and cover with more compost and mulch if needed. Under trees gets less rain as the leaves act like an umbrella, and the roots suck up loads of water so under a tree is the driest part of your garden. And the tree loves all that organic material. the snowdrops above are growing under a plum tree.

We took ourselves off to Fuerteventura (one of the Canary Islands) for a week in early January which was amazing - first time that I’ve gone away for winter sun. The island itself could not have been more different to home - dry and hot, with very little vegetation and no rain worth talking about. As an experiement to see if there was much wildlife, I left some stale bread outside - it was still there in the morning. So not much living there. Lovely to get a vitamin D top up, and to swim in the sea, and have lots of down time with the boys, eating outside.

Seasonal Activities

So it’s still hibernation (and a bit of business development) time. Various emails and ads have flashed across my screen with what to do in January - my favourite was this one - what not to do in January. I see lots of creatives and self employed people writing about the importance of rest and reflection. I’ll be just getting the hang of that when it’s time to ramp up for March seed planting!

The business development seems to be developing collaborations - with Kim for this couples retreat, with Magico Bakery in Athlone (soapmaking), and with Pure Space in Co Clare for a no-knead sourdough workshop. Which I suppose makes sense given how important my collaboration with the Refill Mill is.

I did a little pruning of my apple tree - the ‘Rhona’ that I am using for grafting. Last year we got about a 65% success rate on our grafts. I’m very happy with that. And with finding homes for this lovely apple.

It’s the time of the year for Seville oranges, so a bit of marmalade making is in order. I always have to add something - this year it’s cranberries. Earlier in the month I made some pumpkin/squash salsa - it’s something that we eat a lot of here, very fond of a Mexican dinner. And I used the last of the chillies to make chilli jam.

And speaking of chillies - now is the time to plant chilli seeds - they have a long growing season, so it’s good to get them started early. My favourite is Bolivian Hairy chilli - also called Rocoto. I grow them in the tunnel, they don’t really get ripe outside. They are pretty hot and have lovely black seeds, which look great in the chilli jam.

The other seeds worth starting now are aubergines - they also have a long growing season but need a tunnel or greenhouse grow successfully. Sweet peas are good to start also, but once they have pushed up a leaf or two get them outside - they can handle the cold. They will get leggy and weak if you continue to grow them inside.

I sorted my tomato seeds. I like to grow both bush and vine tomatoes - the bush work well in pots or hanging baskets. Last year I fell in love with Brads Atomic Grape, and I saved seeds so that’s a definite. Purple Ukraine is also on the list, and my best bush tomato was Roma. I still have tomatoes in the freezer - frozen whole - and they make a pretty good ‘fresh’ salsa when defrosted and blended with shallots, salt and lime juice. I’m also starting some coriander - fresh coriander is the herb that I use most, it seems!

I was going to put some Larkspur and Delphinium seeds in the fridge for a month or so, but I seem to have mislaid all those seeds - I’m pretty organised about my seeds, so maybe I didn’t have any. Anyhow, seed shopping is a big part of my seasonal activities at this time.

The indoor animals are getting along well, we didn’t expect that!

The National Gallery has a Turner watercolour exhibition that is only shown in January, so on New Years Day we took ourselves to Dublin to see it. Because many shops were closed, Dublin was actually quite pleasant. We also hit the ‘dead zoo’, where this slightly damaged shark caught my eye. I have to admit to singing the ‘Baby Shark’ song in my head for some time afterwards…

Coole Meadow

I have hardly been out to the meadow at all - although we have bought lots of bare root fruit trees that we will be planting soon. I’m keen to get back out there and see how it has all fared with the extreme winds and rains. I expect that there will be a bit of growth in the tunnel. It will be good to see how the ‘arisings’ from the scything are rotting down (composting). And it’s definitely time to get the hedge mulched!

Workshops

I did not deliver any workshops since my last newsletter! However I have lots planned - see below. And I’m venturing beyond Mullingar, with a cold process soap workshop in Athlone in February, and a no-knead sourdough workshop in Pure Space in May.

Flower Farming

Apart from the sweet seas, there’s no point in planting much yet. The ranunculus is doing OK in my tunnel. They are not as healthy and vigorous as I’d like, but no mould (fingers crossed) which is great. The ones outside in crates have lost leaves - to predators or bad weather - not sure which, but they are still alive, and hopefully they will rally. There’s one brave anemone about to bloom in the tunnel, and I shall pick that for myself and relish it!

Daffodils and Tulips are sending leaves up all over the place, but it will be a while, I think, before they are in bloom.

Flower Farmers of Ireland had their AGM, we had great discussion, lots of engagement from the members and an injection of fresh volunteers on the committee, so there will be no stopping us this year!

Learning

I’m working hard at Dr. Cathy Fitzgerald’s Earth Charter course, which just started. I’m also back at my pottery class in Athlone. Making vases, soap holders, sushi plates. I’ll have lots of interesting flower holders to try out once the flowers start blooming again.

I really enjoyed the Mother Earth Food happening in Leixlip at the Wonderful Barn. Some highlights highlights: Helping Rose Green from 4Hands Food studio dishing out Irish pea hummus, seeing Jess Murphy making griddle scones (and being witty and entertaining while doing so) and slathering them with butter, cheese and pumpkin marmalade. (I’ll have to try making that next year - grated pumpkin, apple cider vinegar, sugar and whatever spices you like).

Best of all was Darcie from Lost Valley making Labneh from yoghurt (with baby Rosie on her back!). I’ll be trying that out and making cheese balls covered in edible flowers soon! So simple and tasty. I’ll be buying extra yoghurt this week.

I’m always interested in seed saving, and I know that some of you are too - here’s a publication that explains some of the legal stuff behind the mess we are in today. I have to admit that I haven’t finished reading this, but don’t let that stop you! And here’s an interesting take on heirloom seeds.

And here’s a lovely story of a beautiful farmer here in Westmeath. He’s creating something wonderful.

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