October 2024 - Flowers still blooming

and the grass is still growing...

Well, it feels like it has been a very busy October, and looking back through my calendar and photos - a lot of social activities!

Also worth mentioning - we invested in a van for our various agricultural activities, can’t wait to head up to the tree farm with it. Rusty likes his special seat in the middle, and is quite relaxed in it.

My son Dara graduated from DCU with a degree in Irish and Music.

We got solar panels installed, and I’m obsessed now with the app that tells me where my power is coming from, and optimising my power usage. I’m even more excited now for sunny days.

I cooked a harvest feast for a few friends - globe artichokes, caprese salad, venison and pork ragu with mashed potatoes, pumpkin tart tatin with hazelnuts and goat cheese, and apple cake. Another lunch featured sourdough crackers and beetroot hummus, and a salad with butterleaf lettuce and roast grapes. It’s great to limit the palette to only locally grown produce.

People tell me that they don’t see the workshops in my newsletter so click here to see whats on my website. Scroll to the end of this to see events not on my website.

Seasonal Activities

October has been a time for tomato harvesting - and the outdoor ones were still ripening. I have harvested everything - some unripe tomatoes are ripening inside on a windowsill and others are hanging up in the tunnel.

We coppiced the hazelnut hedge earlier this year, so no hazelnuts there, but the two remaining trees will have a few.

Lots of mushrooms popped up in hellstrips with well mown grass in Greenpark meadows, which I’m delighted to see - this is a sign that there is healthy fungal activity happening below the surface.

I’ve been making chutney - in preparation for a workshop at the Women’s Community Project, but also as a way to preserve some of the bounty. So far -hot tomatillo chutney, and spicy beetroot chutney.

Coole Meadow

The entire meadow has been mowed, but some of the areas that we mowed earlier - like the tree section - need mowing again. So we begin again.

There are 2 big mallow plants in the upper lawn perennial garden. They have not yet bloomed, and really they are a bit thuggish, so I was thinking of removing them. However, I see that they are a home for some shield bugs, so we will let them stick around for a bit longer. Hopefully we will see some blooms next year.

Workshops

I was delighted to run a composting workshop in Portlaoise .We always have a bit of craic with the composting class, there’s plenty to laugh about when it comes to decomposition! I was amazed that the participants had never heard of No-Dig - so I pointed them to Charles Dowding on YouTube.

I hope to get the chance to run some more workshops there in 2025. It’s a lovely location. I took a walk around the town after the workshop and discovered this amazing shop - we will be headed back there for some of our Christmas shopping! Lots of cast iron camp cooking equipment, and an amazing selection of knives.

I ran a sourdough workshop in Cuige - here are some of the student creations from the following week. I’m delighted to have shared this skill with a few more people, and always gratifying to see what they are able to do.

I’m also running a series of workshops in Castlepollard library - it’s a new direction where we are combining sustainability and art - the overall title is Sustainability Horizons. Teresa Doyle and I have already completed 2 workshops - both called Taking a Leaf - and we are seeing some interesting work coming out of that. We’ll have a show of all the work on November 21st - 6pm in Castlepollard library - all are welcome.

Taking a leat …and making a mandala.

In the meantime, I’ll be working with Bertille from Studio Bleu on Lets Go Bananas (Nov 2nd) and Flower Power (Nov 9th) . Still a few places left for these workshops.

Flower Farming

The Flower Farmers of Ireland organised a fabulous event in Kilworth, Co Cork. Rachel and Ash from Green and Gorgeous came to talk about growing perennials, and we had a garden tour and a fabulous lunch in Petras beautiful home. A few of us travelled down the night before and enjoyed chatting flowers over dinner and drinks. I heard stories of flower farmers going to sleep listing the perennials that they would like to start growing - better than counting sheep :-)

My tunnel - which went in 12 years ago - needs a complete rejig. I had put down weed control and built raised beds. The raised beds don’t last that long, so I’m taking them all out and pulling up much of the weed control. There’s a lot of growing medium to dig out and move, but Phase I is nearly complete, I’ll just keep plugging away. I’m very keen to see what the soil under the weed control looks like.

There are flowers still growing - Snapdragons, Schizostylis coccinea, Circisum Rivulare, Verbena Bonariensis, Dahlia, Feverfew and Sanguisorba. I have one subscription still going but probably wouldn’t be able to handle more than 2 at this point.

Learning

Working with artists like Teresa and Bertille has been a great way to learn how to incorporate more creativity into workshops. Also, we had Tony from Canola pictures come and video our Flower Farmer workshop for all who couldn’t attend - it’s great to see how smooth things are when you work with a professional.

And here’s a newsletter than I enjoyed reading - ways that we can help the butterflies.

Stepping up for pollinators: butterflies

Upcoming events

I have 2 wreath workshops in my calendar - one in Cuige on December 4th and in the Refill Mill on December 7th. The Cuige event is almost full, but plenty of spaces in the Refill Mill event - a Saturday afternoon. I’m looking forward to the Christmassy feel of these events, which are always lovely gatherings, with tea, chat, and something seasonal to eat. Don’t leave it till the last minute to book - I’ll be ordering the wreath bases in Mid November so I’ll have to close the bookings around then.

I already mentioned my Sustainable horizons workshops - - Nov 2nd and 9th - and an art opening on the 21st.

And a talk about soil in Blanchardstown library on November 4th, thanks to Blanchardstown Gardening group for booking me!

And I’ll leave you with something a bit different. There is music, but this video shows you how to use origami to make a box. If you make 2 that are slightly different sizes, one can fit into the other and you have a lovely gift box for soap or suchlike or other homemade gifts - truffles or scrunchies made from fabric scraps. Take a look in your recycling for paper that you could use. I’m using books that have been retired from the library.