An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

Gardening has come to a full stop thanks to the weather, reading is the new spare time occupation. My niece Catherine Ryan Howard who I have mentioned before when she self published her first book Mousetrapped, which was about her work experience in Walt Disney World in Florida. Catherine has now published her first novel Results Not Typical.It would not be my usual choice of reading material but I got hooked on it fairly quickly and thoroughly enjoyed the plot and sub plots, well done Catherine! I am surprised the various slimming companies who sell motivation and of course their own 'slimming products' allowed it !! Backpacked is also self published and is Catherine's account of a very reluctant back packing trip across Central America, not fiction she really did do it! Catherine researched her self publishing and made her books as good to look at and handle as any books available through the major publishers.The pitfalls and problems overcome plus advice were then self p...

Matteo Bartolini from CEJA on Vimeo . You never know who is reading blogs! I am sure many of you have been approached from time to time to feature various items/companies/products etc. I don't as a rule get involved with these requests but this one definitely appealed to me. I received an email from John Mortell ,communications officer with CEJA...whose them you might ask?! The European Council of Young farmers in Brussels. They are trying to encourage and help young farmers across Europe to stay on the land, not to just eke out a living but to increase the value of their farms and produce. They have a Vimeo video channel ,there are just 3 videos at the moment, this young farmer is Italian and there is a French and Belgian farmer also featured. This appealed to me because he is growing truffles of all things, watch and learn!

I have spent a couple of hours browsing through my favourite blogs, something I have not had too much time to do recently. It was nice to catch up on everyones news and doings! My computer slows down considerably in the afternoons and evenings which may be attributable to my internet provider so Sunday mornings when I can, seems to be the best time to be online it is slowing down now even as I type! I am also having trouble yet again with leaving comments on blogs. I know by not staying logged on to Google seems to correct this but I now have my email on my phone and I am always 'on' so this may be the cause this time around. I have to go through the various options on each blog to leave a comment if Google does not recognise me?! Anyway, enough moaning! The photo was taken through my kitchen window earlier today when the birds were nearly pushing each other off the feeder, usually as soon as I go to the window they fly off but thankfully not today. I had got up early intending...

Bonjour! I have just returned from a short holiday to France, I did not think it was safe to advertise the fact before going as you never know who reads blogs! My eldest daughter Deirdre,partner and daughter Niamh have lived in the S.W of France in the Carcassonne area for the last 3 years and this is the first time I have visited. Flying out from Dublin over the bay,I am not sure exactly what the beach is called but it looks beautiful basking in the autumn sunshine. Outside my daughter's house grapevines in the field next door, the grapes have been harvested and the autumn colour is visible everywhere.Its a big wine making region, Limoux is the nearest big town and Blanquette is the regional wine,it is a sparkling wine and they say the forerunner of Champagne! The small village where they live, there is not even a shop there just quaint houses and winding narrow streets.Not much in the way of flowers at this time of year, but I saw kiwis growing over an archway into a house, orang...

A post all about the hens and the ravages they have wrought in the garden! Pic of them congregated on the windowsill, they are inclined to gather here or at the patio door if they want to be fed.Sometimes they turn over the feed bin and I don't refill it fast enough for them so they draw my attention like this! A couple of times one of them has actually turned it over on top of herself getting trapped in the process and the other 3 come down to the window or patio door and keep pecking until I go out and free the luckless hen that is under the bin! Pic taken in April when the first 2 hens arrived, note the lovely sward of green grass and the precise edging of bark mulch? Pic taken today! They have turned the whole area into a quagmire of mud and er...organic matter.I had to move the coop down the garden, note the sorry looking tin tub and the small brown window trough. With 20/20 hindsight I should have had normal grass well rooted before getting the hens as I put down rolls of gra...