An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

I set up an Instagram account a few  years ago and promptly forgot about it until some months ago and began browsing and got hooked enough to start posting, mainly about gardening.  I noticed some DIY crafting posts and began following them as I had always knit/sewed/made and done etc as many of my generation did because we had to , to look after a family and make ends meet. It was immediately very clear this new generation of crafters enjoyed the creativity and colour in each DIY project they did
My monks bench was vintage white with a pale grey stencil, after looking at the colour and style of Joanne Mooney whose blog and instagram  account A PROUD HOME has won followers and awards I stepped outside my comfort zone and went for Petrol in Colortrend paint and some mad colours in cushions
 of the plain greys I had originally intended!                                         



 Another award winning Blogger is Catherine Colton better known as Dainty Dress Diaries, Catherine had made a…

The Northern Lights/ Aurora Boreallis were on my bucket list for a while and I decided this was my year to tick them off, especially since IcelanderIcelandair are offering very good rates to fly from Dublin to Reykjavik.
 The photos are uploaded in no particular order, it was cold so layers of clothes and waterproof walking boots were in order! I had booked my flights back in May, booked my B&B through Booking.com, prices in Iceland are more expensive than at home or most places I would think!
 I had also booked an evening tour to see the Northern Lights on the Sat night, pick up at 9 pm from the BSI bus Station which as luck would have it was only about 7 mins walk from my B&B also very handy getting from and to the airport.
 Reykjavik is a colorful city, brightly painted homes, most of which are of this corrugated exterior presumably for insulation? Heating, all of their hot water and electricity are supplied from Geothermal springs, which are harnessed for the benefit of th…

So another birthday reached, maybe not regarded  as a milestone  one but, every year is a milestone now as they seem to come around quicker and quicker!                                                   I began thinking of a bucket list a few years ago, having been lucky enough to have travelled a bit I had seen a few places,such as Venice and New York where we visited ground Zero which at that point was still a hole in the ground, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
 One evening I opened FaceBook and there was an advert for trekking the Great Wall of China, something which I had always found fascinating from the time I could read about it, so I signed up, began training and duly set off with an organised group called Earths Edge on my birthday 2 years ago to undertake the adventure of a lifetime
Earlier this year I set off on another undertaking, walking the Camino in northern Spain, photo, I am standing on the steps of the cathedral de Santiago with my certificates and my pilgr…

I don't grow Beetroot anymore as I no longer have the space to do so but, I would buy fresh at a Farmer's Market or where I know its local and organic.
Saturday was one of those days I saw a bunch of Beetroot and decided I would pickle some.
We are currently having a heatwave with near drought conditions and water rationing, YES, in Ireland!
 Vegetables are in short supply and may even get scarce unless we get rain. Potatoes have failed in some places due to lack of rain at a very crucial period in their growth.
Anyway, back to my Beetroot. I have been doing a very short term pickle recently, just roasting the beets, slicing them into jars, pouring in red wine vinegar, and keep in the fridge for a week or two.
 This time, to make store cupboard pickle I Googled for a simple ,quick recipe which I found. I think its from a Blog so if anyone reading this thinks it looks familiar or knows the Blogger please credit in the comments and I will add as I screenshot it and now cannot …

A much anticipated family occasion took place recently, the wedding of my grandson Stephen to Hayley in the UK, almost the entire family decamped to Kenilworth for a few days of laughter and merriment.
 The sun shone on the wedding party for the whole day, which was wonderful as it was all planned outdoors in the hotel gardens!






Stephen and Hayley are the proud parents of my great grand daughter Aoibhin, a thoroughly mischevious, adorable funny little Miss
 here she is twirling the train of her Mom's dress around her, literally running rings around her.
It was a beautiful family weekend as both families were staying in the hotel together and we got to know each other and have some great memories of a wonderful weekend.
We had time to tour the locality over the few days and Kenilworth is an old English town steeped in history. Thatched cottages,and typical English  cottage gardens were photographed and enjoyed.
 Kenilworth Castle is an amazing ruin, it is closely associated with Qu…

Well, post number 2, if I get one post up per week it would get things moving  with some continuity once again. The annual Mallow Homes and Gardens show took place last weekend which I attended with two of my grandchildren Jack & Heidi. the weather was a little unkind and some of the time we spent indoors was at the Taste of North Cork. these are a group of artisan producers who showed on the day but I was quite taken by Nibbles Food Emporium, award winning bakery based in Millstreet, Co Cork.  The Gardners Green soup with Bluebell falls goats Cheese crostini was intriguing, Chef Eleanor Leahy runs the business, is quite interested in foraging and using natural ingredients in her restaurant. The thing that struck me about the ingredients for this soup is, the greens are free and widely available  if picked at the right time,when young and tender. We often mention the Hungry gap, that lean time between the end of last years crops and the beginning of the new seasons, this is probab…

I can’t believe it’s been nearly 4 years since I last uploaded a Blog post!  Blogger became more complicated, smartphones became the norm, Face Book became the media of choice to share news etc.  Son Billy had to travel more for work and also took up marathon running, 17 clocked up to date. It was usually late in the evening by the time I got to the allotment and between being ate by small flies and not liking being alone there I didn’t continue. I did garden at home but that was mainly flowers. I actually didn’t even think of the Blog for months, lately I have logged on and caught up on some blogs and am delighted to see some of the same familiar names. This year I also felt the need to grow again, albeit in very small amounts just for myself and because my garden at home is not suitable for veggie growing I have utilized various sized bags and began my hashtag #backyardandbalconybags The photo shows what is known as a Skippo bag for lifting waste etc. I used home made compost and s…

There was nothing done on the plot since Friday due to the worsening weather over the weekend.The greenhouse needed watering so I went out this evening. I intended pulling the remainder of the beetroot and the carrots and clearing the bed for the winter.The carrots had been very slow germinating and I thought not a great return from them, until I removed the Enviromesh which has sheltered them all summer.
The beetroot has been fantastic  all year, all from one sowing ,I have been using the thinnings as baby beetroot in Balsamic vinegar but they have now grown tennis ball size, I think they like being under the mesh the same as the carrots.
 I had pulled some carrots  to thin them out and I didn't think they were doing at all well, did I get a shock?!
 I began pulling them but then found that some were in bunches and it would be better to thin them out and leave the others grow on a bit longer.There is a bunch of baby carrots, a bunch of full grown carrots and a bunch of the purpl…

We have finally dug out the last corner of the plot, its been sitting under plastic sheeting for months to break down the high grass.The plastic was removed and the dead grass could be easily pulled away making it possible for a fellow plotter to come in with a rotavator to break up the ground.
 We then dug it over thoroughly and removed the scutch grass roots and the stones.
 I went on a road trip near Kinsale on Mon and brought back 4 bags of seaweed in the boot of the car!
Wellie boots are compulsory for this task. I did'nt want to get seaweed from the harbour area as it is possibly polluted with diesel from boats and various other unmentionables.
The seaweed was not loose at the waters edge so it meant  collecting it at low tide, and taking conservation into account. I took a large scissors and  cut approx half of each plant leaving the roots still attached to the rocks.The 4 bags only covered about 1/3 of the proposed potato patch for next year so at least 2 more  foraging t…

I have been on holidays abroad, enjoying the summer sunshine here at home, spending days on the plot  and while taking some photos did not turn on the computer to upload so, not to bore anyone, collages are the way to go.
Various harvests, you will notice courgettes feature in all of them, but getting more colourful as the season progresses!
Beetroot,carrots, courgettes,cucumber, chillis,Kale,lettuce,Mange Tout,onions,sweet peppers,sweetcorn and potatoes, not bad for such a late start on a new plot!

The onions drying in the sunshine.Chilli peppers (our first attempt ever at growing these)!Tomatoes reddening on the vines at last, our first red pepper is in there too! I love how colourful the harvest gets as the season unfolds.
The  story of our pumpkins. they were started off in pots at home and repotted as needed, they were  finally planted out on the plot in early June.Clockwise from top left is their progress, it was slow until we got some heavy downpours of rain and then they just…

The Pumpkin patch after the recent heavy rains. There are 4 plants here and at the moment romping all over 'their' patch.I have usually planted pumpkins where I would have dug up the first early potatoes but this year we didn't have any earlies so seconds and main crop are still in the ground and the pumpkins needed their space out of the pots.
This is a patch which was under plastic to kill off the overgrown grass, it has just been roughly dug to loosen the earth and some compost from the Municipal site put down.
Some of the grass is beginning to come through again but hopefully the pumpkin foliage will keep most of it down.
They are stretching out at least 4 to 5 feet now from where they were planted with loads of flowers and small pumpkins along their length.
This is the largest at the moment, about tennis ball size, the rest are less than golf ball size. We are now wondering how many to leave on the stalk to mature and will we cut the stalks at a manageable length?
Ac…