An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

 Hello from a very spammed off Blogger! Despite sending a captcha feedback complaint to Blogger over a month ago I still have not gotten any feedback from them?! I have been otherwise busy...we had a  marvelous day in Co Kilkenny on 27th Oct to commemorate my grand uncle Michael who died in France towards the end of WW1. I have already covered his story and our efforts to trace him online here In beautiful autumn sunshine  we had a very simple and moving ceremony attended by more than 40 extended family and friends, members of the American Legion in Ireland led by Retired master Sargent Ron Howko. My son Kevin who was home on leave from serving with a European mission received the folded Stars and Stripes  Michael K.Holmes with the photo of the  memorial tablet which was sent by the American Government and now adorns his parents grave, Michael's remains were never recovered and only his name is recorded on the wall of the Missing in the Meuse Argonne Am...

We grew beetroot which did not do too badly, it is a crop we usually make a token sowing of as I don't eat it and the others are not too keen either! I had pickled it in previous years and did like it but the whole pickling and waiting until it was ready to eat was tiresome. Rosie, one of our allotmeteers with her husband Con grows quite a lot. While talking about it one day she said she cooks it and puts it into vinegar and it can be eaten as wanted.I tried it this year, roasted the beetroot in the oven then peeled,sliced and put it into jars, covering it with red wine vinegar.It can be eaten immediately but I am not sure just how long it would last in the jars, not really a problem as it did not last long enough to worry about it! My D.Michelle and I set off on a 2 1/2 hour road trip a few weeks ago to visit Ikea near Dublin.We had not been there before and it is the only Ikea store in Ireland.It is a big Swedish company specialising in storage ideas and the prices ar...

Every time I open one of my wardrobes I was getting the distinct smell of lavender. Investigating today I found the source, a 400grm bag of dried lavender which I must have put in there myself and forgotten about! We have 6 lavender plants growing on the plot and having wrestled some of it from the bees which spent the entire summer buzzing around collecting pollen, I dried it and packed it into a zip lock bag. These crafty hearts are appearing in most of the garden centres/craft shops etc, so I got the idea to make some packed with lavender.I had this rose patterned fabric, maybe not the most suitable for lavender but shabby chic and vintage roses are 'in'!The lavender is inside a muslin heart shape inside the rose fabric.They can be hung on the bedroom doors or inside a wardrobe. They also look OK hanging on drawer handles etc. I have to visit a craft shop over the weekend to buy some more fabric etc.,it is forecast more rain so there will be no gardening for a few days and I...

D.Aisling and myself modelling our new aprons and pot holders. Last year I was involved in a gardening by Letter project organized by Anna on the flowergardengirl blog.There were 12 participants and each month we sent cards and gardening related gifts to Anna who then sent them on to that months recipient. I got my bumper parcel in Dec,there were hand made cards,packets of seed, handmade gifts and Anna had included a length of this material. I thought of it recently when searching around for something to do while housebound due to the weather.I was online blog hopping and I love blogs showing crafts, someone had been making aprons and I thought why not?! Aisling had bought an apron recently for no other reason than there was a cupcake motif on it, but had become convinced that with 2 small children aprons were heaven sent for keeping clothes free of sticky hands etc! I borrowed Aisling's apron for a pattern and made 2 aprons from the material with large front pockets. There was som...

I had made an Aran jacket for Callum some time ago and his Mom had kept it for Easter.They called over on Mon so I could see him all dressed up! Callum loves the camera and modelled for me. Is he adorable or not?!He is now crawling and into everything so posing on the couch only lasted for a few minutes then he wanted to be down and doing things! We had very severe gales over the weekend and particularly last night, I went to bed very worried about the greenhouse but have to say it is still standing and if it survived that it will survive through the rest of the year.All the pots and trays did not move thanks I would think to having cable tied the shelves to the frame so there was no movement inside.I surrounded the edges of it with anything that I thought would anchor it down, there are bags of compost around the inside also. The lettuce I planted out last week, I had noticed one leaf which could have been eaten or broken, the second morning another one had the same damage. I had read...

I finished Callum's aran jacket last week so today I went to the Cork Button Co. for the buttons. I said I would do a post about the button company some time ago so today I took my camera with me. Years ago aran cardis had leather buttons but I knew these would not be suitable for a child's one which would be washed quite a bit as the dye would eventually run into the wool so I got these lovely imitation look ones for an authentic look. The button company is an institution even though a lot of Corkonians are not aware of its existence!No cards of buttons here they are all sold from tubes which line the walls.The Button company has moved home a number of times but has always remained in the same area of the city. This is the unimposing modern entrance so come inside to button heaven! Buttons are grouped in colours and types all around the walls, jewelled and plains and buttons are even dyed especially to order. Some buttons are even Zworoski crystal. The staff are passionate abo...

The week kicked off with Callum's first birthday party which he enjoyed with extended family, his hands are being held away from the cake but he did manage to get a handful of fresh cream! Jack got his first tooth! Scott has been walking for a while but I never got a photo of him in action, I think he just stopped here to pose for the camera. The weather has not been conducive to outside gardening so I have been finishing off items I had started and which can be done beside the fire!These are two grown up sweaters for Scott.The turquoise wool was part of my stash but a little to girly for a boy so I teamed it with cream for one (with the V neck) and with navy for the second one (with a shawl collar). They are double knitting yarns but I knit it doubled as Aran weight on 5mm needles to make them nice and chunky. My crochet is very basic and I find it impossible to follow a pattern so it can be slow ripping until I get what I want. The two hats were done like that, I did the blue one...

I said in my previous post that I had received my gardening by letter package yesterday.Anna over on Flowergardengirl blog organized this mammoth task. There was one recipient for each month we all sent our cards to Anna who then undertook to send all of them to that months lucky participant.It was my turn for this month and what a lovely bundle of gardening related cards etc I have received. My daughter remarked yesterday on seeing the contents of the package it is lovely to receive 'nice' post, no bills ,circulars, junk etc.We have lost the art of letter writing in this age of text and computers. I received such a myriad of beautiful gifts, the rule being they should fit in an envelope!Handmade bookmark in cross stitch,coffee and cookies, magazines and material.Music, lots of seeds, bought and some saved from the writers own gardens, some of which I have already seen in flower on their blogs! The yard long beans I will have to Google! Crafty stuff ,scented soap & handmade...

The title of the blog post is in Irish, and reads Women's Christmas. In Ireland the 6th of January has traditionally been known as Women's Christmas or Little Christmas and I have heard it referred to as Little Women's Christmas, maybe height restrictions apply?!The Christmas festivities would be over and the woman of the house would have worked hard to ensure everyone had plenty to eat and drink. This last day of the 12 days of Christmas was set aside ,at least in Counties Cork and Limerick as the day the women were looked after.During the hedonistic 80's and 90's particularly, hotels booked big stars and bands and the function was booked out months in advance as whole groups of women let their hair down and celebrated.Now groups of women, maybe family or friends etc will get together and have a meal and a few drinks etc.We would usually celebrate it by getting together but this year with the treacherous road conditions it will not be a getting together in one plac...

Our allotment owner Zwena organizes a Christmas get together for us each year at her house with mulled wine and finger food.It is great to see everyone because at this time of year very few of us make regular trips to the plots. My contribution were these delicious cranberry & white chocolate muffins which I read about on allotment2kitchen blog . They are moist and the cranberries add a tart taste to them. Another person brought this beautifully dressed seasonal cheeseboard. Zwena's home is an old farmhouse which she has lovingly preserved in its original layout...no melamine kitchen units here! I forgot to take a pic of the kitchen which boasts an range for cooking and heating.This real Christmas tree dominates this room, it is all of 11ft high! The fireplace with the library in the background A table centre made by Zwena.We had a lovely evening chatting under candle light,we may not see each other on the plots for quite a while so it was nice to see everyone and wish them the...

Christmas is all about tradition and I was looking at some of my decorations and remembering where or how I got them.The fat Santa I brought home from a visit to a Christmas market in Brussels about 8 years ago. It was my first visit to one and it was a fairytale experience with snow and mulled wine and a terrific atmosphere. This hand crafted and painted glass was bought at a Christmas market in Prague about 5 years ago, I went with two of my daughters.The old town square and Charles bridge are out of a bygone age and beautiful even in freezing cold weather. We all bought some of these but only a few survived the journey home! This angel was made for me by my grandson Ryan when he was about 4 years old he is now 12,a toilet roll holder and gold and silver pipe cleaners become a Christmas Angel. Youngest son Barry made this when he was 4 and just started school in 1994. Barry also made this but there is no date on it, a yogurt carton covered with tinfoil becomes a Christmas bell. The a...