Treading lightly, one step at a time.
My name is Maria. Many of my earliest memories are to do with nature and plants. I remember travelling along a road through a forest in the middle of winter in Sweden and every time the moon glimpsed through the trees I would shout out in wonder “Look at the moon”. This annoyed my big … Read more About the author.
Over the last few years we have extended our old cottage, built a conservatory and are now in the process of renovating and improving our shed to use as a workshop and storage facility. Our aim is for our buildings to have as little negative impact as possible on the environment. We have used reclaimed … Read more Building our sustainable home.
Even before we bought our cottage and piece of land four year ago, we were planning our forest garden. Forest gardens exist all over the world and their history goes back for thousands of years. It is a way of growing mostly perennial vegetables, shrubs, trees, vines and other useful plants in a way that … Read more Gardening in harmony.
There is something very special about having a hideout high up in a tree. You feel slightly removed from all worldly worries and commitments. You can climb up your ladder to rest, dream and spend some time suspended between the sky and the ground. When we moved into our cottage almost five years ago, all boundaries were planted with laylandii trees that blocked out light and prevented the hazels, oaks, hollies and rowans from thriving.
September has arrived and with it a slight change in the air. The mornings are colder with lots of dew glistening on plants and spider’s webs and the colours are slowly changing in the garden.
We have wanted to visit Brigit’s Garden in County Galway for over a year, and a sunny morning last week we decided that it was time. It is a special place, inspired by Ireland’s Celtic past and partially designed by Mary Reynolds who is our favourite Irish garden designer. She believes just like we do, that it is time to go down a different path, one where we start giving back to the earth instead of always taking. You can read more about Mary and her work here.
We believe the best kind of gardens mirror their creators and echo the owner’s interests and passions. Like a green haven that has the power to evoke feelings in the visitor and where creativity is limitless.
After spending two lovely weeks in half of our family’s native country Sweden, we returned home to a garden full of life. There has been lots of rain while we where away so everything has put on massive amounts of growth, the flowers, vegetables and grass is all looking verdant and lush. It is nice to come back after half a month away and realize that the garden has not suffered at all in our absence. It is one of the positives we can experience from living in a climate with few droughts and no extreme changes in temperature. We think it can also be put down to the fact that we mulch all our plants well with cardboard, straw and just about any organic matter we can get our hands on. This makes for a sustainable eco system in the garden where less intervention is needed to keep the balance right.
You might be a bit like us. We like to have fun and go to the odd festival or gathering. When attending such an event it is nice to get in the spirit of things. Maybe wear something that you would not normally wear. Put on some special makeup or face paint.
Last year in July we had the privilege and joy to share our home and garden with some long anticipated visitors. You can read all about that visit in this post. Josie is a member of our family that is 18 years old and autistic. For about six years she has been attending an outreach service where she spends time with other young people with additional needs. Together they cook, go to the cinema, go horseback riding and do many other things.
