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Open Garden for Amnesty 2018

Following on from last year’s very successful event we have decided to open our garden for two days this summer. On Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th of July, from noon to 5pm, you are welcome to stroll through our garden, peek inside our eco-buildings and enjoy some refreshments in our pop up Amnestea … Read more Open Garden for Amnesty 2018

Ballaghaderreen Community Garden.

We are fortunate and very excited to be to part of the creation of a Community Garden in our closest town, Ballaghaderreen. A few months ago we were proud to be invited as members of the committee and since then we have been working as part of a team to realize our shared dream. We … Read more Ballaghaderreen Community Garden.

Our conservatory one year on.

It has been a year since we built our conservatory and now we are not sure how we ever managed without it. Every morning we drink tea in there and when we have guests it is the place we are most likely to congregate in.

When all the pieces come together – Mosaic.

We are very happy and proud to announce that our big mosaic floor in the extension now is finished. The actual tiling part of the job was completed a couple of months ago but we only put down a first layer of grout to bind it all together at that stage. We have been busy … Read more When all the pieces come together – Mosaic.

The sky is the limit.

We are nearing the completion of our extension build. It has been a long laborious journey, hundreds and hundreds of hours of digging drainage ditches, filling tyres with soil for the retaining wall and stripping bark of the logs for the main construction. We have also managed to finish the whole mosaic floor, the only … Read more The sky is the limit.

About the author.

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.

Building our sustainable home.

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.

Gardening in harmony.

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.

The Nine Irons

The Nine Irons

April 16, 2018mariamayfleming

Sometimes things just work out. We have a good friend who is a blacksmith and he has taken the youngest member of our family under his wing. We are delighted that Finley can spend time with him, learning the trade and enjoying the company of a truly great craftsman.

forge 041

Read more →

Building, Crafts, Out&About, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Blacksmith, Bottle wall, Forge, Nine irons amulet, Nine irons craft 5 Comments
Spring springing.

Spring springing.

April 9, 2018mariamayfleming

hellebore and float 015

After a couple of weeks in Sweden we are now back home with our feet firmly planted on Irish soil. Before we left it was unusually cold but in our absence quite a remarkable transformation has taken place.

Read more →

Elemental circle, Gardening Hellebore, Raspberries, Spring 3 Comments
Roots run deep…

Roots run deep…

March 30, 2018mariamayfleming

As long as I can remember I have been fascinated and enthralled by the botanical garden in the town where I was born. Visby lies on the Island of Gotland, in the middle of the Baltic Sea.

sweden and garden 161

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Gardening, Out&About Botanical Garden, Charles May, John May, Sylve May, Trees, Visby, Visby Botanical Garden 4 Comments
A walk down memory lane.

A walk down memory lane.

March 25, 2018March 25, 2018mariamayfleming

Faro 088

As some of you know, half of our family comes from Sweden. This week we traveled back to the Island of Gotland, in the middle of the Baltic Sea and today we had the opportunity to visit the small Island of Fårö, where we all lived as children.

Faro 101

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Out&About Fårö, Gotland, Sweden 5 Comments
1+1=3

1+1=3

March 14, 2018mariamayfleming

As many of you know we have four teenagers in the family. Two of them have been sharing a room for over six years, tension was mounting, and it was high time they each got their own private space.  So, since September our house has been in a state of some disarray.

late november 010

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Building, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Compact living, DIY loftbed, Loftbed, Small space Leave a comment
Opening a door to the past.

Opening a door to the past.

March 11, 2018mariamayfleming

chalkpaint 037

As most of our regular readers know, we like to recycle as much as possible and incorporate found and salvaged materials into our home and garden.

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Crafts, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Annie Sloan, Chalk paint, Old cabinet, Old wallpaper, Recycle, Upcycle 3 Comments
Ready for the storm.

Ready for the storm.

March 1, 2018April 9, 2018mariamayfleming

March has arrived and with it the promise of the heaviest snowy weather Ireland has seen for over 35 years. We have stocked up on food, candles and other necessities, filled up the bird-feeders, brought in firewood and covered some our vulnerable plants with fleeces. We are ready for the storm.

End of February 052

Read more →

Elemental circle, Gardening Forest gardening, Mulch, Spring clean 1 Comment

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