Birds bring so much joy to our lives here in rural Roscommon and we feed them all year around in our garden as recommended by RSPB. You can find more information about that in this link.
Author: mariamayfleming
Curious incidents in the Catholic Church.
Our usual readers might find this post a tad off topic as it has little to do with gardening and building for a sustainable future. We do however think it is an important post as its aim is to build understanding and compassion for all the people affected by Autism in any way.
It is a tale of our oldest daughter Josie, who is autistic and like the rest of the family, a non-practitioner of organized religion. She attended a small Catholic primary school in the West of Ireland and we wish to point out a few of the culture clashes that happened during those years, most of them to do with religion. She remembers these incidents with fondness and quite a lot of amusement and is happy for them to be shared with you here.
A sustainable arrangement.
It is nice to have something natural and beautiful to look at each day without having to venture out into the sometimes rainy, windy and quite cold November days we are experiencing at the moment.
A touch of frost.
November is often thought of as a month when not much is happening in a garden. We can’t agree with that. There are still lots of vegetables to harvest, beds to cover and mulch, areas to clear of unwanted plants and a few cherished newcomers that will need planting.
All of the above is probably the reason why we are a bit behind on posting here on the blog. It is high time for our summary of last month in the garden.
South of the wild West.
We have had some rather special days in the last week. When we met about 8 years ago, we already had two children each. Since then we have all been living together as one family. It has been a fantastic and rewarding time but sometimes challenging as well.
Hedgerow tipples.
Foraging is always close to our hearts. It is a very relaxing and fulfilling activity to go out in the search of nature’s free bounty. We like to seek out places far from roads and houses and ask permission form the landowner if it is not on public land.
September gone.
We have entered October and there is a definite change in the garden. All the lush greens of summer are slowly transforming into browns, russets, buttery yellows, we could go on… It is lovely to walk around and experience the slowing down process of nature. All the leaves are turning and falling as the trees and shrubs prepare for the cold in the coming months.
A graceful ending.
We have always admired and loved the old Rowan tree on the Northwest corner of our land. The lady who lives across the road was born in our house and she says the tree has always been there and was a mature tree already when she was a little girl many years ago. We think it might have been growing there for a hundred years and certainly for over eighty.
The tree in 2014 in the top right corner.
It’s alive!
Over the last few days something of a bubbling, exhilarating and wonderful revolution has taken place in our kitchen. Unfamiliar smells, sounds and tactile experiences can now be found in every nook and cranny.
thegreenerdream 