Recycled Eco Buildings and Wildlife Friendly Food Forest Garden. Mosaics and Glass Bottle Walls.
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.
Yesterday was a very special day here at the greener dream. Our long awaited Amnesty Open Garden day had finally arrived.
Our open day for Amnesty International Ireland is drawing closer and there are many things to prepare and finalise.
We are very happy to finally have the stove mosaic in our new conservatory completed. The second hand stove is in place for use during very cold winter weather as a backup system to provide heat and protect sensitive plants from dropping temperatures. During the past winter we had no need for it but it is nice to know it is there and it can also be lit to make the space extra cosy and comfortable for midwinter gatherings.
It was quite cold all throughout the month of January here in the West of Ireland. The daffodils poked their heads up and a couple of them even started to turn yellow by the end of the month. The Hellebores flowered beautifully and we fed the birds a lot of nuts and seeds to keep them healthy and content.
As most of you know the last few days we have been working on the artwork for the “Welcome to Roscommon” movements wall to welcome the Syrian refugees soon to arrive in the local community.
If you are considering building a low wall for a conservatory or greenhouse, this might be a viable option for you. We built the front wall of our conservatory with tyres, stones and some chicken wire for very little cost, both to us and the environment. To make the wall stable it is important to ram the tyres with earth and spend a good bit of time pounding the earth with a sledgehammer. You can read more about building with tyres in this post here.
It is almost time to close the door on another year in our little cottage. We are so happy to be able to live a simple life in the countryside, grow more and more of our own food and spend time in close connection with the soil. It is very gratifying to see the soil slowly improving as we add more organic matter to it. Our trees create their own mulch now and the land is changing into a very exciting place. Where there was only a field of creeping buttercups, we now have a multitude of useful plants and a wildlife haven.
After some debate we have decided to include this post in the food production category of the blog. The subject matter might not be very nutritious but it does feed the soul and creates many happy memories.
We are now almost two years into the adventure that is writing this blog. Today we are publishing our 100th blog post and to mark the occasion we have created a logotype. Since our blog is all about respecting and honouring nature, we decided that a tree would be the perfect symbol for our endeavours. We hope you like it!
thegreenerdream 