Recycled Eco Buildings and Wildlife Friendly Food Forest Garden. Mosaics and Glass Bottle Walls.
As we look back at the month of January we would like to use a Swedish word that sums up our involvement in the garden during that period, and it is lagom. Lagom is a word that has slowly spread out across the world in the last couple of years and there is not really any one word in the English language that it translates directly into. The closest might be moderate, adequate, good enough or just the right amount. Not too little and not too much.
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 café. We are situated close to Ballaghaderreen, in the northwest part of County Roscommon. The weekend is in aid of Amnesty International Ireland and all proceeds will go towards their work.
The light is returning slowly, every day we have a few more minutes of day light. As we look back on the darkest month of the year, we realize that more time should have been spent in the garden.
2017 is drawing to a close and it is time to sum up the past twelve months in pictures. Sometimes you lose track of time and it is difficult to remember all that has happened so we find this practice highly rewarding. We have so much to be thankful for and at the end of one year it is enjoyable to look back, but also to look forward and think about options and opportunities for the year ahead. We found it suitable to write this post today, at the darkest time of the year, as the wheel is turning towards brighter and warmer days ahead. We have put in links to posts about the various projects, for easy access if you see something you like.
This morning we woke up to a world transformed. All night the flakes had been falling slowly and settled on every surface, transforming our land into a picture perfect space, full of natural beauty. It is by far the most snow we have had since moving into our place nearly five years ago and we went out early to capture the magic on camera.
We have many outdoor tasks to perform all year around and at the end of a particularly cold day it is lovely to soak in a warm bath and feel the whole body relax and rejuvenate. We like to use natural and chemical free products in the bathroom and wish to share our favourite bath salt recipe with you all here. We have been making bath salts for years and like to add different herbs and oils such as Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Lavender and Hemp. Read more
We had our first frosts in November and now the land is really settling into some winter rest. Plants grow very slowly if at all and many annuals have withered and collapsed.
Many people think of November as a very bleak month full of brown leaves, rain, mud and dropping temperatures. We think that if you wrap up warm and head outside there is much to enjoy in nature at this time of year. We took our camera outside today to hunt for the colour red. Red is the colour of fire, passion, blood, love and sometimes in nature, danger. How much of it can we find in the West of Ireland on a grey and rainy mid November Wednesday?
Looking back at October we realize that we have spent another month mostly away from the garden. The building work inside is progressing slowly but we have also spent quite a lot of time working in and for the Ballaghaderreen Community Garden. It is a precious project, lots of fun but equally time consuming now in its early stages. 50 Kg of Daffodils have been planted by the committee and volunteers, well over 1000 bulbs and we are looking forward to the display this coming spring and for many years to come.
Today we would like to just share a few pictures with you. Sometimes it is difficult to stay focused and enjoy the simple things in life. We are still in the middle of rebuilding three of our rooms and the house is very chaotic. Because we are building we have not been able to spend time in the garden either. So it is a bit chaotic out there as well. It is easy to feel stuck, bogged down and feel that things are not moving on as fast as you would like.
thegreenerdream 