Recycled Eco Buildings and Wildlife Friendly Food Forest Garden. Mosaics and Glass Bottle Walls.
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.
We are long time admirers of Mary Reynolds and were delighted when she created her ARK movement. ARK stands for Acts of Restorative Kindness. You can read all about it on the ARK website HERE. People all over the world are now creating ARKS on the land that they have available. It is time to … Read more Let’s build an ARK
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.
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.
We are happy to be at a stage when it is time to furnish our conservatory. We acquired an old wooden trunk from a friend, and decided it would make a perfect table. It had been spending many years in a shed and unfortunately some wood worm had got into parts of it. The first step in our saving operation was to treat it with wood preserver. We did that outside in the summer and left the trunk in our shed for a few months to make sure there was no live woodworm left.The long pieces on the bottom needed replacing.
As we look back on December we realize we did not spend a large amount of time in the garden. There were so many other things to tend to in the house and in our new conservatory. The days were not long, with darkness falling shortly after four in the afternoon and the light not returning until after eight in the morning.
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 were finally able to plant up our indoor succulent garden this weekend. For about a year many of our succulents have lived a life in obscurity dotted around our windowsills in pots. It is so lovely to finally be planting them in their intended space.
November started off as a riot of colour in the garden and we were so happy and thankful to still be gathering the harvest. Our Ocas, Oxalis tuberosa, had a great year and we still have quite a few to harvest. This South American tuber is very versatile and has the benefit of not being affected by blight. It tastes slightly lemony and is wonderful drizzled with olive oil and roasted in the oven along with some kale, carrots, onions and rosemary from the garden. Read more
The last week has seen a lot of frosty weather in the West of Ireland. We have ventured out into the garden early in the mornings to capture some of the structural beauty. Plants that look quite ordinary on any other day have been transformed into stunning creations, full of natural grace.
At this time of year it is especially nice to bring some things from the natural world into the home. We love to decorate our house with materials found in the garden. It brings with it a feeling of calm and reflection on the past year of growth in the garden. Most plants are resting and gathering strength for the spring to come. We like a slower pace of life as well at this time of year, and making a few winter crafts and decorations can brighten up your space as well as calming your mind while you work on them.
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 