thegreenerdream

A room for Josie.

February 28, 2016November 7, 2016mariamayfleming

There has not been many blog posts in February and this is part of the reason.

We moved into our cottage three years ago and because it was so small, our three teenage daughters had to share a room. Although they have not complained too much about it, all three of them have been looking forward to more space. In December last year our extension was finally finished and another room was freed up in the house for the girls. Alana and Alex are both 15 and like a lot of the same things so did not mind to continue sharing. They moved into the newly vacated room and Josie was left with the old girls room all to herself.With a little help she has made it into the new favorite room of the house.

A day in our beautiful Capitol.

February 20, 2016mariamayfleming

After a couple of intense weeks, full of gardening, decorating, building and having friends over, we decided that a day away from it all would be nice. We set out from the train station in Castlerea at 8.18 yesterday morning. The train is a comfortable way to get to Dublin, with nice views along the track, a toilet if needed and a table for reading books on.

If you have a day to spare, or even just a few hours, IMMA, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, is always worth a visit. It is very close to Heuston Station, where our train pulled in. The building is very big and used to be the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham.There is a lovely Museum shop, a cafe and a beautiful garden to wander around in.

Our favourite visit to this museum was a few years back when it hosted a Frida Kahlo exhibition. Yesterday’s main exhibition was a bit of a disappointment to us; Grace Weir: 3 Different Nights, recurring. We found the work to be very pretentious, with the main theme, three different nights represented by three identical looking framed black squares spaced out across a wall. There was also a few different films, one in which a person who we think is the artist walks in a snowy landscape, takes a couple of steps, pauses, takes a couple of more steps, pauses and picks up a stick, takes a couple of more steps, pauses and so on…

We came away from this exhibition with very few emotions, apart from mild amusement and a disappointing emptiness. We believe art should make you feel and react, and there was very little of that despite Grace Weir apparently being one of Ireland’s most compelling and respected artists.Thankfully we were not allowed to take any photos.

Fortunately there were some more interesting exhibitions as well, the most moving being Shot at Dawn, a work by the British photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews which focuses on the places at which soldiers from the British, French and Belgian armies were executed for desertion and cowardice during the First World War. There were names, times and dates added to the photos that were all taken as close as possible to the real season and time of the execution. It is very sad to think about all those soldiers, most of whom were just suffering from shell shock, who were killed in this cruel and unnecessary way.

We went to have lunch in the beautiful cafe, located in the cellars of the building, a place with a vaulted ceiling and very deep window niches. Satisfactorily refreshed we went on to look at the more permanent exhibitions, part of the museums own collection and to finish our visit off, we strolled around the garden. A walled place with very formal planting it is possibly as different from our own as any garden can be, but never the less a very pleasant place to be.

After this we still had a couple of hours until our train departure back home, so we walked over to the National Museum of Ireland, located at the Collins Barracks, for a wander around the exhibitions. It is in itself a lovely museum, well worth a full days visit. We were amused to find some old packages exhibited from Monica Duff’s, the well known former department store in the square of Ballaghaderreen, now closed for many years.

We came back home, full of impressions and with slightly aching feet. We love going to Dublin now and again, but what we love most of all is coming back home again to the wild, beautiful West of Ireland and our own house and garden. There is no place like home.

Gardening in January.

February 7, 2016November 18, 2016mariamayfleming

As we are almost a week into February, it is high time to sum up what happened in the garden last month. We had a lot of rain and storms and a little bit of frost, but we still managed to get out in the garden for a few days. The birds had finished all the seeds in the seed heads left on our perennials, so we took some time cutting them back and tidying up the flower beds. At the same time we removed a lot of weeds, like couch grass and creeping buttercup that was threatening to colonize the beds and swamp our preferred inhabitants. Here you can see our main garden circle after being tidied up. If you are a regular reader you know we take these pictures every month, to record how the garden changes and develops over time.

Mecanical interlude. A compromise!

January 26, 2016mariamayfleming

Usually we like to get stuck in and do most jobs around the garden and house by hand. But sometimes the jobs are so big that we have to call in the heavies and let them do it for us. We had a digger and roller here for a couple of days, and they did more work than we could have done manually in at least four weeks. Sometimes you have to way up the positives and negatives.

We have not done anything to our drive for the three years we have been here and it was now full of potholes and weeds. The digger scraped off the old top layer of gravel all along the drive and outside our porch. We saved all of this material to add to our paths through the garden, as a stabilising layer.

It was then time to have a truck load of quarry dust delivered and dumped along the drive. Our friend with the trusty digger helped us distribute it evenly and then it was time for some fun. Most of us had a go on the roller, some doing a lot of work and some just trying it out with a big grin on our face. One example is the main authour of this blog who just rode the roller up and down the drive once… For the people who did get stuck in it worked really well for compacting the gravel and now we have a lovely drive without any potholes and quite an even surface.

We have now finished our extension on the inside and time has come to add on the conservatory and connect the two roofs. We are adding a conservatory mainly as a way of further insulating the house and bringing all that lovely sunshine from the south into our home. It will also be a place to dry our washing, starting up seedlings in the spring and just sitting around with cups of tea and coffee, talking to friends.

The digger dug out a bit more of the bank behind the house and we will use all the stone that we have found in the garden to build a solid stone wall at the back and side of our conservatory. For the floor we will put down flag stones and leave areas with soil in between for planting right into the floor. A conservatory is probably not the right name for it as it will be more like a piece of the garden with a roof over it. We are planning to use polycarbonate for the roof as it is strong, lightweight and has good insulating properties. It is very exciting to think of all the possibilities this space will bring.

As a first step we put down a small foundation for our main upright post, a branch that came of an ash-tree we had to pollard behind the house. The digger was again a great help lowering it down onto the round foundation. It is great to be building again and to have a nice big project to get stuck into. There are more posts to put up, stone walls to be constructed and windows to move into position. We never have time to get bored around here, and because of the digger and roller, we can get on with the fun bits now, skipping hours, days and weeks of shoveling gravel and dirt.

Even more mushrooms, hopefully!

January 22, 2016mariamayfleming

Following on from our last post, we wish to tell you about two more ways of growing mushrooms in the average garden.

If you have a compost heap it is possible to set up a colony of Oyster mushrooms. We choose the yellow variety as it is more tolerant to cold and will be easy to spot even when small because of its bright colour. We have a few very big heaps in our woodland with mostly brushwood and weeds and we picked the north, shady side of one of them to start our colony.

We put some old silage we were given from a neighbour on top of the heap and scattered on the mushroom spawn mixed with saw dust and a little bit of sugar. As this is a big heap we used 180 grams of spawn. You could probably use more like 100 grams on an average compost heap. We forked in the mixture and added a thick layer of straw on top of the spawn before finishing off with another layer of silage. All mushrooms need a damp growing site so we watered the heap in. Now we are confident that the rain will do the rest of the watering for us, but if we get any dry spells, our stream is conveniently located close to the heap.

We also wanted to try out a couple of slightly more difficult varieties and looked at the ideas in James Wong’s excellent book, Grow for Flavour, for growing Lions mane and Shiitake. These varieties both like a vertical surface to grow on and they like hard wood chips as a medium. We adapted Mr .Wong’s ideas slightly and started off with some hard plastic crates we were given from our local supermarket. Putting down a layer of cardboard in each box to contain the woodchips and started filling them by putting down slightly larger half rotted twigs from a pile in the garden. Then it was time for filling the gaps with hard wood chips to create a level surface about half way up in each box that the spawn mixture could be scattered across. Again we added sawdust and a sprinkling of sugar to kick start the spawn into action.

Shiitake spawn.

We filled the boxes to the top with wood chips and put on another layer of cardboard to insulate against the cold and create a dark, cosy environment for our mushrooms.

Now the boxes are stacked up and wrapped in some plastic for the next couple of months and hopefully the mycelium will start to form, and our boxes will fruit for years to come. If for any reason our colonies will not take off, it is easy to order some more spawn later in spring and add to our different created environments. It might be a bit of a gamble, starting this project in January, but we do not have many frosts here and all of our colonies are well protected from the cold. Only time can now tell if we will succeed. Hopefully it will only be a few months until we can start harvesting our very own gourmet mushrooms.

Growing Mushrooms.

January 19, 2016November 18, 2016mariamayfleming

Yesterday we were very excited to find our recently ordered mushroom spawn in the mailbox. We had ordered five different varieties from a company in the UK. Today we got around to planting two of the varieties, King Oysters and Wine cap mushrooms, also called Garden giants.

Looking forward and back.

January 7, 2016mariamayfleming

We have reached a new year full of possibilities and projects. Yesterday we were delighted to harvest a large crop of Oca, Oxalis Tuberosa, also called New Zeeland yams, a tuber we tried growing for the first time. It was planted in our garden last spring after being pre sprouted in pots in late March. We tried red, yellow and orange tubers but the yellow ones rotted in their pots early on so only the others got planted out. In the summer the plants produced lots of green leaves with a lemony taste. We are very happy with our trial and will save a few, to plant again this spring. In their native South America they are second only to potatoes in popularity.

Planting in March.

Growing in August.

Harvest in January.

On these short wintery days the sun is always welcome and we try to spend some time in the garden every day, clearing out old foliage and weeds from the beds. We are planning to cover the whole vegetable garden in cardboard boxes and barley straw to stop weeds taking hold in the spring. Hopefully this will rot down just enough in time for planting vegetables later in the year. Our witch hazel tree is looking beautiful at the moment, with spidery fragrant flowers on bare branches. It is always a welcome sight along with the hellebore, Christmas rose.

Still braving the elements.

It is time to sum up last month in the garden, the words very wet comes to mind. It was difficult to find the motivation to get out there and work when the ground was soggy and the sky was grey. We kept busy inside and also took some time for rest and reflection. Sometime that is what is needed in order to gather strength and renewed motivation. We are feeling very optimistic now about the garden in the coming year. Some plants will be moved about or planted for the first time and there is much work to be done on clearing weeds like creeping buttercup. We actually like many plants normally considered weeds, like nettles for their phenomenal nutritional and wildlife value. But some have to be controlled in order not to take over ground from weaker plants.

These are pictures of our circle at the end of December in the four directions of the compass. It is very green for this time of year, with the grass still growing. We are full of anticipation to see what the circle will look like later in the spring and summer as all our trees, shrubs and perennials will have another years worth of growth in them. If you wish to see how the circle develops over time you can take a look at the Elemental circle category on the blog, where all the monthly garden entries are collected.

East

South

West

North

We wish all our readers a happy and healthy new year, full of pleasant surprises and time to be spent outside in our beautiful nature. There is always so much to look at and to be delighted by. We are going to roast some newly harvested Oca tubers with fresh garlic and olive oil now, to celebrate the beauty of January and give thanks to our garden where beautiful things happen all throughout the year.

Celebrating the returning light.

December 24, 2015mariamayfleming

We were very fortunate this year as the sun was shining when we headed off to county Sligo on the morning of the 22^nd of December. Our destination was the Carrowkeel tombs, a Neolithic site between 5400 and 5100 years old. We visited three of the fourteen passage tombs situated on a mountain range above Lough Arrow.

It is difficult to imagine a more fitting place to welcome back the sun and the lengthening days after the winter solstice. We were able to enter two of the tombs by crawling through the narrow entry passage and here you can see the ingenious stonework that now has lasted longer than the pyramids of Egypt. One of them has a flat piece of rock set at an angle on the inside wall, making the same shape and set in the direction of the Croagh Patrick mountain in county Mayo, that can be easily viewed from the site on a clear day. The tombs all have a central chamber with three equally spaced side chambers. Once you crawl into them the space is quite big and you can stand up. Just like in Newgrange, the famous megalithic site in county Meath, the tombs are placed in a way so the correspond with the light on certain time of the year, like the summer and winter solstice. We believe the people that built them celebrated the seasons and the returning light in a much deeper way than we do today. Many people live quite removed from nature today, not paying too much attention to the changes of the year. We feel very fortunate to live on our small piece of land, growing as much of our food as possible and spending time outside, almost every day of the year.

A short walk away from the tombs is a deep natural hollow with a very large cave at the bottom. By natural phenomena, the low light from the sun at midday illuminates the back wall of the cave for a short while, only on the days right around the time of the winter solstice.We all made the steep climb down the hole and into the cave and had a chance to view this beautiful spectacle first hand. Unfortunately it is difficult to see how astonishing this place is in the pictures. It is really worth a visit. The cave is big and would easily fit one hundred people.

We had an experienced guide and friend with us and the day turned out to be lovely, meeting some new people and spending time out on the mountain side in the strong cold wind as well as sheltering for a while in one of the ancient tombs. We clapped, drummed and listened to Paul play the penny whistle. It is hard to describe the feeling of calm and safety inside the tomb, you really feel a strong connection to the land and time in there.

On the drive home we visited Moygara castle above Lough Gara, another beautiful site full of history.

We came back home feeling refreshed and ready for the new lighter time ahead, but also tired from all the fresh air. All of our four teenagers agreed it was a day well spent and we all slept soundly that night.

A stressful December?

December 19, 2015December 19, 2015mariamayfleming

There were a lot of big plans for December blog posts in late November. One was to be about green natural decorations for your house and garden. How to put together wreaths, mantelpiece swathes and other beauties from Ivy and found plant materials. Another post was to be about Scandinavian paper Christmas decorations for the tree, such as woven hearts and something frilly that translates as a Christmas tree sweet or Christmas tree cracker.

But somehow those posts did not get written. We moved into our new extension early in the month and we had grossly underestimated the amount of work involved. Everything in our combined living and bed room had to be moved out, sorted through and made to find new spaces in the extension. The recently vacated mottled green room was not to our teenage girls liking. It also looked a bit worse for wear so had to be painted; ceiling, walls, shelves, radiator, window frames etc… Everything needed two or three coats of paint. Now it is a dream in Venetian white and a grey-blue colour called Robin egg. The girls are happily moved in but to get them to help out with the room they until recently shared with their sister is a different story. Three teenage girls can accumulate a huge amount of stuff and now all of that needs to be sorted through and moved before that room can be painted and decorated for the remaining inhabitant.

We also had five big crates residing in the kitchen full of the stuff taken off a shelving unit we had to move out in order to build the walkway through to the extension. They were very much in the way in our small kitchen and are now in the process of slowly being sorted through. So to make a long story short, almost everything in the house is being moved around. It is like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle where the pieces are hard to find and even harder to put together.

December can be a stressful month at the best of times, but all of the above in combination with all the holiday must do’s and should do’s has made this past few weeks quite difficult. Slowly the tension has been building up and time has been slipping through our fingers, disappearing fast. And at the back of our minds the thoughts have been gnawing away, we must find time for the blog posts, and time to write the Christmas cards and time to find the Jamie Oliver Recipe cards for the Christmas dinner, and time for this and time for that until there has been no time to enjoy anything anymore.

It was high time to put on the big brakes. How much fun is Christmas with six grumpy, tired and irritable individuals? So now we are relaxing as much as possible. We had an evening together last week and dressed the tree. It will be the only decoration in our house, but we are ok with that. The room that needs painting will still be there after the holidays, and so will most of the mess in the house and all the weeds in the garden, but does it really matter? Is it good to have cleaned sparkling windows but no time to sit down and talk to each other? Is an hour spent cleaning worth more than an hour visiting a lonely neighbour or a friend? We might still make some paper decorations for the tree and write about it here but only because it is fun and not because we have to.

We leave you now with a few pictures from our lives in December and we wish you all a calm and happy time over the holidays.

The beauty of November passing.

December 4, 2015December 4, 2015mariamayfleming

People often think of November as a dull, grey, wet and cold month. That November is something that has to be endured rather than enjoyed. We beg to differ. As the garden and nature in general slows down and moves towards a more restful time there is beauty everywhere. From the fireworks display of leaves and flowers to the stark forms of the remaining artichokes, if you look you will find it.

Spring is often seen as a joyful, bright and uplifting time but is it really so different from autumn? We believe all parts of the wheel of time should be celebrated, enjoyed and looked upon in awe. Without the plants dying back, withering and resting there would be no spring spectacle to behold. No new leaves unfurling or apple blossom to marvel at.When the sun comes out and shines its low rays across all the colours in our garden in November, it feels like a miracle not very different from looking at the first butterfly or bumblebee of spring.

It has been very wet and windy over the last month in the West of Ireland and we have been busy indoors, finishing work on our extension, so the garden is in a state of some neglect. There is much planting, weeding and some moving of plants to be done. We always plant things as soon as we can and if something turns out not to thrive in its allocated position we move it later. A year of growth in the ground is almost always better than a year waiting around in a pot to be planted out. Our planting of ornamental grasses that we created in the spring is coming on nicely and is starting to fill the space.

Spring

Autumn

Our paths are in need of attention. We put down a lot of mulched Leylandii and thatch from an old cottage when we established the garden but after two and a half years the paths are getting worn down, starting to break up and have some weeds creeping in. It is now time to move all this old, rotted down material and use it as mulch around plants all around the garden. We will dig out the main paths quite deep, put in some drainage pipes and replace the path with maintenance (quarry dust). This should last a lot longer than the thatch and mulch. On higher ground, where water logging is not a problem, we are planning to just have cut grass.

The rain over the last month has led to our stream being very full of water.

Every month we show pictures of the garden taken from our main circle in the four cardinal directions. You can see how the garden changes and evolves over the year in the category elemental circle. The artichokes have mostly died back now and will be cut down shortly, shredded and used at mulch back on the bed again. We are looking forward to what next month brings.