Ballaghaderreen – thegreenerdream

The last day of June.

June 30, 2021June 30, 2021mariamayfleming

Today we took some time to drink in the beauty of the season. Walking slowly around the land and snapping a few photographs here and there. This video is the result. We hope you enjoy it!

It has been a very busy year with third level studies, house and garden maintenance and an abundance of creative projects. We miss updating the blog on a regular basis but sometimes we need to slow down and just be in the here and now. Hopefully there will be some more in depth posts in the not too distant future…

October

November 4, 2019November 18, 2019mariamayfleming

October has been a very wet month here in the West of Ireland. We spent a bit of time on the land but most of our time was taken up by preparing and attending community events. On the 20^th we were part of a Samhain celebration in the local community garden.

Celebrating community gardening.

September 16, 2019November 4, 2019mariamayfleming

It has been almost a year since we last wrote about the Community Garden that we are part of in our local town, Ballaghaderreen. A lot has happened in that time and we would like to share some of the highlights with you here.

Making leaf mould last autumn.

The Global Awakening.

March 17, 2019March 17, 2019mariamayfleming

We have had a very busy, but incredibly rewarding weekend. On Friday we went along when three of our teenagers took the bus to Dublin with a friend to take part in the School Climate Strike. It was an incredible feeling to stand in the middle of the energetic, roaring, chanting crowd of the future. We have to admit to a lump in the throat and misty eyes as the eleven thousand students marched through the streets demanding an end to greed and profit being put above survival of the planet on the political agenda. This movement was started last year by Greta Thunberg, a remarkable young woman from Sweden who is now nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Please listen to her TED talk if you have a moment.

Community spirit.

October 12, 2018September 16, 2019mariamayfleming

It has been just over a year since the Ballaghaderreen Community Garden was started. We are very happy and privileged to be part of the committee and to have followed this endeavour from an early age. We wrote about the starting up process in this post, about a year ago.

Days to treasure.

July 19, 2018August 19, 2018mariamayfleming

Our Open Garden weekend for Amnesty is over for this year. The sun that has been shining relentlessly on us for many weeks, decided not to make an appearance. Instead we got blustery; wet conditions much like last year. Our marquees were threatening to blow away and we had to bring out the six inch nails and the large roll of duct tape to make a few emergency repairs.

Open Garden for Amnesty 2018

January 19, 2018July 19, 2018mariamayfleming

Following on from last year’s very successful event we have decided to open our garden for two days this summer. On Saturday the 14^th and Sunday the 15^th 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.

Ballaghaderreen Community Garden.

October 20, 2017October 12, 2018mariamayfleming

We are fortunate and very excited to be to part of the creation of a Community Garden in our closest town, Ballaghaderreen. A few months ago we were proud to be invited as members of the committee and since then we have been working as part of a team to realize our shared dream. We are very happy as a piece of land has been kindly offered for our use by Duffy’s Supervalu. Work has started and we are meeting up every Sunday afternoon with a bunch of likeminded individuals to get our hands and wellies dirty but also to share laughs and cups of tea. We are always looking for more volunteers and you can find information about it on the Ballaghaderreen Community Garden Face Book page.

A new beginning.

March 15, 2017March 15, 2017mariamayfleming

Work continues in our community for welcoming the Syrian refugees who are to arrive shortly. A pilot project, run by community volunteers has been set up called “Friends of the Centre”, Ballaghaderreen. The volunteers will work in collaboration with the Department of Justice and the Irish Red Cross to support the wellbeing and integration of the refugees into the Irish community.

Young swallows hatched in our garden last year.

The messages say it all…

February 12, 2017June 3, 2017mariamayfleming

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.