suzie's blog

I have mixed feelings about this time of year. I love the crisp days and cosy fires, but shorter darkening days, colds and aches can bring me down at times. Since I have been growing more, and being more in touch with the natural seasons, I resist the direction less. There are still things to eat in the garden, leeks, kale, brussel sprouts, chard, oca, Jerusalem artichokes, beetroots, lettuce and lots of leaves from land cress, purslane, and so on. But I can feel the land drawing in and things going on underneath. Frost working its way down. This is the direction I am learning to follow.

We have been back at it all again since early february with Primitive living courses and preparing the ground for the arrival of spring. Our first wwoofers have been and gone and we really enjoyed having them. The abilty to travel while actually stationary was felt once again as we experienced a bit of Detroit and Japan second hand. Work on the second half of the circular garden got off to a good start as we went back to gathering East Coast seaweed and manure for the lazy beds.

As we come close to the end of the our first year, it's hard to believe how much, with help (and that was critical), we have accomplished. We are enjoying literally the fruits, well more specifically vegetables, of our labour.  Cabbage and veggie mince peroshki, chard lasagnas, and cream of broccoli (purple sprouting) soup have been hits.  Our Friday night spelt pizzas have seasonally varied toppings and courgettes hidden in the red sauce, as our eldest has an aversion to them.  

When deciding on the shape of the central herb garden I had first thought of a spiral, but then I came across labyrinth designs and became intrigued.

I am delighted with progress in the vegetable garden. We have achieved my goal of getting half the garden in this year. With the help of our wwoofers we are there. Lots of lazy beds are in and so are lots of veg all looking well! Broad beans were in first followed by radish, mizuna, potatoes, peas, lettuce, onions, shallots, garlic and now carrots, beans, beets, chard and outdoor cucumber are looking good.

Lots is still waiting in the green house to go out as soon as the cold snap disappears: courgettes, squash and outdoor tomatoes.

We have been making great progress in the last few months and it is mostly due to help we have received from voluntary or (knock down priced) workers. Mike was able to build and roof an outdoor kitchen with the help of Ollie and Mark who did well despite being hit by heavy rain and having to go home to dry out.

I've been scouring the East Coast and its not easy to find the seaweed we need for our Lazy Beds. Our best load came from "Travelahawk" beach in Wicklow Town below the Black Castle.

After all the hard work lugging it up steps in baskets, we put it up at the land before the deer fencing was complete and our neighbour's sheep came in and ate lots of it.

We got well under way with planting during the Orchard Course with 16 trees in. By the end of March we hope to have  finished "little orchard" and the permaculture area's forest orchard with a total of 46 trees.

Well Christmas and New Year has been all about deer fencing and Mike is now in the home stretch literally. He will contribute what he has learned, but it has been tough and he's been caught in the rain more than once. My dad has been a great help and he's getting a bit more hired help now to get finished in time for the Orchard Course.

So hopefully the deer will just be looking in at our juicy new plantings and unable to leap over for a bite!