A Lawn

Slowly emerging from the depths of building rubble and hardcore, we can finally say we have something resembling a 'manicured' lawn.
There is nothing there that hasn't popped up by itself, mainly wild grasses and 'weeds' and we are okay with that.

What I love about a manicured lawn is the contrast it gives to the wild and rugged landscape beyond.
We can now use a regular lawn mower for the first time instead of a strimmer.

Obviously in a few areas around the land we (the royal 'we) still use the latter.

Simon, our English volunteer, who helped us out for 2 weeks made short shrift of the long grass around the chicken and duck runs and also near the poly tunnel and around the soft fruit shrubs.

It always gives me a nervous breakdown if anyone else but Bert does the strimming, because you can be sure one or more plants or trees will be cut by accident.

At the moment we have Marcus, from Canada, here and I think if he wasn't getting hungry at the time,  he would have gone on well into the night, he enjoyed it that much.

When I was looking through some photos yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised with what we have done in the four years we've lived here. Obviously, with the help of volunteers and paid labour. 

Just to show you the difference from just moving in in April 2013 (that's my mum, btw) and now.

Third photo is from July 2013 and then yesterday.

It sometimes helps to look back and see the difference one has made, instead of always looking at what still needs to be done. 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and the coming week.

Patricia xxx...x

The Latest Project - Guestroom

I've been neglecting the blog world and I have a good excuse. We've been busy.

So yes, the guestroom. 

It's an okay room in general and doesn't need lots of work but there was this useless and lost space near the en-suite bathroom that I thought could do better.

My mother, Irma, arrives later today with my 8 y/o nephew, Mathias, in tow (or is that the other way round). They fight (argue, a bit) when they have to share a bed and bedding and he is getting a bit too grown up to sleep in the same bed as grandma.

To surprise him we made an inglenook bed for him in the forgotten corner of the room.

As luck would have it, the measurements corresponded with an IKEA kiddie mattress (160 x 70 cm) and a bookshelf for underneath.

And then I set Bert to work.

Nil, our last volunteer, painted the wall behind in a turquoise blue. and the woodwork white.

The wall stickers I bought a good while back in Lidl.

What have I been doing ?

I made the curtains.

And a duvet cover for Mathias.

Nil made the design for the hot air balloon and the boat and cut the fabrics for them.

As a side note. Nil has left us in the meantime for  another hosting place and it is her birthday today.

Happy Birthday, Nil !!!

Mathias can enjoy this for one week only. Then his 5 y/o sister Sarah arrives and she'll turf him out onto the air mattress and take possession of this inglenook bed.

I made a duvet cover for her too. And my sewing machine has been playing up big time while I was in the process of all this sewing malarkey.

I haven't even started on her Cinderella dress yet !

Looking forward to a month of family visiting ! I have however, no idea when I'll be back on the blog as there will be lots to do.

Take care and enjoy the summer, if you have one.

Patricia xxx...x

Lemongrass

Lemongrass is hard to come by in this corner of the world and you can't really do anything without it if you want to cook some of the most flavoursome  Asian cuisine.

The main supermarket in the nearest town doesn't always have it in stock and when they do I seem to have the last packet of 2 measly stalks.

One day evening (when other people visit the pub) I was browsing Pinterest  again and saw a way to propagate lemongrass from shop bought stalks. It is always worth giving it a try, don't you think ?

Thus I bought 2 stalks of the lemongrass when I next noticed them in said supermarket (yes, the last ones again). I sliced juuuuuust the thinnest slice off the bottom of the almost woody end. Plonked them in a jar of water on the kitchen worktop by the windows.

I checked them every hour the first day to see if they were sprouting roots yet. It took a bit longer but not much. I religiously changed the water every two days.

Roisin helps with the checking for roots. The first thing you'll notice is the grass starts to grow, green, before the roots pop through.

After a week or two you'll notice a good root system developing.

The fresh green bit near the roots is a new stalk beginning to grow.

"You're boring me now"

Yesterday, Nil potted them up for me in organic compost.

And now I'll water and wait.

Enjoy the weekend !

Patricia xxx...x

Where Did the Time Go ?

It's been ten whole days since my last post and I'm not really sure what I've been doing during that time.
Well, yes. One of the things I did was 'embellish' the freshly painted front door. I went on a shopping spree and bought two bright pink planters, two marguerites and 4 lavenders. I repurposed an old-ish wreath by covering it with burlap/hessian ribbon and two little boats in wood. Bow ! Bam ! Ready !

Our new volunteer arrived on the 13th. Her name is Nil and she is from France. She's a good sport and a fast learner. She has been weeding around the raised beds, tied up the tomato plants in the greenhouse, transplanted seedlings, planted out lettuces, etc. etc. She works good and  meticulously.
And we cleaned the house from top  to bottom (almost).

There is someone living in the Wendy house for chickens, but that will be revealed in the coming days.

So, now I'm off, doing some more of not much. I definitely need a kick up the backside.
Have a lovely weekend.
Patricia xxx...x

Mourning Their Leaving

But also joyful that they've been in our lives for five weeks.

We dropped off Mikaela and Keegan  at the train station in Killarney on Friday noon. Not waiting for the train to arrive and seeing them get on it, leaving us behind, we opted for saying our goodbyes on the platform and had them waive us out.

Am I getting more emotional as I get older ? After having had so many volunteers over the years (close to a hundred, or maybe more), this goodbye was the saddest for me. Still, the majority of volunteers hold a special place in my heart.

Before they left they gave us a box of chocolates (all eaten now) and a postcard. I hope they don't mind me showing you the card.

They sent me these photos from the train. Munching their bacon butties which I made for their lunch.

Is it just me or do they look really tired and exhausted in these pictures ? Maybe it's good that they got away.

In other news, the piggies have been let outside. This happened a week after they arrived here. 

They are in a restricted area until they are big enough not to be able to fit underneath the electric fence. They love being outside.

I've planted all the tomatoes, peppers and chillies in the tunnel today.

 Oh, and the tangled up  the runner beans. Hopefully they'll find their way up.

In the back I have four cucamelons, I am curious as to what the results are going to be.

The chickens are driving me around the bend. Three out of seven are broody, so we placed them in the barn in a separate enclosure from the pigs. That was on Thursday. Today the white one decided she'd had enough of the holiday and made her way back home.

She's sitting inside the hen house on zero eggs.

The other four and the cockerel thought that was a great moment for them to get out of the coop and wander around a bit.

All fine and dandy, until I found them going hell for leather in the raised veggie beds.

That particular bed wasn't planted up, so I hope they found some leatherjackets and slugs. But they have ruined my radishes and rocket in another bed. The little feckers !

Patricia xxx...x