west cork

MIDSUMMER IN OUR IRISH GARDEN

| gaiainaction

Well it is midsummer now, there has been a stillness in the air all day, now as the sun slowly disappears behind Mount Gabriel, the swifts are making merry above the houses here, probably the coolness of the evening has allowed the insects to dans around making easy prey for those happily swooping birds.
It is wind still.

How nice after the emotional and exciting last two days after voting results came out, Brexit is out….. will chaos follow, or not!

I was out in the garden today, looking at what is growing, and was pleasantly surprised with the flowers and the herbs, there is not much else growing as I did not plant any vegetables, but there are quite a few wild edible plants which I am using. I did not sow nor did I plant this year because this coming autumn we are going away again, but more about that another time. There are some berries growing and producing, strawberries, red currants, raspberries, are all doing really well. The herbs too have never grown better, makes me very happy.

Though I am leaving every single flower wild or not, I am disappointed with the lack of bees and other insects, despite there being a beehive just in next door’s garden! I still have to see my first butterfly too this summer, even though I spent days in the midst of nature last week. I hope that will change soon.

Evening Primrose

SUMMER GARDEN IN WEST CORK

| gaiainaction

In the last few weeks we have been visiting some of my sisters and brothers, those that live close enough by, and of course it being summer, we naturally gravitate towards the gardens. This garden that I illustrate in my blog today is well established, it is one of the older ones in the family, my sister Brenda and her husband Shaun have created it over many years, it is a space full of the most beautiful shrubs and trees, flowers and ferns. From an almost forested area, where there used to be an ancient orchard, to a manicured lawn surrounded by interesting shrubs and beautiful mature trees. Her Japanese Dogwoods, Abutilons, and Azaleas’ and some more shrubs of which I do not recall the botanical name, are all fully in flower. The Hydrangeas are almost open, and the Laburnum is almost finished. This all creates a magnificent array of colours and textures, rich and summerly scented. A real summer feeling abounds. There is more, there is a rockery which is also a place for wild flowers to grow to feed the bees, and an area where my sister feeds her many wild birds, attracting a lovely variety including bull finches, jays, siskins, and even a sparrow hawk who sometimes comes to see if he can catch something for his lunch! I loved our garden visit at the height of summer, and I hope that you too will enjoy the photos of so much beauty.
Thanks to Brenda and Shaun for permission to use their garden in my blog.
DSCF6560

Ceanothus (or Californian lilac)

DSCF6584

DSCF6554

DSCF6537 - Copy

 

 

THANK YOU FOR THE ROSES

| gaiainaction

Yes, thank you for the roses, the beautiful sweet scented wild Irish roses that have been planted along the road, the link road in Skibbereen. What a foresight the town-planners had when they decided on what to plant along this road, the shrubs too are interesting and lovely, but most of all I love this time of the year because of the luxurious roses, what a delight for the eye and much nourishment for the mind and soul. I went for a walk today along this road and back through North street, I found more roses along a stretch there too. Could not resist illustrating this blog entry with full sized photos (phone pics)  just to feast our eyes on these roses.  Please enjoy this blessing.

“And the shower of roses spun around me, inviting me to take part in their ever-present waltz.”
Gina Marinello-Sweeney

20160609_125205

20160609_125106

20160609_125025

 

20160609_123946

20160609_125142

20160609_124035

 

20160609_124052

INISH BEG GARDENS SKIBBEREEN

| gaiainaction

On the road between Skibbereen and Baltimore, West Cork, there is a most beautiful garden, it is the Inish Beg Estate and recently Ian and I visited it together with my daughter and my five grandchildren, it was a lovely afternoon and being the month of May so many flowers were in bloom, the gardens were looking so very beautiful, the many trees with fresh green foliage, the Rhododendrons, all varieties, were flowering. From a herb and kitchen walled garden, to a fairy house among the trees, everything is thought of.  The children enjoyed it very much too, running along the paths and discovering all sorts of things including sticks which they then ended up comparing with Ian’s walking stick.  And of course they loved the fairy houses.  These gardens comprise 97 acres of woodland, organic pasture and farmland, formal gardens including a the before mentioned walled  garden.  There is an orchard, a bamboo grove and a sunken garden.  And something I did not know about but is mentioned in the brochure of the ‘West Cork Garden Trail’ is that there are 4km of carriage drives.  There is a lot more to this garden and it would be worthwhile to look it up on-line if you are coming to visit West Cork I think.  We just enjoy it as it is so close to where we live.  The birds were singing their hearts out, everything was so very peaceful and beautiful.  We were lucky with the weather, I think that this is Ireland at its best.

20160522_164533

A LITTLE FROSTY, BUT SUNSHINE

| gaiainaction

Some of these mornings lately are frosty, and the garden looks a little white, but the nice thing about it is that we get sunshine along with it, so very much needed here in West Cork.  Clear the air too.  The garden is waiting for attention, but my mind is on other things right now, and it’s all good.  All will be in order for a fabulous growing season.

DSCF2613

 

 

MEMORIES OF FLOWERS

| gaiainaction

What better to think about and plan while the weather remains wet and stormy, and yet we feel that the new gardening year will soon enough be upon us. Flowers, wild and cultivated, beautiful and colourful, reminding us of summer, of sunshine and warmth.

Looking back at many of the flowers we had in the garden last year, I know that some of them I will certainly repeat this time around. The sweetpeas gave us such pleasure, we picked bunch after bunch, the scent was heavenly and made for a very cheerful breakfast table, so that is a definite Yes. The coriander and oregano  are also a definite Yes! These are herbs my kitchen simply cannot do without, and the flowers, though small are pretty, when plentiful they can be used as part of a herbal flower decoration. The nasturtiums are always there also, I sow them yearly, they are pretty for their flowers but I also use both leaf and flower in salads, or I might eat some of the leaves while walking in the garden. As for the hydrangea, I have four different bushes growing, a deep lapis lazuli blue one, a pretty pink one, and two pure white ones. Some years ago I tried to change the colour of one of my white hydrangeas with a product I bought in the garden centre, but I did not succeed, and it did not matter, I will try again some time. The Ph of the soil here in my raised beds is 7, so total balance between alkaline and acid, and the colour depends on the Ph of the soil.
Marigolds grew profusely in the garden last summer, they just kept on flowering, I like the orange types, they are definitely on the list for this season also.  The poppies are self seeding, they are beautiful and great for the bees and other flying creatures, but they do have a habit of coming up among the vegetables and become too large sometimes.  The fuchsia flowers are seen all over West Cork, in a good year some of the hedgerows are coloured red with them, lovely.  They flower from May onwards, and might still be in flower in November.  I have them only at the back of the garden, in the hedge.

The big bright yellow flower was going to be a lovely round pumpkin, only last summer all my pumpkins rotted, so while the promise was there in the flower, it did not come to fruition.   The blackberry flowers are frilly and white, they also just form part of the hedge and I let them grow mainly for the bees and butterflies.  It is great to see all the insects and butterflies come and feed in the garden.

Finally after about three years my wall flowers have started to produce lots of dark rose velvety flowers, nice, and they give off a faint scent, it brings me memories of gardens and flowers in another period of my life, precious memories of flowers.

PUMPKIN
BLACKBERRY
FUCHSIA
HYDRANGIA
WALLFLOWER
NASTIRTIUM
SWEETPEA
CORIANDER
DOUBLE POPPI
OREGANO
BITTER GOURD
PETUNIA

SHALE – A COLOURFUL ROCK

| gaiainaction

While documenting a procedure at Ian’s boat the other day, I had the opportunity to take a few photos of some of the local rock structures. I found these particular rocks, which had been exposed when the owners of the boatyard wanted to extend their working space, and just had to photograph them.

I believe these rocks are shale, but I am not a geologist. The whole rocky outcrop looked amazing, the colours of the shale quite bright and beautiful. I read that the yellow colours are caused by iron oxide or iron hydroxide which can cause reddish, yellow or brown colouring. The shale came apart in my hands, very poorly compacted material.

Ireland is an excellent place, like so many other places on the earth, to look at and have an interest in rocks and minerals. I have a large rock collection, I only wish that I knew more about it all, something that I always wanted to get absorbed in when I retired. It is a fascinating subject with plenty of examples all around us.

DSCF9293

DSCF9295     DSCF9313

DSCF9291       DSCF9304

DSCF9323

DSCF9322

DSCF9299     DSCF9311

AN INTERESTING DIG IN SKIBBEREEN

| gaiainaction

We recently had an archaeological dig here at Skibbereen in West Cork. The work was undertaken by students of the university of Maryland in US, under the supervision of their professor Stephen Brighton and Drew Webster.
Seems that during the 19th century there was a lot of activity going on at the site of the  Rock, which towers above the town of Skibbereen behind the town hall and the houses of North street and High street. It was called Windmill hill. Prior to the structures hewn out from the rocks being used as houses, six of them, the place was probably used for industry, perhaps related to the windmill. The houses would probably have had grass roofs at first Dr S.Brighton told me, you can see where timbers had been inserted into the rock. It’s a very interesting site. By the time I reached it and made photos, the students were filling in the sights again after six weeks of excavations. Artefacts were found at the site, like potsherds and other bits and pieces. Please visit the Facebook site for more photos and information. And also the WordPress.com site at:
Archaeology of the Irish Diaspora and Modern Ireland

DSCF8845

Where the dig is situated above the town of Skibbereen

DSCF8861     DSCF8862

Seen here are what is thought to be indentations where timber would have been fitted, probably for industrial purposes when these sites were used previous to when people were living here in the 19th century.

DSCF8857   DSCF8851

More indentations seen in the rocks and pieces hewed out.  This site has been filled in again by the students.

DSCF8855    DSCF8859

The type of rock found here, slate or shale.  And students at work.

DSCF8852   DSCF8856

More sites of the houses, there were six in total.  The floors of the houses consisted of flat rock, and a drain would have been hacked out in the ground to allow water running from the rock behind to drain away from the house.  It must have been uncomfortable living quarters.  Who lived there?  It’s quite an exposed area of Skibbereen, but high up and far away from the flooding which sometimes afflicted the town.  Then again as there was a windmill a few meters away from this site, there must have been work available for people.  A lane (Windmill lane) is there still today and one wonders if this lane linked up to other boreens (Irish for lane) in the area.  The houses were inhabited at the time of the Irish potato famine 1847-49, one can only wonder at what tragedy played out here among these rocks as the famine claimed so many lives here.

It’s all very interesting and I will hope to find out more.

PLACE WHERE THE WINDMILL USED TO STAND - ON THE ROCK

This overgrown site is where the windmill would have stood.  It is only a few meters away from the ruins of the houses.