Another delivery in Catherine street in morning. Drop in to put ur deposit on ur…
Another delivery in Catherine street in morning. Drop in to put ur deposit on ur Spring collection. Xx
Satmya’s Facebook Wall 2012-01-31 10:19:12
Wall Photos
Here’s a quick list of foods you should always buy organic and ones that you can save some money and not always buy organic.
There will be a public meeting on Tues 31st Jan at 4.30pm in Lakeside Hotel dis…
There will be a public meeting on Tues 31st Jan at 4.30pm in Lakeside Hotel
discussing the plans for the first “Discover Killaloe & Ballina Day” (Sunday 29th April). This is your chance to get involved!
The Discover Killaloe & Ballina Day will give people who live locally the opportunity to experience the wonderful visitor attractions, facilities, services and events we have to offer so we can i…n turn become our best ambassadors in promoting Killaloe & Ballina as a visitor destination. We are so fortunate to have 2014 as an opportunity to create a legacy for our towns, one that see us develop a prime tourism destination that is representative of our deep local heritage & of the people who live in our beautiful towns.
Restarting orders for 2012
We are restarting weekly orders for 2012, with first orders on Friday 3rd February. Please see list under ‘ this week’s produce’ for details.
Orders to be sent in by email, text or phone on Thursday please for Friday collection. Contact Elaine on elainegoodandgreen@gmail.com or 087 6187908
Rebecca the lamb and her friend Bailey
Rebecca was an orphan twin lamb that we were given to bottle feed in 2011. She provided much entertainment and frolics around the garden and was great to see growing and getting strong. Cathal and Oisin fed her faithfully, from four bottles a day down to one over a couple of months until she was fully weaned onto meal and eventually onto grass.
It did turn out, however that Rebecca (named after a special first cousin of the boys) didn’t see herself as a lamb at all. She resented having to stay in the field on her own. We had heard that she would probably want to be with the family, but it was her attachment to Bailey (our golden retriever) that surprised us really. She broke out of the field regularly – her coat was immune to the electric fence, and was outside the back door waiting for Bailey most mornings. On occasion she made her way into the house, but generally got overexcited and peed on the floor.
In the end she returned to her original flock to graze on the hillside as a young sheep should – it didn’t seem fair to keep such a social animal on her on her own. And it is said that sheep don’t have personality? No way!
Spring meadow
A blast of Spring colour from miniature daffodils and mascari bulbs in early Spring up in the meadow.
And for the GAA minded – in the Clare colours, you will note.
The geese in action…
Well, most of the animals we have had here have been very cute/productive/appealing, but I must note one quite cantankerous exception.
We handreared a small number of alyesbury ducks and two geese over summer 2010, who we thought we had a pretty good relationship with. The geese grew into two lovely looking birds – we didn’t know if male or female… until just after Christmas, when it turned out that one was a gander – and he developed the worst case of bad attitude ever!
From then on we generally saw him coming with his head stretched out, ready to bite whoever he could sink his (surprisingly sharp) teeth into. We tried to see it as protecting his lady, but he gave her a rough time too, and even the ducks suffered a couple of unspeakable attacks.
I still don’t know if all ganders are like that or what we did wrong. I do know, however that he tasted great and that his lady is now a very peaceful and elegant leader of the ducks around the garden and noone seemed to miss him much!
Spring colour
The tulips in 2011 gave a lovely mix of vibrant colours by Eastertime. They are coming up now – hopefully it won’t be long before we will have a similar show. Roll on Spring!
With alot of help from wwoofers, family & friends
As we have gone through a few seasons in the garden as small scale commercial growers the one thing that has struck me most is how labour intensive market gardening is on our scale. We are too small for a mechanised system and yet one person in the garden feels like a David and Goliath battle when you are trying to keep up with hoeing, planting and harvesting by early summer.
It is with this in mind that I would like to sincerely thank all of the helpers that have come through our garden and spent time helping us to develop our garden and to share in the food that we have produced. We have been amazed at the number of people who willingly give their time and effort to grow and it has always been a positive experience to work alongside others in the garden. It lends itself to team effort and two people working together undoubtedly do the work of three on their own.
Many of our helpers have said that they feel better just for working in a garden – and there definitely seems to be a therapeutic effect, aside of the obvious benefit of eating fresh produce. I know that the simplicity of hoeing in the tunnel on a rainy day or planting a new bed of lettuce relaxes me away from other worries. It is always a positive thing to grow, and to grow food feels like an all round winning way to spend the day.
So, to all the wwoofers, friends, volunteers, trainees and of course family members who have given us their time and shared the effort to make our garden grow – thank you so much for your help. You all are a big part of the engine of Good & Green!
Good & Green and tasty too
A selection of our garden harvest for Friday orders in 2011.
In early summer there is an array of colour and shades of green in the garden – roll on summer 2012!