So we’ve been here for about 2 weeks.

Finding our feet around the property and local area.

Working in the garden and on the land, making and fixing stuff on a daily basis.

The hours fly past the things to do and jobs around the land creates a on going list.

At present we are limited to amount of things we do, as we are still here on the caretakers agreement.

It’s quite annoying that it took so long to be able to agree us moving in because this meant the planting season for veg was slowly passing us by and we would be in the property to late for growing veg this year!!

This is not a great started as one of our aim s very high on the list is to grow food. Fill the land with vegetables as much as we can physically do and maintain as a family.

Reasons for growing vegetables!

If I grow food on my land it travels no air miles to me. I also don’t drive my own car to a store and pollute the environment in doing so.

No petrol is also cheaper for me.

My weekly bills on food should in time go down once I’ve established my growing of veg.

I’ve never been able to afford organic in a store and even the normal weekly vegetable and fruit bills have been getting hard for us to pay.

I don’t want to buy affordable junk unhealthy food for my son and family! Because they are more affordable we want to be healthy and have a healthy child with a good start in life.

Therefore growing my own I can make sure it’s healthy organic foods.

If foods in stores become totally unaffordable in future or if stores run low on foods due to maybe less planes and deliveries or other world issues.

I will always have some land to prove and protect our family.

When I’m older my son will have learnt the dieing art of growing food!so he will know how to look after himself and not really on corporations and stores to solely feed him. Which sadly alot of children within school do not learn as a subject.

The generation of parents are also so busy working 9 to 5 and alot also do not have this knowledge to past onto their children.

Alot have no idea how to grow vegetables and kids think you just get it from a shop.

These reasons are very important to us.

So because we ended up here late in growing season this year its going to not pan out quite as well as we had hoped. However we can try our best.

Growing on the land will not be so easy in late season.

However the polytunnels will hopefully be able to grow alot of salad and green vegetables which can be grown even into late November if we study it abit more and give it ago.

So this week one of the things we’ve done is make 3 low covered tunnels for mainly bassicas, sprouts Kale chard and some beetroot.

It will be fingers crossed due to time of year.

Next week will start to make some.

No dig.

Beds in one of the polytunnels for autumn winter veg.

😊👍👍.

ok let’s get up to date and start to put you all in the picture.

I’ve been keeping a lot to myself of late, and hiding the goings-on away into the background.

why? Well mainly because I wanted to post out true concrete information and not jinks!any outcome of future developments as they proceeded.

In a post a few months, I wrote about how we had put in an offer on a property . Which had been accepted and we were delighted. Later to have a survey completed on the property to find an ancient( stone ring fort) covering the whole 1 acre of land which would have been our back garden.

Of course, this meant we were unable to purchase that property.

Due to the fact that we would not have been allowed to grow food on this land.

Then at any point, the authority’s could have dug the land to research the ring fort.

So one survey was done and no home, for us.

It was very deflating but we soon bounced back with our search for a home.

After some more weeks we yes found a home.

The surveys all came back fine, apart from a few small things which we ourselves could deal with and correct over time.

Amazing stuff at long last we were heading the right direction.

However, the sale process has taken forever, being in a new country we had no idea how long it would take.

This has not been the issue, the vendors have been hard to get hold of and all communicating and letters have been completed by snail mail.

Hardly any phone calls or emails so the process has become very long-winded.

We are still waiting for it all to go ahead.

However, the news is we are now living in the property on the agreement we are caretakers until the process has finally finished.

So welcome to my abode, which soon should be my true home !!

I have been apprehensive to post as nothing is totally set in stone yet.

However we go with our hearts and trust, what will be, will be.

This Easter has been so nice.

My husband has been home!!! for the whole holiday of Easter.

Before it was a very busy time for him working in retail, within a supermarket in the bakery department. Of course meant long hours and lots and lots of baking hot cross buns!.

Along with ratty customers who of course seem to have forgotten the meaning of the Easter message.

In the UK I lived in a built up area and would have to drive out for walks and nature.

Here it’s on my doorstep I’m surrounded by natural beauty.

Lane after lane of banks and hedgerows full of spring flowers and almost deaferning bird song.

Therefore spring really has had quite some impact on me this year.

It’s been beautiful this Easter time together and warmer weather a real delight and spring has seemed so truly special.

A time of reflection, plus thankfulness of being in this lovely country, and a calmness has surrounded me this springtime.

I take a walk every evening and it’s a time of fresh air, and bird song food for the mind and soul 😊.

Of course the magical mummy! Easter bunny had more places outside to place the Easter eggs in this year.

My son took great delight finding them all.

Well after a lovely morning seeing the sheep dogs working with his sheep.

We parked up and found a nice basic walk for a stroll.

Where we could have a great view of Benbulbin was truly amazing site.

This will be one of many visits to this lovely place.

A surprise for my son.

Our son has always enjoyed the outdoors and shown a interest in animals.

1 month on a farm in Wales really showed how much he is interested in animals.

Today we let him into the secret, we are going with some other home schoolers to see a man and his sheep dogs. A learning experience for those who love sheep and dogs.

For the shepards within us 😉.

Was such an interesting morning.

I myself learn loads.

Loved seeing jacobs sheep breed, the first ever breed of sheep on the land 🐑😊🐑



A brief account of my finding and plant uses.

However don’t quote me on these plants or their medical uses.

Always do your own research and double check before eating any wild plants.

Plants found today in the woods.

MEADOWSWEET

Flowers can be made into a syrup

Leaves fresh or dryed as a tea.

For a painkiller.

WILLOW

The leaves of willow can also be dryed and made into tea.

For a painkiller same qualities as aspirin.

SORREL

Leaves into salads high in vitamin C and lemon tasting.

PLANTAIN LEAVES

Flowers cooked in butter.

Young leaves cooked.

Good for skin problems when made into a balm.

HAWTHORN

Leaves added to salads.

Dryed leaves or berries for a tea

Berries made into a fruit leather.

Good for heart muscle blood sugar, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

PRIMROSES AND VOILETS

Can be sugared and preserved for cake decorations.

NAVELWORT

For salads cucumber taste.

GORSEBUSH

Flowers can be add to salads.

Can be used as cattle food.

Flowers for wine making

Wood burns very hot as heating.

NETTLES

For eating good in soups

Rope making and natural dye.

Dryed leaves for tea

Good for joint pains.

COMFREY

Leaves cooked in batter.

Comfrey and nettle as liquid feed for Growing plants within your garden.

HAZEL TREE

Leaves and bark.

Into bath water for various Veins.

Bark used as treatments in breast cancer.

Twigs basket making.

OAK

Oak leaves made into a tea poured on feet to treat foot infections.

A FEW OF THE PLANTS I FOUND AND LEARNT💐 ABOUT TODAY 💐

It’s mother’s day and in the past my husbands normally had to work this day.

The past 23 years he’s worked weekends.

Now this year we are all home together.

As fate would have, I saw advertised a day of learning. At a local self-sufficient Eco farm entitled foraging for Wild foods.

Normally I wouldn’t bother to try to go to something like this as there wouldn’t be anyone to look after my son.

But today there is hubby’s home, its mother’s day and for the first time on this special day. I am able to do something beneficial for me.

Saying that it’s will be a good skill to past on to my hubby and son aswell.

I’ve always been interested in the human body and medical things.

I’ve looked into aromatherapy to a degree and know the basics.

Not a fab subject but when my vercouis viens were bad and giving me some pain.

I looked up alterative medicines.

Witch hazels and some drops of cypress oil applied on the area were talked about.

I gave it ago for a few weeks.

The result was fab, yes I’ve still unsightly viens but that me! More pleasing is the fact that they have stopped swelling and aching.

I couldn’t believe that 2 different oils witch Hazel and cypress oil both from trees had helped me so much.

I started trusting more and more in natural medicine and foods.

Hence why I wanted to do this fabulous day of foraging to look deeper into wild foods and also medical qualities of plants.

It was a great day.

Today my son has found out how to identify a Ash tree.

He learnt that Ash is used in Bow making.

He followed some instructions and made a bow and fun imagination spear.

I’ve been flower collecting and drying dandelion petals for herbal teas and soap making.

Plus sugared some ediable primroses to decorate a home made cake at Easter I hope😉🐣.

Dandelion flowers drying

An afternoons walk at clare Lake in the town of Claremorris.

Some nice geeses very entertaining!

Parts of the walk flooded due to weather but we waded past it all.

Pleasant circular walk.

My husband has been enjoying the fresh air.

New title the wood chopper 😉

So impressed with his hard work.

My son age 8 also has learnt to saw logs and split logs into kindling, I am amazed and he can now achieve it with no help.

Pictures of all the beautiful fire wood.