End of March

Spring is here and it’s warm and sunny. There was hardly any frost this winter, and loads of stuff has survived. The  wild flowers in the pots by the door are still in flower, all winter long. Here are some photos from the garden.  I had broccoli, leeks, oregano and mint already. It’s totally different to the same time last year.

Also went to Ballynacarrigga yesterday to pick up some of the wild raspberries I found there. I was going to leave them wild but someone had devastated the whole area with a strimmer (probably a work experience program!) so I might as well get some. Here’s a video and I put a few photos on dropbox as well.

Carrantuohill Guerilla Tree Planting

Today Donal and I went up Carrantuohill and planted 800 willow trees. A few photos on dropbox as well.

Not an Obituary.

My Dad died yesterday. It’s ok. Death is unimportant, it’s life that matters. Most people fear death, but that’s because deep down they know they haven’t really lived. Not to their full potential. It’s sad when a friend dies who hasn’t fully lived. But my Mum and Dad both lived full lives and were thus fulfilled. We all die, what more can you ask than to have lived a full life?

Most of us live half-lives. Filled with Babylon’s baubles. Fake fun. Real joy proceeds from the higher self, the spirit, when the spirit rejoices in living. When we live fully, our spirit infuses our bodies with joy. Our ignorant scientists analyze this process and being not very good scientists they see only chemicals issuing from our endocrine and other systems. Ahh, they think, that is the source of emotion! And being (mostly) control freaks, they think, now we can control emotion!

The Lucky Little Neutrino.

Neutrinos are usually very lonely. They’re so small that meeting another particle is like winning the lotto after being struck by lightning twice in a town you never heard of before and which you only went to because you were abducted and then put there by accident due to an error in the aliens’ accounting system.

Anyway, the little neurtino in this story got lucky one day. Here she was, zooming through the great nothing, quite happy, not wondering if today would be any different from the last day, or the next one, because there weren’t any days. She just moved along; never bored, because there was no time. On and on…

Harvests

(excuse the mess, it isn’t usually this bad…)
Not done much in the garden for the last couple of weeks, just harvesting and seeing what happens. It’s lazy, I’m not pretending otherwise, but I am getting some good insights from just watching. Like, if I make the land feel good, the land makes me feel good. That’s a lot easier than trying to make myself feel good. Somebody taught me that concept not long ago but it is taking time to sink in, how it applies elsewhere too. And that’s about as deep as this ignorant gardener wants to go. If the carrots are curly, they taste just as good. So don’t dig, just pile on more compost!

Still plenty of veg to eat. I started on the leeks, though they are still thin.

I’m getting an idea of how much to plant next year too.  And keeping seeds. I have peas, flax, sunflower and a couple of others so far. There isn’t anywhere within a hundred miles of here that is both cool and dry, so I have put them in the cupboard where the hot water tank is. We’ll see what happens. That’s about as dry as it gets in Ireland without professional help and a lot of money.

Here’s a video from a couple of days ago. Not much different from the last one, but I’ll put it up anyway.

Lazy

I had coffee today, not had in a long time, I was dringking too much so I stopped buying it, then drank too much tea, so I stoped buying that too. As far as I know you can’t really drink too much water with lemon juice in it  (or green tea, which is good because I don’t like it much). Well you can but it’s not easy.

I’m so lazy. Just went into the kitchen to make tea, found a bit of cold green tea from this morning, put it in a cup and threw in a bit of milk.  It’s fine though, no worse than fresh hot green tea.

Been getting fresh herbs from the garden, plus most of the other stuff. Some things finished, or flowering, all going wilder and wilder, cos they know I like them better like that, really. Guess they can tell when a human’s really hungry, they seem very happy and relaxed. Well, the ones I haven’t slaughtered!  The courgettes know I don’t like to eat courgettes. The strawberries and raspberries are happy cos they don’t know I use a toilet. I love the fennel so much all I can do is eat some leaves that look not crucial.

If there’s a good September I might get some peppers, cucumbers and aubergines.

 

OK I Give Up!

I have tried to ignore it, but the weather has been cold and wet for weeks. Still getting all my veg from the garden, so shouldn’t complain too much… but I will anyway.  Every now and then there is an hour or so of sunshine, just to show how things could be. Everything’s getting a bit overgrown but I can’t get the enthusiasm any more to go out and fix it. I think I have done really well to keep it up this long, considering. Good thing that other stuff is starting to come together, cos if this was all there was, I think I would have to  become a ruthless businessman.  Or lose myself in video games, or drugs or something.  I am trying very hard not to swear here.

Hmm, on second thoughts, I just went out to get some stuff to make a curry with and the garden is still beautiful, even in the rain and cold. I suppose it’s just because I’ve been trying to find more music like Infected Mushroom, and in order to get the 1% psy trance that’s good you have to wade through 99% of brain-damged drek from addled idiots. It is very draining… but worth it for the amazing stuff that is out there from a few real geniuses. I’m going to leave that for a while and get back to the reggae. At least crap reggae doesn’t leave me in a bad mood. I can only take so much! Next time I should be in a better mood.

Here are some photos, including my lovely stew, and here’s a video from a couple of days ago, so you can see what a mess the house is in…