Happy Christmas !!!

...can think of worse views to wake up to - Christmas Day sunrise in Faha, Co Clare.

Frozen veg.

Not often you have to use a crowbar to get the leeks out of the ground is it ??
Knew there was a drawback to the frosty weather.
Got the Christmas sprouts picked though.

White Christmas...

Our journey back from the UK....

On our return home...

Snowy pony-pic...

Ellie's "snow-cat"
With temperatures sitting around -9C at night and -4C during the day, looks like tomorrow may be our first white Christmas in Clare.

Visit to the UK

flying visit to the UK - just managed to squeeze a couple of days in before Christmas...

Grandma Lyn, Ellie and Grandpa Ron...

Ellie and Maddy...

Bracken

Please welcome Bracken, our latest addition to the family. He's a 14.2h, 3 year-old chestnut gelding (boy)

He's not broken to ride - that's the project for 2010 (!!) But is a very quick learner. I've started doing some groundwork with him, stable manners, grooming, handling and leading. It's a steep learning curve for the pair of us, but a week after getting him he's still standing, has all his legs etc.
I'd wanted a pony since I was 9 years old and was told "When you get your own field and stable, and you can get up every day and look after it, and clean it out and exercise it, THEN you can have a pony"

30 years on, and I have !!


He's very gentle with Ellie too

Ellie

...following comments from a couple of people that they couldn't find Ellie in the Hallowe'en group photo, here's a photo of her in costume - see if you can find her now.

Hallowe'en

and the annual kids party at the local pub.


Did some pumpkin carvin with our bumper harvest using some templates from the web... quite pleasing results.

Totally Tropical ??

...well as an experiment I tried to grow a melon this summer in the polytunnel. Had a harvest of 2 small but perfectly-formed and quite tasty Galia-type melons.
Quite proud really.

Surf's up ?

Couple of photos from Eleanor's week at surf school at Lehinch...

Sheds !!!

From this.........to this !!!
and from this......
...to this !!!!
Smart eh ??!! Nice one Steve (and Ellie for hammering in nails, and me for a bit of painting)

Courgettes and tomatoes (again)

Remember last year how I had WAY too many courgettes and tomatoes and I said I'd plant less this year ?

Hmmmmm - the memory loss is getting worse then.

On the plus side I'm getting a whole lot better at devising recipes that include tomatoes and courgettes !!!

Swim 5

Yes - that time of year again - the annual "swimming lessons in the lake" fortnight for Irish Water Safety.
Small children in swimmies braved the chilly waters of Lough Graney and got rewarded with a hot chocolate and a certificate.
Excellent fun.

Mutant veg !!!

After the dismal failure of cauliflower-growing last year (yeah, cheers slugs) I decided to give it one more go in the safety of the polytunnel.
Well that worked then !!!! They obviously like being inside. This beauty lasted 3 dinners !!! And we have a row of them.

High fashion

Killanena Camogie club celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, with various events including a fashion show.
Ellie was one of the models - thoroughly enjoyed it.
I even had a go myself - modelling some of Carraig Dom's autumn range (sadly for all blog-readers there's only a really blurred photo of the back of me so you're spared that)

Tiggs

We've got an addition to the family in the form of Tiggs - a stray kitten found wandering by our neighbours. He's slightly nuts, but we hope that with a bit of attention he'll help us solve the mouse problem in the outbuildings.

Start of the harvest

Garlic, some of the red onions and shallots (in the background)

Updated growing photos

Some updated garden photos showing the difference a month makes.....

Polytunnel sweetcorn, courgettes, peppers, chillis and tomatoes

Manic cauliflowers and Charentais melon in foreground

Peas, and FINALLY the runner/french beans reach the tops of the wigwams !!

First go at autumn broccoli, though it's earlier than I expected.....

Onion bed

"Casserole" bed (leeks, carrots, swede & parsnips)

Maincrop potatoes (Cara)

Yellow courgette (still a courgette no matter how you disguise it !!)

Tiny baby pumpkin !!

Ponies !!!

A chance meeting with a couple living about half a mile away has lead to.....more riding.

Kayt has 3 ponies, but can only ride one at a time due to being human. 1 of the ponies is a small Exmoor and very quiet, suitable for a 10 year-old child who's never ridden before. Another is a 13.2 cob who's steady and reliable and suitable for a 39 year-old gardener.
Kayt also has Scooby - a rescue pony who's gorgeous and thriving with the love and attention he's getting.

So... Ellie's become pony mad overnight. We've been out for a couple of fairly long rides and all of us have done really well. Getting my horse-legs back.... I want a pony !!!!!!

Trip to London

Yes - we left our smallholding and flew off to London for the BMC YCS 209 Final (British Moutaineering Council Youth Climbing Series.) It's the first year that Mountaineering Ireland has been able to enter a team so it was kind of a big deal.

It was a good day, we met up with old friends from the North East climbing Team that Ellie used to climb with before we moved,

Ellie and Mairi

plus our new friends from the Northern Ireland Youth Team.

Kate, Victoria and Ellie

Time was pretty tight between spending the whole day at the climbing, but we managed to squeeze in a whistle-stop sightseeing tour on Saturday en-route back to Gatwick.

Yes, I was sleep-deprived and that rucsack was really heavy !!

Steve looking a bit manic !!

Polytunnel photos

Chillis, peppers, courgettes and sweetcorn


Tomatoes and salad

Herbs, salad and strawberries (grapevine in background)

Updated photos from the garden.

Aerial photo of the veg garden

Strange alliums and globe artichokes

Rhubarb and strawberry bed

Peas and beetroot in the polytunnel

Reduce, reuse, recycle

It started as an idea from the Grown Your Own gardening forum... How to put the 2 litre milk cartons that we seem to accumulate to good use.
Add in some waste timber that the woodyard uses as pallet spacers and usually ends up in the skip, a bit of joinery talent and voilá - a space-saving rack for the mountain of seedling plants.

Holds 60 if both sides are used (I ran out of cartons)

As a plus, the base of the carton that you cut off (you cut around where the top of the label is, for those wanting to make one at home) can be used as a plant-pot.

Garden photos

...some garden-y type photos for anyone that's interested. I'm aiming to take photos at different times of the year so people can get an idea of the changes.

Early peas in the polytunnel...

Various plants, tomatoes, chillis, peppers, cauliflower, sprouts, cabbage, leeks, french and runner beans, aubergines, cornflowers (Ellie's) and sweetcorn

The outside plot, mostly cleared now for planting - just the remains of the curly kale and the purple sprouting broccoli standing.
Early potatoes are planted, as are onions (under the green netting)