foundlings…

I have discovered two new fellow bloggers-albeit one may be moving on by the sound of his last post from kerry to spain-lucky man,if this is so then unlucky for us as his blogs are informative and entertaining-catch up with him at the-goodlife.blogspot.com(http;//etc)my second foundling is amoregreenandsimplelife.blogspot.com a fellow mum and adventurer into a better way of life.The latter has introduced me to the delightful world of the toy society,this is a lovely concept of making a soft toy and leaving it in public(suitably bagged)for someone to find,with an email address to let the giver know that it has been found and given a home-sort of spreading the joy!I think this is a lovely idea and hopefully it will catch on,soft as i am i found myself hoping that the toy she photographed being”dropped”,would indeed find a home before nightfall or before the weather changed!!mind you anything   handmade here looks like it is homeless and weather beaten without actually ever being so!check out these blogs and hopefully enjoy.

The long and stony road…

to self suffientcy.We down on the walsh family homestead(lol)are trying to pave the way to becoming 95% self reliant,i say 95% as we will not have a cow and there are still somethings we have to ,buy,we also do not have solar power-i shouldn’t think theres enough uva to power a childs torch here in drippy ireland!I am also hampered by the fact that in theory everyone here is onboard,in  practice ,this is where onboard becomes a leaky boat as my army of helpers soon diminish for various reasons the major one being-can’t be arsed!I am the animal,veg,fruit,recycling,preserve making etc one woman band around here as well as the head cook and bottlewasher everyone else has,and yet they all love it when eggs are sold or jam abounds and experienced farmers comment on my healthy stock(chickens,duck and lamb)I am a newbie to all this,it is fun and it is hardwork,i believe oneday soon it will be worth it,the waiting is the killer,i am hampered by the worst weather,shortage of available animals at a realistic price/distance and many other things determined to thwart any heroic attempts i may try.I knew it would be expensive to start,the rewards come after the expense but just how much do you have to have??a lottery win would be a good start it seems,goats are very expenive,you need at least two or i believe the animal would suffer in lonliness,their welfare is prime importance,over any bounty they give or profit they  earn in my book.There was a time here (and in some places still are)where the animals welfare was not a care,you could travel near and far and find animals tethered for sale looking sad and dejected for very little,people glad to be rid of their burdens anything from puppies,chickens,goats to sheep,skinny cows,horses and donkeys.I don’t want something for nothing,a fair price is all (tho something for nothing would be a gift!!)if you do not want it anymore,surely it is better to sell it for less then hang out for much higher?The longer you have it,the more in feed/labour it will cost you.The same goes for hay/straw,i can’t seem to find anyone willing to sell me it as i need it,without buying a shed load literally,thankfully near me is a food mill where i can buy as little as one sack or ten if need be-there is no minimum buy.I put up ads for chickens or goats wanted,i get inundated with calls offering me ducks(always drakes)or dogs!i love (and have)both,but if i ask for goats or chickens,it is funnily enough because i want goats and chickens!!I am also getting used to the wheeler dealers who try to sell me egg laying drakes,milk producing bucks and cockerels pretending to be small young hens!!I will get there eventually,rome wasn’t built in a day-probably because there were men in charge but by hook or by crook(s)i will suceed albeit alone no doubt,and my family will thank me for it-always live in hope!

thats my girl!!

Last week in cork city and most of ireland were subjected to horrendous flooding.it in some places this week ongoing!however amongst the doom and gloom daughter and a pal managed to make me smile(takes alot these days)sylvia  YOU are your mothers daughter in homage to our love of shopping-no matter what,i give you this!carrying on the girly tradition in our house in style!!

things i covet….

These are a few of my favourite things…hint hint

I love teepees,idling a long hot summers day,good book,long drink and silence

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this…maybe etsy,or ebay,can’t remember but totally mad and appropiate for me the mother clucker of all bags!!

 

 

 

 

 

a beautiful quilt,to lay on in my teepee,overlooking the veggie patch of course!!

 

 

 

 

 

a pure white DOCILE milking goat and maybe her kid,contentedly munchin the weeds/brambles (is that heidi calling…)

 

 

 

 

 

i will no doubt add to the list at some point,daughter,husband take note……

scared the proverbial outta me!!

aaagh!

I have worked really hard today in my garden,doing the chickens to be precise,overnight the storms have wreaked havoc on my girls enclosures and it was sickening to see.I literally spent all day on them and then gave them a total clean out only to remember i had run out of straw!we tried all the usual sources without luck,the rain clouds were gathering again and the girls were desperate for long term shelter,finally as it got dark,a neighbour came to our aid and i managed by the aid of a lantern to get everyone bedded down,warm and safe(including a female duck,whom i aqquired on my quest for straw on a sunday)I went finally indoors to start a roast dinner for my feckless family,whom despite watching me run around all day like the proverbial chicken,couldn’t find it in them to peel veg or anything remotely useful except to ask for approx time of dinner as they were hungry,and did i know where such and such was(their things !)inbetween the chicken run i had washed/ironed/diy-ed/general tidied/helped with homework?so as you can imagine i was a little f,razzled,dinner was a silent affair and over quickly(plates left on drainer….)I went outside to do the final lock up and check all was well,lantern in one hand and a large rubbish bag in the other,there i was minding my own buisness,thinking how eerie it was in almost total blackout(generally winding my selff silly)i located our pet sheep,by her luminous eyes in the veg patch(thinking i am glad she is with me,god knows what she could do if i was grabbed by something horrible!!)and made my way to the hens area gaily swinging my lantern when..i came face to face with a huge werewolf,i tell you i shed at least 3 stone in a second(i am only 8 stone to start)i nearly passed out,there it was leering at me over the paddock fence,i did the panic dance/headless chicken routine until it dawned on me,it looked vaguely familiar,a small wolf and a strange “not there”body-my 6yr old halloween costume left from the frivolities of the weekend  just gone,i snatched the mask off the fence,the sneaky git had even put it entwined on the biggest post.i marched inside to find the freshly bathed,innocent face of the culprit grinning from ear to ear”mummy-you found it!where was it??he asked sweetly,giving me a hug,he then exclaimed”are you alright mummy,i can hear your heart banging!!he may not live until his 7th birthday,and if he keeps that up,maybe i won’t! either!!

new beginnings

On the subject of new beginnings(see prev post) approx 23 years ago(gulp)i met a little girl who was,  my then partners neice,i was welcomed into the family and along with her two brothers i enjoyed their minature company and even when i was nearly 9 months pregnant with their cousin and awoke one morning in their house to find myself pinned down by their 3 fast asleep,sprawling bodies on top of me as well as under me,all crammed into one fairly small double bed -i didn’t mind,it was the first place we went to,en route to the labour ward,to share our mad day ahead with them and say by the end of the day(a tad optimistic..)they would have a new playmate,they were delighted and hopefully he/she would have green or purple hair!!many,many years later that same dear sweet girl-Derry has this monday just gone through what i did and given birth to a little boy,i am over the moon for her,but god do i now feel old!!thanks derry,but seriously it may be a long time before i see him,i am no longer with her uncle,but hopefully still an aunt!!god bless you,and yours and CONGRATULATIONS

tomorrow is the first day…

of the rest of my life.I have spent the past few hours,inbetween sneezing,coughing and general woe is me time,reading and searching new bloggers(old bloggers,just new to me)i have to say they were hours well spent and thoroughly enjoyable(except i nearly ruined dinner for the boys)however they left me with a mixed bag of thoughts/new tortures.why can,t i have a perfect veggie patch,endless gorgeous colours and rich pickings virtually all year round and why,after leaving the uk,does it seem to be wonderful weather there and totally crap here during the so called irish summer months?? i am lucky enough to have a huge patch,all round the house(it gets bigger when the grass needs cutting!!)i have grown our own,i have had a poly tunnel that was marvelous until a strong rogue wind(all night)tore it asunder ,so the next day-my birthday to be exact i was gifted a twisted heap of metal,strangely intact but flapping wildly like a giant green manta ray -plastic,and a garden strewn with uprooted tomatoes/cucumbers,peppers,grape vine and many,many treasured growings,some say i have the time,i have almost endless supply of good fertiliser and good intentions and yet i can’t summon up the oomph to do it,the weather plays a large part as i hate the rain and due to an over zealous tree hating ex-owner,i have learnt to dread the wind,i am as my husband eloquently puts it-basically stuffed,as that sums up our little corner of ireland-very wet and very windy.

however tomorrow is another day,reading all these blogs has re-inspired me to get up and go,come rain or well more rain i will be outdoors,i will dig everything over and there will be light at the end of my (poly)tunnel.I have been promised that by the end of the weekend,my fruit garden will be covered in(roofed)and i will be able to work away to my hearts content,closer to the house,in all weathers.The veg patch will be put on hold,until we can get two pigs to trove it all up,saving our backs,but unfortunately not their bacon….Baaarbara,our pet lamb-sheep will continue to mow the paddock,until our,okay my, planned goats arrive to add fun,frolics and hopefully milk to the mix.we are all ready recycling as much as possible,and my compost bin is full,just a bit slow in delivering thanks to a playful donkey…(don’t ask)and regular high wind(weather,not donkey or any other ass here)so we are trying.I have tried a bit of experimenting,my sunflowers,nasturtiuns,caulis and french beans are growing like mad,despite being waterlogged and tossed around…in november??veggies obviously can’t read as the best before date on some of them were 2006 and as far as i can remember should be planted out way earlier in the year,still it was an experiment and so far it is working,except when i went to buy netting i was told it was the wrong season and unavailable until next year! i use netting all year round and not just for fruit/veg,it stops the cat getting the chickens,stops the chickens from getting ideas of mass wandering and stops the hawk/magpies etc from getting the hard laid eggs.so i now pray at the altar of ebay-all credit to determined self suffiency,however there are somethings you just can’t do without.so heres to tomorrow,be it fairly bright and hopefully dry…please,i have great plans.

Things that got my goat-this week!

getting my goat

sorry to start with a moan but i have flu-albeit woman flu which means we carry on regardless,not to be confused with MAN-flu which as we know is all debillitating and must be treated accordingly.I gripe first with an article i saw about irelands biggest lottery winner so far,now i know we can,t believe everything thats in the papers but there is always a grain of truth behind them.delores,it seems is very unhappy,kept(in the lap of luxury)a virtual prisoner in her vast estate,it seems money cannot buy everything and according to a close family member(yep,I would stay close!)it is making her miserable and lonely….well dolores here are a few facts,a;you bought a lottery ticket,now i know there are millions of others who do and the chances of winning are very slim-but tough luck-you won!!b;i can’t remember if you actually asked for privacy etc but since winning everyone of you has found some way of making it public for better or worse!c;if after a few months if  you found it such a burden,why didn’t you give it away??a charitable donation to any charity would lighten yours and theirs beyond belief.I cannot believe someone who won this sort of money-tax free etc could dare to whine,tell you what i’ll be your friend,350,000 euros would ease my families burdens for life,i am not greedy take this away from the 115 million(-/+)euros you and i am sure it would hardly notice!! lets put that into each others perspective shall we,you will NEVER be hungry,thirsty,clinging onto your job,house etc,selling non essential stuff to just get by,your kids/grandkids etc can afford to go to college and remain there,you will always be able to pay your utility bills,you will never have to “check”your purse before buying anything or worrying that the longed for xmas present your little boy wants is just a dream for him and a tad too much to justify for you.now my 350,000 euros would mean that we could pay off a crippling mortgage that we were forced to take on as our well and truly hard earned owned home that flooded 2-3 times a year  was no longer safe to live in,my husband would not have to flog himself to death 24/7  just to run a car,pay bills etc,my oldest child could afford to stay in college and achieve her ambition of a good education ,and rent a place that was not damp,dark and dangerous to live in.My other two boys could actually Go to college and have a brighter future.we could move house and live our dream(moving to spain,being self sufficient and actuaaly get to really enjoy life)actually helping a charity,rather than having to sometimes rely on it!really people like yourselves should cop on,take a reality check,where were you in the recent past???living like the rest of us,most of us will never be as lucky as yourself,we only dare to dream,if it really is that bad,share it-a problem shared, is a problem halved.take that chance.

gripe no;2 heard on a radio talk show,the uk government are spouting more rubbish,this time about crime figures,saying that they are down!where???planet moo-moo?i am pretty sure you need to re-check them-asbos are not working,they are often seen as badges of yobbo pride,maybe the crimes being reported are down because people are too scared to report them for fear of reprisals,not only from the animal that did it but sometimes from the animals families.It seems we can finally unlock our doors and rest easy-because the government says its much better.some wag did ring in and say he had just unlocked his doors and was happy to do it-not!There is no “incentive”for career crimminals to stop,when they have it too easy,old ladies stashing their lifes savings in their homes because they do not trust the banks,people relying on laptops/mobiles etc to stay in the loop etc.we all have what someone else wants,and some will do anything to get it-even murder.sentences are too soft,inside means regular meals,all your basic needs taken care off,ways of getting a better education and for some a new life when they get out,even a new identity.I am sure years ago crime was rife but it was dealt  with swiftly,parents were allowed to punish  their kids fairly and most of us learned the lessons,nowadays we are all wrapped in cotton wool,young offenders are seen as poor kids from disadvantaged backgrounds which is a cop out,years ago most of us had experienced tough times,but most of us knew right from wrong,good from bad and we survived!!

finally gripe no;3-a light hearted moan-a neighbour of mine had a shed he did not want,it was too big for storage and just in the way,i offered to buy it off him,he said okay and we left it like that,he’s busy,i am busy.we have had really bad weather all week,the shed has been moved round his yard on a daily if not hourly basis,either by human hand(his)or by the hand of god in the form of near tornado grade winds.The shed does not now resemble anything like its former self,in fact it is now a near junkpile of twisted metal not fit for (wo)man nor beast(my goats/pigs)only its size has improved as its sides are now at odds with its roof,base etc-why oh why did he not sell it to me pronto,secured in my paddock,bolted firmly down,i would have been happy,he would be euros better off and his yard clear and his wife happy.he will now have to pay to have it taken away or have to give it away-dog in the manger comes to mind-grrrr

I give in…

This afternoon after months of e mails telling me i am being followed on Twitter,i went to my account and well twittered-twice to be precise.Why/how can anyone have been following me all this time when i havent twittered a thing beats me-they must have been truly bored,however hats off for staying power and i hope my tweets were worth it….  however i was for once actually at a loss as to what to say!i know impossible…Do you really want or need to know what i am doing at any given moment,i am afraid i RARELY have exciting things to say or actually doing something remotely exciting.I live deep in the countryside and its very quiet and usually calm,day follows night,same old,same old.Monday my magpie duck was taken overnight by a fox,at least i presume a fox,it was obviously very quick and clean,a few loose feathers,a larger clump of feathers,a few scattered cabbage leaves and it was gone!A mink would have made a real mess of it,and left more than a few feathers,they are vicious killers ,but given their size and that of sir francis-yep he was a drake of almost goose-like proportions it was more likely mr.reynard.A great shame but there you have it,he had a short but i hope enjoyable free range life-it was this lifestyle that killed him.Baabara his equally free range paddock mate must have heard the midnight raid,but being a rather fat 7 month old lamb-sheep,she must have just snoozed on,being vegetarian she had no idea that some animals are meat eaters and that sir francis was someones tasty supper that evening,beats leftover sunday hash.Baabara is also on the locals mind,thats good meat there,a fine lamb,i bet you are looking forward to that freezer bounty,actually no,she is a pet and we do not eat our pets and she will have a long and blessed life,if you name it,feed it-can you kill it?no we can’t.This does actually go against our aims of being self sufficient,however i have to either toughen up or persuade myself and my family to become vegetarians,seeing as i have only ever managed to make one all veggie meal (and even that was refused by one person)actually taste divine,it seems i have to toughen up or starve!I digress wildly,back to the twitter topic,i may start “twitting”for the sake of it,as if i wait for thrilling news to pass on,it may be a long time coming and then i would feel obliged to stat handing out long service awards or “patience” pins.Anyone that is interested i am now off to have lunch-at home in my kitchen on a wet and wild day(weather-wise)in ireland.what are you doing today?….

Chickens & pigs-the new chihuahua?

saw this and couldn’t help thinking will this go the same way?Once we all eventually recover from this current crisis,how many people will still want pigs and hens,if you name it/feed it/love it,can you kill it???I have hens,i adore them,i love their eggs(as do family,friends and passing trade)i eat chicken,tho i am going off the idea-but i will NOT eat mine.we have thought about pigs,but i couldn’t eat them so they would become another loved pet-not very recession friendly.People forget that every animal is very labour intensive,as much as i love them i do grumble when its pouring with rain and i have to let them out/collect eggs and clean them out,they muck up your grass in all weathers and take lots of time and devotion-too bad if your sick-their not!I havent regretted our decision to keep hens etc but it was made purely out of want not need.it would be sad that when the good gets going,the hens and pigs are forgotten!