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Well let's just skip 2002 ... and move on to
...more photographs from our site in Co. Clare, Ireland
2003

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Winter is here, the skies are wild, rain beating down on the roof, so it's time again to sit down and think back over an eventful year. The year 2003 will be remembered as the "Year of the numerous Wwoofers" They just kept comin'! Apart from all the help they've given us their company has been very enjoyable and inspiring.
Thanks guys and gals!


Crataegus hedge the students hard at work
This winter six of my students from the MSc in Ecosystem Conservation and Landscape Management at NUI Galway used our hawthorn hedge for a practical demonstration on hedgelaying (or 'hedge-turning' as it's called locally). Marcus Collier instructed them in practical conservation skills (hedgelaying, dry-stone wall building, path construction, dune restoration, coppicing). I did the week-long course in 2001 and can highly recommend it to anyone in Ireland.

Orchard Malus 'John Downie' Malus 'Golden Hornet'
Once the apple blossom comes around you know spring has definitely arrived. Our initial orchard site has developed nicely. Now in their 7th year 'Katie' and 'James Grieve' (both on M26) have given us another good harvest and 'Irish Peach', 'Red Boskoop' and 'Grenadier' (all on MM106) a reasonable one.
The pictures in the middle and right show two varieties of crabapple I would highly recommend, i.e. 'John Downie' and 'Golden Hornet' as pollinators for other apples and for their fruit. 'John Downie' is large enough to serve as a wee snack and is delicious. 'Golden Hornet' has beautiful little round fruit, yellow with a red flush.

orchard seen from goat paddock more exposed apples along drive Red Boskoop
Left: The shelter around the first orchard site has much improved with Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) having outgrown the apples (no problem - it makes good goat fodder - see below).
Center: Three other varieties which should have come into production this year but which are in a less sheltered position ('Winston Winter King' on M26, 'Lord Lambourne' on MM106 and 'Worcester Pearmain' on MM106 (near the house - the other ones are too young yet having been planted in 2000 and 2001) got whacked by a late frost and harsh wind. But thankfully, for the gardener, there's always another year ahead.
Right: Red Boskoop apples, one of my favourite varieties for both cooking and eating. An excellent keeper, too.
It's way too early yet to comment on the suitability of the other 14 varieties we planted (see the list), suffice it to say that 'Redsleeves' looks remarkably healthy while 'Jupiter' looks very scabby. On the plum and pear front I'm happy to report one (as in 1) Czar plum and one Conference pear, both at 3 years after planting :) - a little teaser. Looking at 'Conference' and 'Concorde' side by side I would conclude that Conference is the better variety of the two for this climate.

Queen Emily, heavily pregnant

Our little goat herd comprised 3 nannies and a yearling this spring.
11 year old 'Queen' Emily was VERY visibly pregnant with twins.

Susie Cinnamon and kid
Cinnamon gave birth to what must be one of the cutest goatkids ever. Named Susie after the Wwoofer who left an hour before the birth, this wee girl was much loved by everyone who came to the farm this year.
In total we had 4 kids this year, 3 females and 1 male. The young females have been sold to an organic Burren farmer, the male is going... I leave that to your imagination. Vindaloo's the word.


Goats feeding on cut branches Looking southwards from yard over goat pasture and hedge northern roadside hedge and temporary goat pasture
The hedges we planted at the southern end (left and middle pic) and the northern end of the property (right pic) are beginning to fulfil their planned functions such as shelter, nitrogen-fixing / nurse plants (e.g. Elaeagnus and Alnus), fruit for birds, pollen for bees, goat fodder (they are eating willow, ash and dogwood in the left pic, cut and thrown over the fence into their paddock; in the right pic electric netting keeps them away from the trees and shrubs). One willow variety is worth mentioning here: Salix sakkalensis sekka, a biomass willow which has earned the title 'triffid' with us. If you are looking for a good biomass or fodder willow under conditions similar to ours: this is it (planted on drained fen peat with high groundwater level). Strangely it does not want to strike from cuttings for me or others I have given cuttings to.
Sea buckthorn (Hippohae rhamnoides) as browse Pear seedling trees
Left: Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) makes good goat browse and produces berries virtually bursting with Vitamin C. I'm happy to report that some of my trees (the female ones) have finally begun to produce berries after 5 years in situ.
Right: A little experiment with pear seedlings grown from the seeds of shop-bought Red d'Anjou pears. Two of the young trees are in the foreground and middle ground of the picture (sown in 2000). The chances that they produce good fruit are very slim - at the same time some of the best apple and pear cultivars around are chance seedlings. So you never know what might happen...

goats browsing willow Schwedische Heuraufe
I had to cut some willow at the back of the shed the roof of which was getting painted - much to the goats' enjoyment. I also finally built their feeder, mistaken by a certain billy for a bed!

Small garden between tunnel and shelterbelt roadside hedge north of tunnel
We kept the vegetable garden quite small this year with only a couple patches plus the tunnel. But the weather was kind and the harvest bountiful. The roadside hedge is providing an increasing degree of shelter to the tunnel and vegetable garden from cold northerly winds. Interestingly, digging up potatoes in the autumn we found - for the first time in our 8 years here - 2 Common lizards (Viviparous lizards), Ireland's only reptile. I take this as a sign that biodiversity is increasing on the site.

going, going, gone Mike, the painter
We finally also got the old unusable hayshed dismantled down to the H-beams and foundations and hope to re-clad it properly in the spring. The roof of the stonesheds got a new lick of paint.
Apologies to the late PJ 'Morty' O'Loughlin (God rest him), the pink landmarks are gone.

Farmers' daughters - budding organic entrepreneurs village hall
The Kilfenora Organic Fair was on again, as usual in October (for a local newspaper article on the origin of the fair see this Clare Champion article). Exhausting, but fun. For me, the sale of surplus jam, some seeds, some plants, and beeswax candles I made from bought wax paid for plenty of tasty organic food plus a couple handy tools sold by Alan Johnston of Beagh Herbs.

Homemade jams from our fruit hand tools


The earth laughs in flowers. Smiling (?) Maggie, born 2002 of Cinnamon assortment of tomato varieties from the tunnel Daisy, our Jack Russell girl, much loved by all the WWOOFers 3+1 Barnevelder chickens in their 'chicken tractor' rosehips
From all of us here at Sailchearnach, Slán agus beanacht.


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