Monday, April 30 2007

The last day of April. The jackdaws are still feathering their nest under the faschia. Very little stick gathering this year, just big beackfuls of wool and straw to cover last years sticks that have remained in the nest. I didn’t get Ken as I intended, to alter the box giving it more headroom so that it might be a problem again. I’m disappointed the same pair have not returned from last year. No war-paint markings this time, just two new kids on the block.

Monday, April 23 2007

Eleanor leaves today for her 3 month Compostella de Santiago walk. What an adventure to set out on at this beautiful time of year. I felt the blackbirds were feeding a young thrush today outside my window in the freshly turned soil. But Tom said it was a baby blackbird and a demanding one too as he chased around after his parents, beak open for the tasty morsels they dug up easily all around my lovage, comfrey and parsleys. The robins ignore the soil and head straight for the window sill for the crumbs from my spelt bread. They’re especially partial to Heidi’s banana loaf and even baby robin appeared on the window recently looking for his share.

At a ‘gathering in the woods’ Galway’s Green Mayor Niall O’Brolchain officially launched the Green Sod Land Trust’s on-line education initiative for Primary Schools on 21st Arpil: the eve of International Earth Day.

Secretary of the Trust, Melissa Griffith introduced the Mayor and chairperson of the Trust, Nellie Mc Laughlin both of whom stressed the urgent need for education programmes in earth literacy.

This gathering was a great opportunity for people to meet with the directors of the Green Sod Land Trust, as this was the Trusts first public event.

Monday, April 16 2007

Rio was rooting at something up at the top of the field and I went to investigate. My eye caught something at the base of the uprooted, discarded whitethorn I’d dragged across the road in January and spent an entire week replanting. Surely not – it couldn’t be. Stooping down I saw it. A tiny little green sprout just under the splint I’d fashioned to hold the smashed base together. And then looking upwards, there they were, tiny green shoots pushing out all along the stem and the bruised branches. A miracle on this April landscape. Glorious Resurrection.

The scent of the Whitethorns is filling every corner of the garden. Mary said she finds it a bit overwhelming, but it is a favourite of mine and catches me unaware as I come and go during the day. Heavenly sent. My Whitethorns are trees rather than hedges and they are spectacularly beautiful when they have reached full bloom, a great froth of white. The branches hang down like long willowy fingers adorned with garish rings, and it’s wonderful sitting under them and peering up through the white trellis.
Sunday, April 15 2007

Hazel says she’s seen the swallows swooping in the fields. I haven’t noticed them around here yet and I wonder if they’ll return to nest in my shed again.
Friday, April 13 2007

I wonder if what Nancy told me she heard on the radio could possibly be true. She said 21 million Americans, looking at the calendar, didn’t get out of bed today. That would have a huge beneficial impact on the environment wouldn’t it? No big gas guzzlers on the highway and no need for so many trains or busses either. And definitely no air travel. No over taxing the ovens and microwaves in eateries and restaurants; no heaps of discarded food wrappers, plastic cutlery, paper plates, plastic tumblers, paper cups. Big shut down of all things electronic in vast buildings all over the country as everyone huddled under the bedclothes waiting for the day to end. And the fact that people were too anxious to get out of bed on the day, the chances are they’d avoid all things electrical too – so there’d be no electric kettles, coffee machines, no washing machines, dishwashers, spin dryers, lawnmowers, showers, sprinklers all whirring away all using up tons of electricity. It could be a sort of National Hibernation Day. It could even extend to a two-day event. Would be great for our little country too and our gas guzzlers and as many of our festivals that started out as a weekend event now run for an entire week – well we’d all benefit greatly from such a shutdown.

April 6th 07

I am reluctant to leave the Connemara beaches and landscape and once over the mountains, I feel I will also leave the bright sunshine behind. But it is shining as brightly on my patch. Robin has been working and this huge boulder which was covered for years by earth and nettles and brambles is now almost entirely exposed, surrounded by soft rich clay. Robin’s done it all by hand as diggers on land are to me, tsunamis for insects and he was the only one that didn’t see a spade and hard work as a problem. He has transformed my ‘garden’, and is so environmentally aware, that when I ask him not to touch my centre pieces of brambles and briars, I know he won’t. I wonder what’s happened to all my tulips in my absence.

April 7th 07

I look out at 8am, and there they are, the three culprits that ate my verdant comfrey plant, parsley and other herbs that were just beginning to sprout again. And 18 of my 20 tulips that were doing splendidly. By the time I come down stairs they have increased in number,
and they’re having such a good time in their ‘secret garden’ away from their boring flat green field. I have to admit, in spite of the damage they’ve done, I am pleased they aren’t the centre piece of the Easter Sunday lunch. They are buzzing with energy and curiosity, and if one dashes into the little pathway through the brambles, they all dash behind, crashing into each other if there’s a sudden halt, and then off again in a different direction. Everything is sampled: flower heads, the buds from the low hanging branches of the whitethorn, herbs, the growth from the brambles. The water in the small bath is a new experience, and they wait till one, braver than the rest, dips his snout in. As though a little volt hits him he yanks his head back, shakes it vigourously and tries again, the others now crowding in not to be outdone. But it’s the boulder that is their Stonehenge and the soft powdery clay all round it. They spring on all fours in excited homage to it, chase around its base and gallantly scale its heights though its slanting posture allows them only a moment to triumph. And then off again to the back of the house where the jump and spring and disappear through the one gap that with all my fencing, I missed. Still whats a few tulips to such a glorious mornings entertainment.

April 10th 07

The Starling makes the odd appearance at the bird box. Over the last few weeks he’s pitched the dettol cloth and large chunks of the wasps nest out onto the pathway. The jackdaws – not last years, no war paint – are well settled into the gable. The blackbird is all over the garden and the thrush is feeding in the field. Don’t see my wrens yet but the robins are still demanding crumbs from the table. Today I’m outside looking in and he’s hopped up on the kitchen table and he’s pecking at the last banana and pine nut scone that Eva brought over on Monday.

April 13th 07

We’re back very late from Robin Whitmore’s wonderful dream exhibition in The Arts Centre in Carrick-on-Shannon. I need to return and indulge myself in it again, as with the crowds and great buzz, and the long journey home, I just didn’t have enough time with it.
The scent of the whitethorn just inside the gate, when we got back at midnight, was just the perfect end to a very special day.

We are coming up to the first anniversary of the formation of the Green Sod Land Trust Ltd, and are celebrating receiving Charitable Status with the launch of our on line education initiative which will be launched by the Mayor of Galway City, Niall O’Brolchain. This launch takes place next Saturday 21st April in a small woods on the western side of Galway city, known as Barna Woods. No matter where you are in the world you can freely download this education initiative entitled The Universe Story. The Universe Story tells the story of the origin of the universe to the present day. This is our story as one species among many others on the planet. We have taken inspiration from what science, philosophy and theology are giving us and from the great thinkers of our time such as Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, Miriam Therese Mc Gillis and others say, and we have creatively put this package together in song and verse using the old Irish melodies. While it is being directed towards primary school children – it is in fact something that we have used very successfully with groups of people of all ages. We hope you enjoy it.