Thursday 3-15

Thursday morning, after a good meal of kale, tomato, egg and tost, the three volunteers got to work cleaning our areas of the house. We divided up the same way as we did the week before, so I was in charge of the sitting room and the linen closet. I dusted, organized and hoovered the areas within the hour and got ready to get outside in the warming morning air. I started by putting some finishing touches to my rows of potatoes I had been a work with the day before and then took care of the plants around the greenhouses. A few of the pots and trays had dried enough to take another good misting to ensure the area the germinating seed is would have enough moisture. I spent the morning weeding and preparing areas that would be planted in the next week or so. I prepared raised rows of soil for more lettuce and root vegetables including raddishes and shallots. I organized what remaining seeds we had with Lesley before she went to purchase anything they were running low on. She got some more lettuce varieties, mainly Rocket, brussels sprouts, more carrots, leeks, and cabbages for the main season. She also got a collection of flower seeds which I would sow in trays fist thing the next week. It was a laid back day mostly cleaning up the place and preparing for more planting. Clara, another Wwoofer from the same area as Sean arrived that afternoon and was getting adjusted. We all had seperate meals for a night since we were eating small before a trip to the pub. I had more of the soup from the night before which was still tasting great. I made a pumpkin spice cake from some frozen pumpkin pure made earlier that year off thier own crop. I used soy milk and bannana rather than milk and egg so that Lindsay, who is vegan, could also enjoy with myself, Clara and Sean. We headed tO Clancy's in  Athy around ten or so with our host James and Lindsay driving. James bought rounds while we got to know the new Wwoofer and listened to some amazing local jams. We chatted with a local banjo player and vocalist who had been playing at that pub for twenty years and told us some tales of the wildest nights in Athy. He cut off quickly to run and jump in on a favorite song starting uo in the next room. We all stayed up a while when we got back to discuss out plans for tomorrow when wo would be traveling to Galwat for St. Patrick's weekend. We would leave shortly after we were done working and the four of us would catch a train to Galway. We had all types of ideals of what to do each day including a large brunch with irish coffees and pancakes saturday morning after the parade before we headed to the pubs for the night. I was getting excited for a trip with these new friends and to see yet another new side of the Irish country.

Potatoes

Wednesday was the day to plant potatoes. I started by taking the tiller apart and putting the parts on for it to dig trenches. It took time to find wrenches of the right size for each blade to be removed, which ofcourse were each a different size bolt. The belts also needed changed, but I did not know to which arrangment so I choose the only other belt I found to fit. I got the machine together for plowing and moved it out to the potato plots. I used a line and steaks to set the rows I would plow and marked them. Two wheels with large spokes to pull the machine and a large triangluar spade which would dig the top soil and push it to the sides into neat ridges. The challenge was keeping straight lines at a good distance for planting. As I started into the softer parts of the soil, the blade would pull inward and off track. At any time I made a curve or went of the lines I had set, I would turn around and go over the area once more. I had five varieties of red and white potatoes so I plowed a furrow for each. I used a hoe to dig a level square line through the furrow where I could plant an even row of plants. I filled the wheel barrow and layered in some manure to the bottom of the trenches and put on a thin covering of soil to seoparate the compost and the potato sprouts.This would provide useful and rich nutrients to the plants as soon as they produce a good root structure. I went in for lunch before I started planting my first row of potato pieces. We had some amazing lamb burgers with homemade chips and a large sald. We cleaned up together and I spent time answering a few emails before I went back to work in the dirt.
Seed potatoe pieces are spread into the trench a few inches apart and burried with the mounds of topsoil. I went through the different varieties, alternating red and whites and doing my best to have an even hiegth and width between the ridges. Once a row of potatoes was burried I spent time raking the mounds into straight even lines for a good appearance. I had left the same amount of space for the main crop of potatoes and a few other root vegetables beside the current crop of leeks. I weeded the edges of the beds and cleared away any stones from the mounds. I finished the day wetting down the rows of burried potato pieces with plenty of water and then washing off the hose that had been drug through the muck with me as I went along. I spent a few minutes making stakes for each variety before I mocved the tiller and the other tools back to the shed and went in for the night. I got right to work cutting vegetables of all kinds for a stew that evening. I cut potatoes, carrots, leeks and onions along with a good ration of spinnach and kale. I mixed in some brocolli, squash, brussels sprouts, and beet root from the garden with a few herbs. I found a good bundle of parsley and fennel to chop into the mix with seasonings out of our kitchen. I added mushrooms, garlic, rice and a mix of three types of beans before letting the stew sit for an hour or so. The three of us enjoyed the dinner with bread and wine having plenty left over for the next day.

Monday 3-12

Monday I started back in the gardens getting seeds together and sowing the first sets into plug trays. I planted a few rows of various lettuce leaves with a fabric tunnel over half of them incase of a late frost. The lettuce was planted where the brassicas were grown this past year which I spent most last week weeding and preparing. I tilled all the areas I had been weeding with an older machine than I am used to, but once it got going it did a good job at cutting and digging quickly. Once the lettuce was in its fresh turned soil and was watered I worked to bring manure into the small greenhouse for its beds which are used for tomatoes and herbs later in the season. I shoveled about two wheel barrows of manure for each of the two beds and mixed it with the soil that was already there. I covered the beds with slates so the trays of seedlings could sit in the greenhouse with out the manure coming in contact with the young vunerable plants. I spent time slicing potatoes that would need to be planted later in the week. The idea is that when the tubers are cut into pieces containing a few eyes each, there will be more plants grown from each seed potatoe. The Fennels do not commonly use this method, but are eager to see it's results since they use potatoes almost daily and always run out of those in the gardens. The rest of the day Monday and tuesday was spent germinating seeds and planting rows of peas and beans. For most of the seeds, I used trays of individual small pots or a tray of plugs so each plant would be able to gain root structure and optimum nutrient uptake from the compost without competition with other seedlings. The compost they use here at Burtown is a local peat moss mix with small amounts of composted manure and organic matter with little to no weed seed or pathogens present. I would fill a tray of plug tray with the compost and use a second tray to indent the soil to sow the seeds. The seeds would be spread out in a sheet of paper and pushed off into place one at a time with a small plastic pointed label to try to ensure no more than one seed would take up each space. For these two days I was mostly focusing on Brassicas including broccoli cauliflower and cabbage. I used all early varieties that would be more tolerant of a late light frost and the shorter days which could then be harfvested earlier than the other varieties. The broccoli that is grown in the garden is three purple varieties which make up early, main and late crops. The cabbage is both white and red varieties along with a striped variety they are trying for the first year. In years past, cabbage is one of the first crops to run out given it is used a lot for soups and in main entres in the cooler months when not much else is available. James himself said he is not much of a fan of cauliflower, yet we planted a good amount to mix in with the brocolli. One variety was a organic variety named skywalker which I have heard has a great yield and great flavor even in the coolest of years. I planted a few trays of peppers in individual pots, which will be grown in the greenhouse along side the tomatoes. I had a Hungarian hot wax, and two sweet varieties which will need as much separation as possible where they are planted some they do not cross polinate and create fruits which are both sweet and spicy, but stay true to type. Carrots were planted in plugs, as well as a plain tray until transplant, which will most likely be easiest out of the plugs. In the previous year, carrots were planted directly in to the top soil and never germinated. When I finished all of the various early vegetables and moved them onto the slates in the small greenhouse, I then took time to thuroughly water everything with a mister. The humidity of the glass house without out side rain or mist to moisten the air, drys out the compost mix rather quickly within two days, so I must keep up with checking them and avidly misting as needed. I moved onto planting peas and beans, which would be sowed both in the ground and into pots to test which method would have better results in the long run. Lesley, the more knowledgable gardener in the house thinks this is too early in the year to be starting a majority of these  plants and especially too early for anything outside with the risk of a late frost. Even if the plants get an early start, a cold shock would likely stunt them or slow the growth enough that plants sowed early May would grow bigger and just as fast. I raked soft top soil into a raised row for both the peas and beans then hoed a small indentation down the line in which the seeds would lay. The seed was covered with a half inch to an inch of soil and watered. Lesley helped me put in place a number of plastic pipes and a row length net which would keep out birds looking for small sprouts or visable seeds. The nets had to be handled carefully because any small hole or loose area would allow bird to find thier way through and cause a mess within the tunnel. For the last part of the day, I spent time covering sprouts of sea kale with large pots and slates to keep out light.
This brassica sends out large asparagus like sprouts which are elongated when kept out of light. It grows naturally in coastal areas of europe and is sometimes used as an ornamental rather than a vegetable dish. I have never seen or eaten this vegetable and anticipate getting to use it.
I weeded the areas I had worked in, and straightened the nets for good presentation then put away the digging and sowing tools I had used to clean up. I picked a handful of kale on my way back to the house to cook a small snack for myself I call fried salad. Fried salad is mostly kale and spinnach cooked in oil and vinegar with herbs and some veggies such as tomatoes, brocolli or cucumber with some goat cheese and chic peas. I sometimes add some spicy salsa for flavor, but is good reguardless. Kale is quickly becoming an everyday and frequently used vegetable direct from the garden and full of vitamins. with a good day of work, I build a good appitite which is great to fill with healthy foods. Tomorrow I will plant the potatoes I cut Monday, which will likely require a full day of work for till, plow and plant.

First Friday at Burtown

Thursday was another simple day of weeding and clearing the plots where cabbage and other brassicas had been grown the previous year. The three of us volunteers went into Athy to a traditional Irish pub and listened to the traditional jam session made up of several local banjo, bag pipe, mandolin and guitar players. We came back around midnight and headed to bed. I was up early around half past seven making a good breakfast and cleaning up before going out to the gardens at nine. I weeded for the first hour and then went to work with the main house gardener, Giles, to plant the trees me and Lesley had gotten on Tuesday. The digging was easy for the most part in the loose agricultural top soil out in the pasture where we planted each tree and added some manure compost, paking it in and taking away the left over sod. I helped James line out a path through an area of the pasture where he would be growing some various tall grasses and trees as a small aboretum. I weeded a bit longer until lunch and joined the family for a home made pizza with potatoes, fresh bread and a kale salad. One of the duaghters was having a birthday party that afternoon, and most of the family was headed to the house around three to enjoy the rest of the day with family and friends. I went in at five and joined the other volunteers for drinks at the party after washing and dressing up. As the family and the guest made thier way through several bottles of wine, we made our way to the basement and relaxed with our own wine and dinner. I made a kale kale and bean sauce out of the previous nights vegetable mix over a bowl of rice for myself and Lindsay while she prepared a bowl of bean burger mix. A few friends of the family stayed around for the night along with a previous au pair that had lived in the house before Lindsay arrived last summer. Saturday was my first day off, but it didn't keep me from getting up early and making a good breakfast. I went for a walk with the au pairs before they started working and then spent my morning sketching and painting. I made my self a cream sauce pasta for lunch on my own since Sean was visiting Belfast for the weekend. In the afternoon I went for a long walk around the surrounding farms and small properties until sunset. Lindsay was going out for the night to visit friends, so I had the evening to myself to relax and watch a movie. I feel asleep early, tired from a long walk and a few days of work. I am really enjoying the new gardens and living environment. The wwoofers are more secluded from the Host than my first place, and we work with other workers that come to Burtwon each day. The gardens are schedueled to open the second week of April along with a photo gallery and cafe for the Spring and Summer months.

Wednesday, March 7th

Wednesday was a pretty standard day of work. I got up at eight and fixed some egg and spinach on toast with a banana and got ready to go out to the garden. First I moved all of the freshly cut verbena to another small glass house outside of the vegetable garden so that one would be open for seedlings. I made room on a shelf made of boards and small slates as well as lining them on the gravel bottom. I spent most of the day cutting and removing weeds from the old brassica plot which would soon be sowed directly with lettuce seed. After an area would be hoed, I would go back through with a large bucket and remove all of the plant pieces of the various weeds and take them to a waste pile outside of the garden wall. For lunch we had a noodles and meat sauce dish with salads, bread, and potatoes. We all helped clean the cookware and dishes and went back to our tasks after a short break. I weeded the rest of the afternoon and went for a run around the property soon after I had finished. I went in to wash up shortly before dark and Lindsay had already started preparing a vegetable curry sauce with rice for our dinner. Shaun baked some sweet pastries for dessert after we cleaned our dishes, and we hung out for the evening chatting over drinks and a movie.

Day Two at Burtown

Tuesday was a very wet and mucky day in Kildare, so I didnt get much done in the vegetable garden. I started the day cutting back a row of lettuce and topping several verbena, which helped the first hours go by quickly. I had to leave for my immigration appointment shortly after eleven to travel into town, where me and the au pair waited over an hour to be seen. The appointment went smoothly from that point and I was quickly processed for my visa to stay through out the summer. Now I must figure out new flight arrangements to return home in August. By the time we got back to Burtown lunch had already been served. After I ate some good stuffed pasta, sauce, and bread I went to meet Lesley, the mother of James, who lives next door. She had asked me to join her to go to a nearby garden center to buy trees for the landscaping. I got some time to walk around the gardens and house area which sat above a small lake surrounded by various sprecies of trees and rose gardens. The gardens had an extensive collection of Snow Drop, Hellebores, and Rhododenron as well as serveral interesting varieties of small and large hardwoods. Lesley choose about five small trees along with about ten beech trees and a few potted hebaceous plants for the flower gardens. When we returned, I unloaded her vehicle while she took her dogs out and prepared to leave soon for a pilates class. When I got in I rested for a while and helped the au pair, Lindsay, prepare a few dishes for dinner. She practies a vegan diet, so any meals that we share are mostly fresh greens, beans, and various grains cooked with plant based and natural oils or additives. The three of us watched a movie during dinner and headed of to bed a bit early after a glass of wine. Wednesday was calling for a cool but clear day, and would be a full day of work getting the vegetable beds ready to plant.

March 5th

 This Morning went as smooth as it could have, considering the circumstances. I woke up around eight in the morning from a good nights sleep of some of the strangest dreams and got ready quickly as I made a bowl of poariage and packed my computer up. I swept the pace out and did a decent wipedown of everything and headed down to The Meetings for my last time to check my email and make final plans for the travel day. I got word from James, my nest host, that he would meet me in Laragh around noon to head to Burtown House in time for lunch. I agreed and headed back up to ask Frances for a life and get my bags. We got into Laragh and I waited at a cafe to meet James, who was picking up some garden furniature from his Sister who lived near by. The drive though Gendolough to Kildare was astounding as we dropped through the mountains into the valleys and long pastures. I enjoyed talking with James about the plans for what we will be doing over the next two months, what hes done so far, and where he would lik to be in a few years time. We discussed some of the current available crops that have made it through the cold season or are developing now, including several types of lettuce, brussels sprouts, raddishes, kale and leeks. We got to the house in time for lunch when I was immidiately set aback by the size and elegance of the property. The first meal was a simple yet delicious plate of rice with a spiced meat sauce with fresh picked greens that me and James had picked just as we arrived. I met the other male Wwoofer as well who is another American from Minnesota. We chatted over lunch while introducing and getting to know a bit about each other. We washed up and I was shown the rest of the main house and where I would be staying on the the top floor past several interesting portraits and paintings. My head was spinning from awe and I i was in utter shock as I took in the place I would be staying for two months. We spent a few hours working outside in the large vegetable garden after I unpacked my bags and got set up. James showed me the rotovator and tools first as we got to work clearing an row of brussels sprouts and dead cabbage stalks. James went over the area lightly with the rotovator to break the surface and free clumps off weeds, which I followed him and picked up in a large bin. The materials were gathered in a large compost pile behind the garden wall. At five we packed the tools away, talked about what we would need to be doing the next day and headed towards the house to clean up for the day. I went off for a walk around the property to see the gardens and trails wich led around the boarder with my camera at a perfect time to see the sun setting above the trees behind the house. There were a series of creeks and pastures which surrounded the main yard area as well as several gardens full of many reconizable plants. I noticed a number of hyacinths and hellebores as well as gallanthus and the traditional beds of daphodils. The place is ovewhelming and very peaceful. The family is very interesting and as nice as could be, especially to be so wecoming and ethusiastic to a student from a different place. I had a good meal of fresh green vegetables, potatoes and pasta with a piece of chicken, then spent the evening getting to know Shaun, the other woofer who has been here a while before me. He has helped clearing areas, bringing in loads of gravel to fill the drives and painting the walls and windows of the main house. James is opening the garden to public April 12 so He want the three of us working working hard together to tackle a series of different tasks through out the vegetable garden and the surrounding areas that need cleared and planted with nice scenery Until that date. Im very excited and look forward to each day that I'll get to work and live in this place, likely getting many chances to travel this area and see some other amazing Irish gardens.