Month: May 2018
Wildflower Walk, Hawthorn Hill Farm, May 2018
Biodiversity is at the heart of how we are farming here. We want the wildness in our pasture. We want wildness and weeds. It’s better for our land. For our soil. For our health. For our sheep and goats. And it’s better for our produce. A complex, healthy mix of plants, flowers, herbs and grasses […]
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Rewilding the Devil’s Chimney
The Devils Chimney is on the Sligo Leitrim border. It’s the highest waterfall in Ireland, it carves a jumbled channel down through the rocks. It’s set into the sheer side of the Glencar Valley, hedged in close against Glencar Lough. The waterfall takes a solid vertical slice from the hill. It’s home to something beautiful […]
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Wild orchids and what they mean for this farmer
In the Quarry field, tight by the road, once more, our wild pink orchids bloom. This makes me as giddy as a kid in a sweetshop. This is Christmas, and Hannukah, and the all Ireland championship and a Monster Truck rally all rolled up into one for me. There are drifts of Ragged Robin too. […]
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The Half Wild Hill of Kilronan
It’s a place where the wild mountains tumble down to meet the close cropped green of the valley fields. Kilronan Mountain. We climb up the green road that grips the side of the hill, up through the lane of wild blueberry and gorse, past the just unbudding ash trees, their unfurling leaves shocking purple, up […]
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Long live the wildness…
We are working to make our farm something more wild. More wildflowers. More diversity. More alive above and below the ground. For lots of reasons. Because it’s more sustainable. Because it makes a kind of economic sense. Because it makes for better food. Because it makes for healthier, more fertile, and cleaner soil. And it […]
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