And then there was four.

This weeks flowers.

Over the past few weeks we have been keeping a careful eye on our Swallows nest in the wood barn, we were so happy to see the birds return from their migration.

We were sure that there were chicks in the nest and a week ago they popped their heads out, all five of them, within a couple of days they were too big to fit in the nest and balanced on the rim waiting for mum and dad to return with more food.

We have noticed that there is a mud ledge along side the nest,

I don't know if this is always done or not, however the chicks have treated it a perching platform.

And then there were four.

Two days ago the first one made it's maiden flight, returning a short while later, mum and dad are still feeding them. Today two have taken flight, soon they will all have gone. During this vulnerable time the cats have been confined to barracks, we would hate to see any of our fledglings met an untimely end. Hopefully in another couple of days the chicks will have flown the nest and will be safe, we are also hoping that mum and dad might have time for a second brood. There are plenty of midges for them to feed on with this mild and slightly damp weather.
The weather has been very mild but not much sign of the sun,

Some of the Delphiniums  became casualties of the wind.

we have also had strong winds and the garden flowers have taken a real battering.  Things have also put on a tremendous amount of growth, the grass can no longer be cut with a mower, it will all have to be strimmed  which takes  far longer than mowing. Garden shrubs have taken on the look of triffids,  they will all have to be severely cut back when I get time. Flowers seem to be blooming rather earlier than normal,

we already have the first Dahlias out

and also the Lucifer is well ahead of time.

The fruit just keeps on coming, but I have made my last pot of raspberry jam, the same goes for the gooseberries and the strawberries. A lot of the blackcurrants will not get picked,

10lb all ready for a customer.

we have sold quite a few pounds, also of raspberries and gooseberries, and I have an order for  redcurrants. We didn't set out to have fruit for sale, we thought those days were long gone since we'd sold the farm, however soft fruit has always grown very well in this part of Ireland. I will make a few bottles of Blackcurrant cordial, but the rest of the berries will be left for the birds.

Sale of the fruit has paid for this pan.

With all this fruit to process I treated myself to a new pan, it's nice and deep, just the job for bottling fruit.

The onions from the tunnel have now been harvested and they are big, not that we wanted big ones,

Nearly a pound over what we need.

an onion that weighs four ounces is fine, however the tunnel ones have each weighed in at over a pound, rather too  big,

there are about thirty of the giants, and we still have a bed of onions in the garden, we wont be short of them this year.

From the onion bed there was also an added bonus of yet more potatoes, around ten pounds, clearly we didn't do a good job of clearing that bed last year.

Bumper Harvests.

We often wonder where the time goes, the weeks seem to fly by, what have we done with all this time? Well in the last week, Simon has redecorated the lounge, it's quite a big room, 30'X14' and had not been done since we first moved in, one wall was a burgundy colour, this is now a rather nice antique sage.

The front of the cottage has received it's first coat of Weather Shield and it needed doing although it was only done four years ago, these decoration jobs have been fitted in between rainy and sunny days

and harvesting vast quantities of fruit.

So far this week I have processed around forty pounds of fruit,

I had to make some scones, just to check the jam was OK.

some is now jam, some frozen and the rest has been bottled, plus two more batches of Elderflower cordial has been made, just in time for the gooseberry harvest, elderflower and gooseberries compliment each other . I had just put on the last batch of Strawberry jam and in he comes, bearing gifts,

the first gooseberry bush has been picked, another ten ponds of fruit and we have eight bushes, I am assured that this is the harvest from the biggest bush, I hope so as there is  lots of blackcurrants to be picked as well as the redcurrants. Well that's what we have done in the last week, next week I will again be making jam, Gooseberry, Blackcurrant as well as  Blackcurrant cordial. The strawberries have now given us 'the' big pick, they should now just keep giving us a few for desert but there will be another big pick from the raspberries. I had considered  using jam sugar this year, just for the Strawberry jam but I looked at the label,( yes I'm a label reader.) Now if I see something advertised as jam sugar I expect the contents to be sugar and pectin, not so, jam sugar contains PALM OIL, why? Am I missing something here, since when has palm oil been an ingredient of jam? Palm oil seems to be put into just about everything that is sold in supermarkets even when there are good alternatives. Do none of these faceless corporations care anything for the plight of the indigenous peoples and the habitats of Orangutans? I guess not, just profit.

Calabrese, sprouts and cabbage.

Potatoes now ready to harvest.

   
Next week the potatoes will be harvested, if the amount of leaf is anything to go by we will have a good crop,

we have already started eating the carrots, just the thinning's, although they are a decent size.

5.7 ozs, not a bad size.

The garlic once again has been very good, it's now all harvested,

and we are getting plenty of courgettes and mange tout peas.

Last winter must have been wet,

although our roses are looking lovely they have all developed blackspot so I will have to come up with a spray for them that wont harm wild life,

You can just see the blackspot on these leafs.

if anyone has a non chemical treatment please leave a comment.

Shame there is no perfume.

The first of the lilies are also in flower but these are not perfumed which is a shame, the white lilies which are only in bud have a lovely perfume.

A cultivated Loosestrife.

We have had to re-sow cauliflower seeds, unfortunately the hot weather came just at the wrong time and all the plants bolted, more French beans have been sown, they will go in the tunnel to give us a late crop. I am sat here listening to the very satisfying sound of jam pot lids popping, this is the last of the strawberry jam, such a good sound to hear.
A few more garden flower pictures.

   

Purple mallow.

Double flowered Feverfew.

Preserving Time, again!

Ox mountain, Co. Sligo

The summer Solstice has come and gone, we are now over half way through the year, time is flying and fruit is ripening fast. We have been eating strawberries for the past ten weeks from the tunnel now

Lots of soft fruit.

it's the turn of the Cambridge favourite which are in the garden and the raspberries. We are picking around a pound and a half of strawberries every other day and around a pound of raspberries every other day,

The first strawberries bottled and one jar of juice to use with homemade ice-cream.

too many to eat so Strawberries are being bottled, or canned if you live across the pond. The raspberries are being frozen. Soon it will be the turn of the Gooseberries and this year we will have them instead of the blackbirds as they are now protected by a netting tunnel. Preparing for the Gooseberries I have now made a second batch of Elderflower cordial, some of this has been frozen into ice cube trays, I will then add two cubes to each bag of gooseberries, or two cubes to each jar if I bottle some.  Elderflower gives a different dimension to Gooseberries and also to Rhubarb.
Specially for Donna here is a step by step guide for making Elderflower cordial.

Elder flowers.

Pick your flowers preferably in the morning when it hasn't been raining, allow thirty large heads per batch. Remove all the individual flowers removing as much of the tiny stems as possible, the stems and leafs are mildly toxic.

Flowers detached from the stems.

Place the flowers in a large bowl,

Add zest and juice from four lemons,

add the zest and peel of four Organic lemons (or unwaxed lemons) add two pounds of sugar and three pints of boiling water, stir vigorously to dissolve the sugar, leave overnight. Next day strain the mixture through fine muslin, and bottle in sterilised bottles. I don't add citric acid although many recipes say to use it,  it gives me indigestion, I use plastic bottles which can be frozen. you can also freeze the cordial in ice cube trays to use with gooseberries or Rhubarb. It will keep for a long time if frozen, but if you use citric acid and stored in the fridge it will only keep for a few weeks.
I am also going to try freezing the flowers to make more cordial later on in the year, I don't know if this will work or not, this is the one time Google has let me down.
A few days ago I received a parcel from one of my blogging friends in the US containing a real bees wax candle for me to make furniture polish, a jar of wonderful smelling rose balm which my hands are greatly appreciating,

Freddie made the first inspection.

and six real catnip toys,

One cat on a high.

the cats have had a wonderful time with their toys,

Next came Susy.

I wish we could get the real Nepeta here but we seem to only have the blue flowering type,

Then Misty entered the mix.

not the white which is the one that sends cats into ecstasy. So again, many thanks Carole.

Ducklings at three weeks.

The ducklings are growing well and enjoying being outside, but they do make such a mess. Their drinking water is used as a bath and has to be change four times a day.

Connemara mare and foal. 

It seems that this is the time of year that horses give birth, we have seen several mares with

Our neighbours horses.

very young foals in the last week,

I think foals are so cute, they seem to be all legs.
The gardens are looking very colourful and the roses are now in full bloom,

I love the Albertine rose, and the way it has merged with the purple prunus

and also with the Solanum crispum, ( potato vine), such a shame that the rose is so prickly.
I have a three week holiday from the pottery class, unfortunately my teacher has various shows to attend, Friday is now quite boring,

I did manage to complete a vase based on Troika, it worked out quite well and is great to display flowers in. I have another similar one on the go, and then my next project is a Moorcroft type vase. For this I have to make a mould, so I'm making that out of papier-mâché , whatever you use as a mould has to be porous, the three weeks will probally go quickly, then it will be back to normal.
We are still trying to get our heads around the Brexit vote, and it would appear that we are now stateless persons. Although still British passport holders we were not allowed to vote as we have been out of the country too long, neither can we vote in any Irish referendums, only in local and general elections, when votes really don't count. Despite the Brexit campaign being led by BoJo who was tipped to be the next Tory leader, he has not entered the race, now what in heavens name is that all about? It seems that the pantomime season has come early this year. I wonder where we will all be this time next year, will there even still be a United kingdom although an oxymoron to call it United, let alone an EU. It looks like England is as good at politics as they are at football. Interesting times.

I love the colour of this Delphinium.

    

They are very tall and have to be staked.

 

Suzy and Tommy.

Freddie supervising.