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 “If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work.” – William Shakespeare. Well here is a new and unique way to work and play holiday and both at the same time.
Starting on April 20th 2012, a totally new type of ‘Weekend Away,’ will begin taking place here in North Tipperary over the coming months, presented by Sustainable Projects Ireland Limited.
(Click on image for larger poster.)
The Cloughjordan Ecovillage Experience Weekends
Our ecosystem consists of a delicate balance between animals, plants, land, atmosphere and water. To this end it is increasingly important that we have a full understanding of these very important components, on our planet.
We need oxygen to live, yet air pollution is an ever increasing problem and not just in our big cities.
Animals are an important part of our ecosystem and many of our animals are now endangered.
Our landfills leak dangerous chemicals into the ground and our illegal dumping continues to render land useless.
Our trees and plants are needed hold to our soil together, stopping erosion.
All life needs water to live, yet water pollution is a serious problem.
Cloughjordan Eco-Experience will now offer, over a series of weekends, its visitors, a unique opportunity to learn about Green Building, Renewable Energy, Plant life and Gardening.
Over the weekends of April 20th-22nd, May 25th-27th and June 22nd-24th, Cloughjordan Eco-Experience will offer a rich opportunity for you to learn about the many aspects of sustainable living and will give all participants an opportunity to take classes in subjects like Green Building Techniques, Renewable Energy, Food Growing and understanding of Ethical & Fairtrade.
During all of these events, participents can stay on site in Django’s EcoHostel, while you take part in a range of specially prepared tours, presentations, discussions and a real hands-on learning experiences.
Come on your own or come with friends and prepare to take away great ideas and insights back to share with your own community and be assured you will receive a warm welcome in the Ecovillage and from the wider Cloughjordan community.
For further info: Contact Tel: +353 (0)505-42833 or Email: learning@thevillage.ie
 It was a time when banks were handing out cheap money for any project, work was plentiful and wages were, annually, on the increase. It was a time when Supermarkets were tempting you with cheap plastic patio furniture and six burner gas barbecue grills. Salesmen were calling door to door offering to landscape your garden with fountains, imported limestone flagstones and Italian tufa volcanic rock, framed by decorative pebbles from around the world. So you got your rear garden area upgraded to the status worthy of any ‘person of modern means.’ Yes we put our hands up; we are all guilty of dreaming delusions of grandeur as charged.
Now, with an increasing positive focus on the healthy eating of fresh vegetables, we now do not have enough earth exposed to sow a head of lettuce or an onion, not without having to ‘root up,’ some of our very expensive garden landscaping, fixtures and fittings, or do we?
Have you ever thought of ‘farming,‘ your garden wall? Well it is not as stupid as it sounds and same can really enhance visually the colours in your garden, see the picture above.
All you need is some deep Aluminium or PVC House Gutters secured to a wall as shelving, to grow lettuce plants, scallions, beetroot, parsley and shallots etc.
Note: Not suitable for the growing of long rooted vegetables, such as carrots or parsnips.
Tips:
- When securing your Gutters to an unplastered brick or stone wall, spray the unplastered area with heavily salted water a few days beforehand, to remove any small snails that may be using same as a daytime hiding place.
- Purchase and install a few extra support brackets, as these Gutters will be supporting soil or peat moss, moisture, plus the weight of the produce you intend to harvest. (One bracket every 3 ft should suffice.)
- Allow for drainage by means of a few drilled holes every 3 ft and water your growing produce in the late evening.
Remember Gutters and Brackets are available from all leading Hardware Stores here in Thurles (Stakelums, Ronayne) and can be ordered to your precise measurements. For Seeds, Onion sets and Lettuce Plants (Latter subject to seasonable availability) drop into Frank Roache, Liberty Square or Thurles Co Op on the Templemore Rd.
Surprised that Gutter Manufacturers are not looking to support new ideas like this, to boost flagging sales, caused by the building slump. Come on guys waken up, call in the design and marketing team, or do I have to do all the work?
 The potato, (Word comes from the Spanish, Patata, the former having introduced the potato into Europe in the second half of the 16th century, following their conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru.) to the Irish people, still remains today the most useful of all foods.
The Chip we eat here in Ireland often come from England, as the potato variety “Maris Piper,” from the British Somerset region, makes a great chip. Chippers here are inclined to import them instead of using home-grown Irish spuds. The Irish potato is perfect for mashing, roasting or baking, but not so tasty when deep-fat fried.
During the so called Celtic Tiger years we all lost interest in growing at least some of our own vegetables. Now with more time on our hands, through unemployment etc, maybe it is time to turn that small piece of garden into something more productive. So now is the perfect time to grab your spade, fork and rake and sow a few potatoes, even if only for the exercise.
Potatoes need to be planted on a sunny site, in fertile and slightly acidic soil. Loosen up your soil first with a spade, then with the soil broken using a garden fork, break up the clumps of soil, removing stones and any weeds such as scutch grass, thistles or docks. Whether or not you have poor quality soil you will need to add organic matter. Traditionally, farm yard manure was used for potatoes, but good garden compost can also do the job.
Continue reading Plant Your Own Potatoes This Year
Green Party Politics may have vanished from Irish life, well for the moment, but Thurles Town and Tipperary, as a county, are both fast emerging as Ireland’s leader, when it comes to ‘green‘ business and ecological initiatives.
“Exploring the possibilities of Tipperary becoming an Eco County,” will headline an event to be hosted in Thurles, on Wednesday April 6th (from 5.30pm to 8.30pm) at the Tipperary Institute, by Coláiste Éile, in association with the Tipperary Institute and with Green Works Tipperary.
This workshop will launch a new ‘Tipperary Green Business Network,’ supported by the North Tipperary LEADER Partnership and Tipperary North County Enterprise Board.
Since it opened its doors to students in1996, the Tipperary Institute here in Thurles, has been to the fore in pioneering courses in renewable energy and sustainable rural development.
Over a decade ago, Eco-Tourism was introduced to Tipperary, with Ireland’s first eco-holiday cottage, the Ronga EcoBooley project near Clogheen, in Cahir.
Music courtesy of the late and great Johnny Cash
The Amergin Centre, which is a cross-departmental ‘Centre of excellence,’ bringing together expertise in the fields of environmental science, sustainable development, engineering, physics, electronics and administration for Sustainable Energy Development based at the Institute, is now leading in research on renewable energy with the Tipperary Energy Agency supporting the county in the reduction of CO2 emissions by stimulating and implementing best practice in the field of sustainable energy. The agency is assisting the development of Templederry Community Wind Farm and are also involved in the development of sustainable transport in the county, with projects in Personalised Travel Planning and Eco Driving in Local Authority Vehicles.
The Sustainable Energy in Rural Village Environments (SERVE) project is managed by the North Tipperary County Council and the Tipperary Energy Agency. This pioneering project has made a region in Tipperary a world leader in the implementation of sustainable energy actions and the reduction of energy consumption in rural areas, and could be widely replicable right across the EU.
Continue reading Thurles & Tipperary Pioneering Another Shade Of Green
 What benefits birds, also benefits humans, as those of our readers here in Thurles and Co Tipperary, who supplemented their garden’s birds’ diet, during the recent unprecedented harsh weather, can attest. By feeding the birds in your area, there is an automatically important knock-on effect for the flower lover and organic gardener, as birds will quickly get used to searching for food in your garden and will simultaneously search for pests such as greenfly, caterpillars and snails, all the year round.
By the way this video was captured on the new Flip Video Camera. Latter fits into the palm of your hand, easily fits in your jeans pocket while letting you record high quality HD footage with the greatest of ease. The rectangular shaped camera is the size of a standard mobile phone and can captures 2 hours of HD video at a time, so is ideal for the local football match, the confirmation or the children’s birthday party. On the Flip Video camera front is a zoom lens and microphone, while the back contains a 1.5 inch viewing screen, plus four directional arrows, a delete and a play button. A USB plug flips out from its side allowing you to connect it directly to a computer or laptop USB port, without the hassle of attaching messy cables, thus allowing you to play your captured content immediately without rendering. As you can see from this video, this tiny camera delivers a remarkably high quality picture on a device that any unskilled individual can use. I find it especially good in situations like observing nature, as with the aid of a tripod, it allows me to get up close and personal without being intrusive. (This extraordinary HD Video Camera is also very affordable, at around €170 .)
After the glut of each years Summer and Autumn fruits have passed and when insects are diminishing, winter is most certainly the correct time to feed our local bird population, but when should we stop?
With regard to this question, there are possibly two schools of thought. Some says you should stop gradually, once winter is over and more natural foods become available. Other state that stopping suddenly increases stress to birds, when they are already under pressure both defending territories and building their nests. There is possibly some truth in both schools of thinking, but it is true that allowing blue tits to feed their very their young babies on peanuts is likely to cause their deaths, as very young Blue Tits can’t digest the nuts fed by their parents. You could however, switch to other foods during the period, perhaps hanging up a meat bone, left over from your main meal, which offers to the birds a high protein food. There will be plenty of natural food available in your garden in Summer, with greenfly, caterpillars and snails, of all sizes, in much abundance.
The different species of our birds life have different feeding habits. Hanging food is ideal for sparrows and members of the Tit family, using a peanut or seed dispenser as shown in this video attached.
Continue reading What Benefits Birds Can Benefit Humans
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