Wednesday 28 December 2016

Garlic has better bed than you

Yes, I'm sure the garlic has better bed than you and me!

How have we planted garlic in November?




1) Make growing beds
2) Make the soil soft with a rake
3) Make a small trench with the hoe in the middle of the growing beds creating a gap for the garlic
4) Add seaweed in the trench
5) Add compost in the trench
6) Cover the trench with soil
7) Make a hole with enough depth to introduce a seed of garlic
8) Put one seed every 15 centimeters (or phone measurement according to Kevin's instructions)

Phone measuremen or "shaka" for surfers
9) Cover with soil
10) Put seaweed again on the surface
11) Cover the growing bed with straw to insulate from the cold


Voilá!! In a few months you will have very tasty garlic!




Thursday 15 December 2016

November

November on the farm


In November we felt the real Irish cold...









Some days the fields have dawned with frost. When the soil is frozen, we usually work inside the polytunnels planting sprouts or weeding in addition to classifying the potatoes that we had harvested. One day it was so cold that even the water for the horses appeared frozen.


This cold weather doesn’t stop the production of the farm. Here, we have plants and vegetables that are adapted to the cold and to the winter season like the brassica family. The least resistant plants as lettuces are sheltered from the cold in polytunnels. Onions, carrots and potatoes are stored in places insulated from cold and moisture.







Amazing harvesting with winter vegetables

Brassica family

 Although some days the kale leaves are wilted by the cold, every Monday and Friday we make a great harvest of this vegetable.

Black kale
Black kale

Red russian kale leave

Scarlet kale

Scarlet kale

We are also harvesting cabbage. We have several varieties as Savoy cabbage, common and red cabbage. The last cauliflowers and broccoli of the season were harvested as the frosts have affected their growth and their production.

Savoy cabbage

Savoy cabbage 

Savoy cabbage leaves with water

Broccoli
Another crop that has been affected by the cold has been celery. Although it tastes good, plants grow at a very slow rate.


In the polytunnels we continue harvesting mustard and baby spinach.
In this month we also continue harvesting herbs like parsley and coriander although due to the cold, their growth is too slow. The mint herb is definitely finished.
Inside polytunnels we have many varieties of mild and spicy lettuces. In addition, spring onions, chard and beets which don't stop growing.

Second polytunnel

Third polytunnel
During November Kevin has taught us to plant garlic. Garlic is a crop that needs a lot of care in the sowing process. How have we planted garlic? (link)

Garlic
Other tasks we've done on the farm have been cleaning the horses' stable, weeding leeks, and walking with the horses.
horses' stable
Weeding leeks
Goi and I continue learning about horses. We usually walk with them about three times a week. We practice orders as turn right, turn left, go back, stand and walk forward. Each time we feel more confident with them and I think they too with us.


Horses
Shadow
Misty
Cocco
Buddy
On 26th of November we had a Farm Member's Meeting. The members of the farm called us to elaborate a presentation about the work of the EVS in the farm. The others EVS and I made a brief statement explaining our personal situation before coming to Cloughjordan and why we decided to be part of this project. It is curious to hear the different concerns of my fellow EVS and the different reasons why they wanted to dedicate a year of their life to support the community farm. In the presentation we talked about our experience and vision as volunteers and workers on the farm. This presentation helped us reflect on our volunteer work. In addition, it helped us learn to work as a team by organizing and agreeing on different aspects about what we wanted transmit to the community’s members.

Another extra-work learning that I have felt this month and that I would like to share is the change of our lifestyle in the ecovillage. For example, in these months I haven't bought anything unnecessary. Yes, it is true, I had to buy two pairs of working gloves, some pants and rain-resistant boots but that was really necessary material to be able to work in good conditions on the farm. I don't know what has made me see how absurd consumerism is, maybe being away from a big city, maybe not having money, maybe being disconnected everything from TV and its publicity... maybe It has been all together, it does not matter. Another opportunity we have being EVS in CLoughjordan is that each month we have an amount of money to buy food in a cooperative (Independent Irish health foodsLimited). This responsible consumption has also helped me to "open my eyes" since I discovered food and products that I didn't know and hadn't had the opportunity to buy before. Many of the products of the cooperative are organic and responsible with the environment. For example, this month I discovered a coffee that I love called Grumpy Mule.

Peru Café Femenino is a coffee produced by the women of the Union Cecanor Co-operative in Peru’s Lambayeque region. Part of the Café Femenino Coffee Project, this coffee is grown, processed and traded exclusively by women in a way that allows the coffee’s natural qualities to shine.

Another example of responsible product that I had the opportunity to discover has been the ecological toothbrush. I've never stopped to think of the difficulty of managing a common toothbrush as a landfill becouse they are made of non-recyclable plastics among other materials and, for obvious reasons, the common brushes aren’t biodegradable. Little by little we are discovering products that are more responsibles with the environment and, therefore, also with ourselves.
We learn a lot this month!! 

Some photos in November...

Goi & I in the Cloughjordan's main gate 

Goi enjoying a tree swing

Cloughjordan' sky. Can you see any constellation? I've found the big dipper constellation! -Is in the lower part, near the trees! :)
 So far, the reflection of the month of November.

Thank you and all the best like always!
Blanche (we miss u!!), Goi and I hahahaah

Sunday 13 November 2016

October

Cloughjordan Community Farm (October)
In October we planted some fields with oats. We also planted four rows  of spring onions. To protect the seeds from the cold, we covered the surface of the ground with straw or cloth.

                                                         Covering the onions
                                                                                         

In the fields we harvested all the onions and beets. In addition, we also finished harvest red radishes, scallions and pencil French beans.

                                                                             Harvesting beetroots

Harvesting red radish

We also finished delivering all the pumpkins we had harvested in the month of September. Some of the pumpkins have been used for Halloween decorations!

                                                                             Pumpkins delivery

Pumpkin for Halloween

In October, we have been harvesting celery, two types of parsley, mint, coriander (it always reminds me of the delicious tacos from Mexico), Kale (Black, Scarlet, Pentland and Red Russian kale) and many carrots with really strange and fun shapes.

Carrot love (roots competition)

Blanche
Goi

Raquel
















On the farm we have our own carrot monster

Due to the cold and the humidity, there are also some fungi around the farm, but for the moment they are only spontaneous!



In the polytunnels, we can see the change of season by just looking at the colors of the plants. In the first polytunnel the grapevine has stopped giving grapes and its leaves are now red.

Vine leaves


In the second polytunnel we have finished harvesting cucumbers, jalapeños, chilies and sweet peppers. 
October harvest

This polytunnel has been totally transformed. Cucumber plants, courgettes, melons and chilies have been removed and taken to compost. We have cleared and rebuilt the beds and planted salads, spinach, garlic and spring onions.

Second polytunnel

In the third polytunnel we had planted different varieties of lettuces (mild and spicy) and also  spinach including mustard in early October and they are now ready to harvest.

Third polytunnel


Spicy salad

As in all orchards, we have also had some uninvited guests. In the fields several caterpillars have appeared and in some seedlings some eggs have appeared. To prevent caterpillars and snails from eating our crops, we are planting aromatic and other associations of plants looking for the best combination between them – allelopathy-  with spring onion, barriers with large leaf spinach, garlic, etc. around our salads.

Caterpillar

Slug eggs

In the month of October we have also received a group of new hens.

                                                                            New hens!

Goi and I are learning how to handle horses. Every day we put on the harnesses and take the ponies to the stable. Daily, we check that they have clean water and we clean their sandbox.

Buddy & Coco

Misty

News on the Coach-house! Thanks to a writer in the community, all members of the farm can get to know us a little better. In the couch-house, they have put a space with a brief history and a photo about Goi (EVS), Blanche (wwoofer) and me as volunteers on the farm. It's a very nice detail, thank Eileen very much!
Coach-house wall

When we finished working on the farm, we used our harvest to learn how to cook something new. This month with the great apple harvest, I learned how to cook an apple tart.

Apple tart

I've also learned how to make beetroot muffins with nuts. Although the taste is new and strange, they are surprisingly tasty!
Beetroot muffin

Elliot always knows when I cook


This month we also have the opportunity to travel a little bit. We went to see beautiful Galway city which is an hour and a half from Cloughjordan.

Galway

Coffee time in Galway


And last but not least ... We wish you all the best, Blanche! Although your stay has been short (two months) we will miss you very much on the farm, you are a great friend. We hope to see you soon in the farm and all goes well with your studies of Agricultural Engineering in Lille, you are the best!


Blanche delivering the harvest

Do you join us to cultivate a better world? :)

REMEMBER! This precious project promotes sustainable agriculture and rural development, UN goals for sustainable development!



Free time in the farm...



SEE YOU SOON, ALWAYS WITH NEW LEARNINGS. 
ALL THE BEST!!