The snowdrops are up and in full bloom. my mother-in-law expected them to be in bloom by

17th January each year.

Snowdrops again

Holly standing enjoying the sun

Noddy

Holly eyeing ivy pulled from a tree.

It may be hard to believe but we are actually coming to the end of winter. In Ireland spring begins officially on the first of February. Remaining winter chores need to be completed. For us this is trimming or ‘brashing’ the boundary hedges along the road. The mature trees are ‘preserved’ by County Council edict; however, the holly, ash, beech and hawthorn bushes have grown too tall to cut as a hedge so we trim the ‘face’ of the bushes. This allows walkers and riders to pull in against the hedge as cars, tractors and riders go by, without getting their faces scratched. This procedure only takes place every two years. Now we need to collect the branches  and cut them into firewood.

During conversation with the tractor driver, I was told that one snowy day, when Warwick was a child, he appeared at Cahill’s* hill pulling a little toboggan. Many hours of fun were had by Warwick and the Orme children tobogganing down the hill and pulling the toboggan back up the hill. The children had never seen a toboggan or sledge with runners before.

*Warwick tells me he thinks it was actually Daley’s hill. The mists of time can blur memories.

Helibores are flowering

Globe artichokes appear to have survived the winter well. A discarded piece of root has taken root at far end of row on right hand side.

Autumn planted shallots are growing well in raised bed

This year's rhubarb sprouting, whilst last year's windfall apples have not yet fully rotted.

It is interesting to note that there are any apples left at all. Birds have obviously been feeding off the apples but haven’t finished them all.

New Year 2012
Our young are holding a party tonight so preparations are in full swing; whilst I am catching up with my blog.

Masked and ready for the fray.

How times change! 2011 started with weather not experienced for 50 years. Very cold, frosty, but bright clear sunlight days. Lough Derravaragh was frozen shore to shore for the second time within the same year.

L.Derravaragh frozen from shore to shore.

Snowdrops emerging rather hesitatingly.

Holly and Noddy saying, "Good morning".

 Guests often ask when we purchased Mornington or who was living here when we were in Canada.  They are often surprised to hear that the estate was in fact purchased by Warwick’s great grandfather and that Warwick’s parents were living here.  So when about a month ago I was asked to write a short article on the house and estate, I put pen to paper. Here is the result:

The Hibernia Times: Treasure-Ireland – Mornington House – reflections of Irish history

This year we will be sharing our Christmas celebrations with friends, just as we have done for almost as long as we have lived in Ireland. We take turns to cook Christmas dinner with two other families. This year is our turn. I am trying to be organised. The turkey and smoked ham are ordered from local suppliers. A great believer in the use of lists, I list the jobs to be done on a  spread sheet on my computer. It allows me to relax with a G&T once my jobs for the day are done!

Our Christmas Day menu is quite traditional:

Smoked salmon and a tossed salad

Roast turkey stuffed with a parsley and thyme stuffing  (It usually turns out to be a mixture of  whatever  herbs are still growing in the garden)

Home made bread sauce, sausage and chestnut stuffing, cranberry sauce

Baked ham with Cumberland sauce

Roast potatoes, roast parsnips and baked glazed butternut squash

Carrot batons, brussel sprouts and red cabbage

Christmas pudding and brandy butter with almonds

Trifle (usually left over from supper on Christmas Eve)

Cheese  Board (we will be serving some of the cheeses we have received this month from Sheridan’s Cheesemongers in Carnaross, Co Cavan. As well as a piece of ripe Stilton) served with Port

In the Garden, the bronze rocket is still being picked for salads and the leeks are being put into soups and casseroles. They may not win prizes for their size but they taste delicious when chopped and stir-fried. The nasturtiums have finally been killed by the recent frosts.

Shallots and garlic growing well in raised beds

Garlic planted in November is beginning to appear. The heavy rain has compacted the soil.

I was delighted to receive two seed catalogues this past week. One from Mr Middleton and the other from Thompson and Morgan Seeds.

In conversation the other day, a neighbour, Eamon Orme, recounted how my late mother-in-law would order two catalogues from Drummond’s Seeds. One was sent to his father, Jack, the gardener here at Mornington for over 20 years. Jack would spend many winter’s evenings planning his seed purchases for the following year.

Vegetable bed with red cabbage, brussel sprouts, spinach, curly kale & white sprouting.

As we celebrate the winter solstice, the hours of daylight hours are short and the shadows are long. The helibores are in flower, a first sign that  spring is just round the corner.

Helibores at Mornington

Hydrangeas are still flowering in the walled garden.

Knock Eyon viewed from the front steps at Mornington

Blackbirds and pheasants have been feasting on these cotoneaster berries.

We grow vegetable marrows specifically for chutney.

My grandfather was a gardener and was obviously very successful in growing the most enormous marrows. As marrows only last so long before they rot and there are only so many ways to use marrow in cooking , (that the family would eat!)  my grandmother used to make masses of jars of marrow chutney. The recipe was passed onto my aunt and my mother’s cousin.

Here is Nanny Elsie’s recipe for marrow chutney.

Ingredients:
3lb Marrow, cut fine. ( I cut marrow into dice ½”-¾”)
1oz Ground Ginger*
1½ oz Mustard Powder
½ oz Tumeric
4 oz soft brown sugar
6 red chillies**
2 dozen shallots or a few onions, chopped
3 pints malt vinegar***

Method:

• Strain water from marrow
• Put all ingredients into a heavy based saucepan
• Bring to boil and cook until a thick pulp
• Put into jars and seal
• Store for 4 to 6 weeks before eating (if you can resist!)

Horse chestnut tree has lost all it's leaves. Warm bed for hedgehogs

Strange as it may seem the countryside can be a noisy place. Each season has it’s own sounds. In autumn we hear neighbours ploughing or hedge-cutting, in winter  hounds ‘giving tongue’ as they pursue a fox in the woods on the hill. Silage cutting in summer and early autumn, the bawling of newly weaned calves or lambs or the dull distant rumble of the night train. Each sound has a different message to give. Likewise we recognise the shrieks of magpies, the chatter of starlings and house-martins on the telephone wires and the deep throated call of the raven as it sails overhead. The regular sounds pass us by with out a mention. When we hear an bird call that we don’t recognise we might look up. Imagine my amazement when hearing a  new call and on looking-up I saw the most enormous bird take flight from the old farmyard and cruise around the end of the barn! My brain said it was too big for even a peregrine  falcon, hen harrier or buzzard. It looked like a golden eagle! But there are no such birds in Co. Westmeath or so I thought until a near neighbour recounted her encounter with the bird. It was indeed a female golden eagle who is somewhat  ’off course’ and acting a little erratically. She has been seen and identified by the Wildlife Service. So I wasn’t ‘losing the plot’ with my initial identification! How thrilling to see such a bird so close-up.

Although I had my camera with me I didn’t want to lose sight of the magnificent bird while trying to focus, so sorry no ‘pics’

Everyone took advantage of the few sunny, warm, balmy days at the end of October.

Now the signs of autumn are all around.  A few crisp nights have changed the leaves on the beech trees to gold and  in the morning the lawn is heavy with dew or frost.

Beech trees and young osks in autumn colour.

As the clocks change and the days get shorter there is every reason to make use of every daylight hour out in the garden. So the last of the bulbs have been planted and windfall apples collected.

Recently planted onions , shallots, and garlic sprouting already. They will be thinned in spring and thinings used for salads and soups.

Globe Artichokes have been covered with a thick layer mulch and well rotted manure

                           A head of garlic which escaped the harvest is sprouting beside the leeks

Summit of Knock Eyon can just be seen above the trees at Mornington

Leaves which have blown under shrubs are left where they have blown, just in case a hedgehog is using them as extra layer of insulation.

Many visitors have come and enjoyed Mornington during the past season. Over the recent half-term holidays several young families came to stay. Warwick’s pancakes served with Canadian maple syrup for breakfast were a hit as was his strawberry ice-cream at dinner.

Brave little pear has clung on through all the wind and rain. This Conference pear tree was planted by my late mother-in-law 60 years ago. It had an exceptional crop of fruit this year. It is an old variety, has great flavour and fruit takes weeks to ripen.

Beauty of Bath - Aug '11 001

We have been kept fully occupied cooking for guests, baking and making jams and chutneys for Multyfarnham Country Harvest Fair, as well as for friends and family. All the time ensuring that the vases of fresh flowers in the drawing and dining rooms are refilled in time for the arrival of new guests.

Holly and Noddy fancied some windfall apples.

The hedge behind Holly was blasted by last years cold weather. So we have waited to see if there is any significant recovery.

Young cousins make friends with Holly and Noddy

We were amazed to see Noddy walk up to cousins. He can be quite ‘stand-offish’ , but obviously likes small people.

Marrow ready for picking

Last year we had a phenomenal crop of courgettes and no marrows germinated. This year beetles ate the young courgette plants. However, such are the joys of gardening! So I can make Marrow chutney later in October when work in the garden has slowed down.

Globe artichoke bed after a big clean up to remove bind weed and figwort roots.

We will now top the artichokes with a mixture of well rotted manure and compost and cover with straw. In Madeira, where farmers grow a great many artichokes, dead leaves and stalks are piled around the plants to act as a mulch and as they rot down, manure.

Dexter takes a snooze whilst the rest of us work

n between, we try get time to begin the process of putting the garden to bed for the winter.

Knock Eyon through the garden gate

Petersham Nurseries

Lunch at Petersham Nurseries was delicious. It is the first time I have eaten in a Michelin starred restaurant in a greenhouse!

Greenhouse restaurant at Petersham Nurseries

Vegetable plots Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons

We were taken on a ‘mystery’ tour for lunch on the Saturday. The destination was Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons for lunch.

We relished each of the 9 courses of the tasting menu. After lunch we walked around the gardens.

Most impressive were the vegetable gardens at Le Manoir. Not a weed in site, the vegetable plots were a credit to their team of six gardeners. Two tunnels for courgettes and squash and two small glasshouses for nasturtiums and a grey leafed plants used for garnishes. Even this cynical ‘old batt’ was impressed and I have been snipping my nasturtiums for salads since we returned.

Warwick checking and comparing the green crops Trying to read the labels no doubt!

It was interesting to see the metal sculptures in the gardens. I had last seen them on display at Chelsea Flower Show 3 or 4 years ago, before they were installed here at Le Manoir

re.

Meanwhile back to the real world.

The box hedges have received their annual trim. Masses of ivy was pulled and put aside for adding to the autumn bonfire!

The bank of wild strawberries has been well picked over by visiting small people on their way to visit Holly and Noddy.

One of the sounds of summer at Mornington is the cooing of pigeons in the beech trees at the side of the house. The other morning Noddy and Holly had a competitive braying competition at dawn! They respond to a neighbour’s cockerel getting in first! More silage was cut & saved last week. On warm nights and windows open, neighbours appear to be very close. The sound of tractors and combines goes on late into the evening and appears to go on all night. Maybe they are operating by remote control!

As we are directly under the flight path west from Dublin Airport we see and sometimes hear the first transatlantic flights coming in at 5.00am

As the summer progresses so we are still weeding, shallots and some onions have been harvested. Beetroot, spinach, broccoli, potatoes and mangetout are being used for dinners. We have reseeded some leaf lettuce for use this autumn. Hope it germinates.

Just completed this as I was driven in by a heavy thunder shower. Such is an Irish summer!

Cutting silage in the clump field

How things change. When haymaking was the only way of ‘saving’ grass for winter fodder it took days. From cutting, to turning and putting up into haycocks, the process was long and labour intensive. Today, one silage cutter, several tractors and trailers arrived and after a noisy couple of hours all was quiet again  Today the field was cut in just hours, with the cut grass transported to the silage pit, leaving the field looking like a newly shorn sheep.

Sunday was my first opportunity to take a trip up the hill to the clump. Following the boundary fence I made my way up slowly, noting where boundary ditches once been. Crossing the track across the breast of the field use by badgers and foxes. Noting where they all get through the fence.  Isn’t it is so much easier to follow in someone else’s path through long grass?

Fox's path into Mornington forest

Further up the hill I saw the outside ‘lounge’ or ‘bedroom’ where a vixen had fed her young earlier this spring.

A vixen's has created a nursery area in the long grass where she could feed her cubs.

Guest watched a fox yesterday as it enjoyed the sun, before eventually following the track into the forest.

View across the lake to towards faughalstown

Cow parsley in full bloom

Wild strawberries growing under the new rose hedge

Wild strawberries

We planted the roses last year to replace the hebbe which was killed by the frost. Children love to pick the wild strawberries. The Blackbirds like them too.

Raised beds are full to overflowing of herbs and Vegetables.The tape is to discourage Dexter jumping across the bed to get his ball.

By the way: The tape is NOT electrified!

The herbaceous border is in full flower.

A bag of Anemone corms was great value.

Ripening blackcurrants

Red currants have to be caged or there woul be none left for summer pudding.

The red and blackcurrants are ripening rapidly. Summer pudding is a luscious for a summer lunch. It can be made in advance in quick time.

At Mornington, puddings were set out on the sideboard. There always seemed to an enormous choice. In reality it was a combination of a freshly made pudding and what ever was leftover from last night’s dinner. A friend of my mother-in-law used to spend part of her holiday picking soft fruit; blackcurrants, raspberries, gooseberries and strawberries as they ripened. Days were long and wasps could be a challenge when picking. Then one day Oonagh Vaughan’s Summer Pudding appeared at lunchtime. Served with cream from Phyllis the cow it stole the show.

Summer Pudding

Ingredients

Filling

This can be made from a mixture of fruit. Whatever you have on hand growing in the garden

2-3 lb Soft fruits Blackcurrants, Redcurrants, Gooseberries, Raspberries, Strawberries

2-3 Cups Granulated Sugar

Slices of stalebread or sponge cake.

Method

1. Cut into cake or bread into fingers 2-3” wide and line 1.7litre (3 pint) pudding bowl by placing the bread/ cake fingers across bottom and vertically up sides of bowl, overlapping them slightly
2. Dissolve the sugar in water and bring to the boil for 2mins. Add the black and red currants and gooseberries (if being used) continue cooking until fruit bursts. (3-4mins). Add raspberries and strawberries. Stir to combine fruits.
3. Taste. This is the time to add a little extra sugar if needed,
4. Ladle the fruit and juice into the lined bowl. Any extra scraps of cake or bread can be put into bowl when half filled.
5. Add more fruit mix.
6. Top with bread / cake pieces.
7. Place a plate on top and put a heavy weight on top. Allow to become cold before putting in the refrigerator for 24hours.

To serve: Un-mould onto serving plate and serve with softly whipped cream

First were  great patches of celandines on the edge of the roads followed in quick succession by gorse, the blossom of sloes in hedgerows,bluebells, wild carrot sometimes known as ‘Queen Anne’s Lace’ flounces along the roads, whilst ‘jack by the hedge’ keeps upright sentinel. The May tree , or hawthorn burst out of hedges. Today we have wild roses coming into bloom along with ‘the gelder rose’. Not the sweetest smelling plant but it creates spectacular drifts of blooms.

I noted that the elder flower is beginning to bloom. I have a memory of driving to Shannon to meet Canadian friends who were flying into Ireland. We had left at 4.00am and watched as dawn woke the countryside. Our friends asked what was in flower around all the fields;  so noticeable was the elder blossom as they flew into land.

Astounding as it may seem this saying has often come to fruition. Certainly we had been needing rain as growth was slow and seeds were slow to germinate. The ravages of winter are healing as new growth begins to camouflage bare patches on shrubs. So ever the optimist.

Warwick picking flowers in front border

The large orange poppies are survivors plants grown by Warwick’s Mum.

Vegetable seedlings are almost ready for planting out but nights are still too cold.

One packet of mixed salad greens goes a long way.  These are just ready for picking and we will be picking them for the next few weeks.

Just one packet of mixed lettuce seeds will keep us supplied for the next few weeks.

The hydrangeas are recovering from a severe 'hair cut'. The candelabra primulas in full flower.

Foxgloves love this damp shaded corner under the apple tree

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the fine bay tree beside the patio will begin to recover. You can see green growth at the back and side of the shrub. Big question DO I CUT THE MAIN TREE?

Bay tree May'11