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Category: Donegal

Hidden Donegal

November 19, 2016November 19, 2016 ~ www.ancaoradubh.ie ~ Leave a comment

Over the past few months, I have been involved with the Community Development Group here in my local village. The group was dormant for a number of years, but reinstated in February 2016 with new members and a renewed focus.

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Seeds of Permaculture Set to Germinate in Donegal

June 24, 2015October 11, 2018 ~ www.ancaoradubh.ie ~ 2 Comments

From the 14th to 17th May, a group of like-minded people from across Ireland came together in the wilds of Donegal to explore the subject of Permaculture & Forest Gardening with one of the UK’s leading practitioners, Aranya.

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Aranya CHCDG Community Compost coppice Design Dulra Education Elaine Ingham Grazing hedgerow Holistic Management Ireland PDC Permaculture Sheep silvopasture Soil soil microbiology trees Woodland

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This man is walking around the coastline....!!! - - - This week, we had a visitor; Peter from @ukctc stopped in for a few days rest and we promptly put him to work...🤣, getting the roof structure up for the pole barn. - - - Peter is on a charity trek around the coastline of the UK and Ireland - and when I say coast I mean the TIDELINE! He has walked 10,000 miles to date, starting from Dunnet Head in the north of Scotland, and has raised in the region of £10k for three charities; @rspb_love_nature @renewable_world and the @worldlandtrust . - - - He’ll be “turning the corner” at Bloody Foreland in the next few days, and progressing down the west coast of Ireland over the coming months. You can keep track of his adventure on his IG page @ukctc or on FB at “The Pale Blue Dot” - and of you see him, don’t forget to say hi! - - - He’s roughly half way on this mammoth journey and two years in! To add to the challenge, Peter has opted to sleep outdoors for the duration of his trip and he is entirely unsupported! If you happen to see him around, be sure to support him any way you can; be it a friendly hello, a donation in support of his trek, a hot meal or a days work. - - - We wish you all the best for this important trek Peter, so glad @an_caora_dubh_farm could be a small part of your huge challenge!

Great afternoon spent hanging out with #womenwhofarm @joannebutlerourganic @mcgeejosephine and @peetersnicky - lots of potting-on and prep for the upcoming season; this place is going to be pumping out food in the next few weeks and through the season! . . . Some final details added to the syllabus for the upcoming Intro to #permaculture weekend workshop to be held here at the end of May with Hannah of @earthcare_permaculture_ireland and @joannebutlerourganic - promises to be a great event and ONLY FOUR SPACES REMAINING!!!! Get in touch with Joanne directly (see previous post) to book your spot if you’ve been thinking about it...!

Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit! / (A belated) Happy St. Patrick’s day! - - - I was blessed to spend yesterday in great company, setting out design elements for a new #permaculture site in #Monaghan . - - - The owner of this project has great vision. The mainframe design calls for regeneration of monoculture pasture at the top of the site into a productive amenity woodland system, with future capacity to support small to medium animal operations as well as perennial production of NTFPs (non-timber forest products) and fuelwood. - - - Following a blended design approach, we took time to explore the client’s personal context and vision for the site before ever thinking about turning a sod. Then, following P.A Yeoman’s scale of permanence, the relative position of major elements follows on with ease. - - - It’s hugely rewarding to see a desktop design become reality before your eyes, and yesterday we located all major elements on the ground and planted 80 fruit rootstocks for future grafting. Other highlights of this site include: • native #shelterbelt • #forestgarden • #pond for water storage, biodiversity and amenity • defined access ways/tracks • future #agroforestry plots - - - I’m really looking forward to seeing this place develop in the years to come. This may only be a small site, but it is surrounded by “conventional” farmers, who will take note of this radical change in land use. As the system matures and demonstrates its productivity and resilience with minimum inputs, this #regenerative approach will speak for itself.

I’m very excited to be working with @earthcare_permaculture_ireland and @ourganic_gardens on this upcoming intro to #permaculture workshop in #donegal in May. ___ @ourganic_gardens is a very inspiring place and one of the most complete #permaculture demonstration sites in Ireland, developed over the past decade by Joanne and her family. ___ Whether you are at the beginning of your learning pathway or well on your way, join us for a deep insight into permaculture in practice on this incredible site in the shadow of the mighty #errigal

The mighty Errigal looks very much at home in the current snowscape....

Nice morning on the hill with the nephew after #reddeer. Nothing within range, but 5 spotted so, all in all, a good outing in incredible weather for this time of year...!

And the #citizenscience goes on... - - - The data is really beginning to stack up for the ongoing #growobservatory project here at @an_caora_dubh_farm . These sensors measure #soil moisture, ambient temperature and light intensity at 15 minute intervals; this data will be used to help calibrate #climatechange models among other things. It’s very satisfying that small efforts in this wee glen will help in tackling global issues. We can all play our part...! - - - Head to @growobservatory or www.growobservatory.org to see how you can get involved.

Incredible light & fog in the glen today!

“It’s not about the COW, it’s about the HOW”. . Following on from coverage in movies such as #cowspiracy there is increasing negative rhetoric about the role of livestock agriculture in Carbon emissions. But this is more than a bit misleading; it’s not necessarily cows that are the issue, it’s how we raise them. . We need to begin thinking of our farms as carbon sinks, looking for every possible opportunity to lock away carbon in our on-farm processes. Effective grazing management, multi-level production in #agroforestry systems and on-farm composting are all great examples how we can increase yields while locking away much more carbon in our soils and additional biomass than we emit. . Using grass to capture energy from sunlight and turning this into calories for human consumption via livestock is an example of nature working at the highest order of efficiency - seeing as humans can neither eat sunlight nor grass. Raising livestock on grain requires an input of 10-15 lbs in order to yield 1 lb of meat, not to mention the additional Carbon exhausted to atmosphere in the process of raising grain, harvesting, drying and transporting it and then dealing with concentrated effluent from overstocked CAFOs at the other end. This system makes no sense when we could be raising grain for direct human consumption. . . . #Repost Thanks to @foodprintorg for the great infographic!

I had the opportunity to speak with #agscience students at #lyit this morning about the importance of tree systems on farms. We covered a lot of ground from typical #agroforestry systems and their design to improved water and nutrient cycling to additional forms of production and what a truly regenerative agriculture would look like. - - - I left this place in 2004, on my journey to qualifying as an engineer and it feels a great privilege to return here as a #regenerativeagriculture advocate and have the opportunity to hopefully inspire the next generation of agriculturalists into questioning the very system they are about to enter, rather than just accepting it. It turns out it’s rather difficult just to talk about trees, without pointing out the huge potential upsides of #regenerativeagriculture on ecosystems and rural communities as well as farm viability...!

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