Community Day January 2025
Our first community day of the new year was on a cold, but beautiful clear day. Being surrounded by snow topped mountains - the Dingle Peninsula north of us and the McGillycuddy Reeks on the south - brought a sense of peace and joy. Being out here on a day like this makes it very special.
As the winter is drawing to a close - hopefully this is not wishful thinking on our part - we are getting ready for spring sowing. We collected enough tree seeds this last autumn to fill the first polytunnel. Seeds vary in length of time it takes from them to stratify (break dormancy), so although we put many varieties in our stratification bed outside, some like the Holly - Ilex aquifolium - and Hawthorn - Craetagus monogyna - need to stay there for another year.
We make a list of tasks we want to accomplish on the day so that people can pick what they want to do. One of us started by laying out the lines in the polytunnel for where the beds and paths will be. The beds were filled with a mixture of topsoil and compost, and the paths were made with mulch supplied by Kevin Buckley - our local tree guy. We are keeping the beds narrow - about 75cm - so that we can access the whole bed easily.
Others headed over to an area that was earmarked for our new meadow. They did some clearing and added the Traditional Irish native seed mix from Connecting Nature to get it all started. The reason we sowed them at this time is that we also added extra Yellow Rattle, a semi-parasitic plant, that hopefully keeps the grass under control. Yellow Rattle needs a period of frost to germinate.
Another point on our lists of tasks was the erection of the pole for our first owl box. The Intermediate Secondary school in Killorglin generously constructed and donated 2 owl boxes to Local Roots and we needed poles to attach them to, as we don’t have mature enough trees on our side to house these boxes.
As with every community day we break for lunch with copious cups of tea, homemade soup, fresh bread from the Kingdom Bakery in Milltown, and a lot of laughter.
Every community day is good day. Everyone is tired at the end of the day, but with a sense of pride on all we have been able to accomplish. Join us for our next Community Day on Saturday the 8th of February 2025.
