I have a few images from the Bloom Show in Phoenix Park and the North West Show in Castlefinn.
More Bloom pics here
More Castlefinn pics here
Get them to grow them!
A successful new school gardening programme may hold the key to one of modern life’s great dilemma for parents: how to get children to eat vegetables.
A programme to encourage schoolchildren to grow their own fruit and vegetables can change the dietary habits of the next generation. Speaking at the the recent Agri-Aware’s Incredible Edible’s growing challenge in the RDS, Minister Trevor Sargent said early learning on food would last a lifetime.
Minister Sargent said: “Most of today’s schoolchildren have not had the opportunity to experience growing food at home or on an allotment. Previous generations would have grown up with vegetable patches in the back garden, but much of that has been lost.
“By introducing a new food growing challenge into schools, we’ve taught children how to grow food and to consider wider issues such as nutrition and healthy eating, food security, air miles, the agriculture industry and food costs Experience shows that kids are more likely to eat food that they’ve been involved with growing, particularly in the home. This programme has encouraged children to involve their parents and continue the food growing experience at home.”
Two thirds of all primary schools in Ireland took part in the Incredible Edibles programme, which was introduced last Autumn by Minster Sargent and Agri-Aware following the success of the Grow your Spuds campaign. It is estimated that 100,000 schoolchildren grew potatoes, lettuces, cabbages, scallions and strawberries in their classroom this year.
“As obesity levels continue to soar, I hope that the experience of growing fresh healthy food, will stay with these children and encourage them to eat healthily and choose home-grown nutritious foods over processed convenience foods,” said Minister Sargent.
The Green Party’s www.getgrowing.ie campaign, launched last March also aims to get people growing food at home, on an allotment or in a community garden. “This is not about gardening,” said Minister Sargent. “This is about getting to a place where we are capable and have the resources to supply our island-nation with our own food.”
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We all love Easter eggs…. sadly one of the most over-packaged products on the market. A huge cardboard box……. plastic moulding to hold the egg in place, a shiny foil wrapping – all to hold one little hollow egg, weighing maybe 110g!
Let’s keep the bunnies smiling and buy some seriously delicious chocolate eggs with the least packaging – choose ones that are only wrapped in foil, or give an Easter gift instead. How about traditional hand-painted Easter eggs and papier mache eggs using the plastic packaging from an egg as a mould? This could then be decorated and filled with sweets or gifts. (more…)
No, GreenMe are not advocating a slovenly lifestyle, just encouraging you to take it outside!! Cancelling your gym membership will not only save you money, it will also lower your carbon footprint!!
Like most parties, it tends to start with drinks, nibbles and casual conversation, until the guests suddenly start swapping clothes.
Invented before the credit crunch but becoming more popular as a free substitute for shopping and entertainment, welcome to swishing.
“Swishing dos” are parties where people swap second-hand clothes, following a few commonly agreed rules along the following lines:
Pick a date and venue, invite friends, prepare some food, let people browse the clothes they have brought while enjoying a glass of wine; at a previously agreed time, count down to the “Swish,” and start swapping. (more…)
Spring is in the air and as the weather finally changes, everyone around me seems to be coming down with a cold. Like so many Irish folks, I am sensitive to foods containing gluten. And, I try to stay away from dairy in the damp weather. And, I’m a vegetarian, hmm…. No meat, no wheat, and (mostly) no dairy. Alas, I’m a professional cook so I spend a lot of time creating recipes to suit a variety of diets. Here’s one of my favorite cold weather meals that’s tasty, satisying, easy to make and good for ya! (more…)
Sustainable investing is helping to change environmentally harmful business practices. A new breed of investors is profiting from green while benefiting the planet. There are several established financial instruments for green investments including stocks, bonds, funds, savings accounts, deposit certificates and money market accounts. All of these types of investments can help the planet and turn a handsome profit.
In preceding articles, The Green Market provided practical demonstrations of the sizable profits available to investors in green stock. In this article I address the benefits green investing offers the earth. (more…)
Want to help save the planet, but also want your wedding to be memorable? The following is a great article written by SUE LEONARD of the Irish Independent on how to make that special day environmentally friendly
We’re all worried these days about global warming. We want to protect our environment and we do our bit to recycle and reuse. When it comes to weddings, though, we tend to throw green ethics aside. (more…)
There are plenty of us out there who think that there is nothing as nice as snuggling up on front of a blazing open fire on a cold miserable night? And let’s face it there’s no shortage of those at the moment. However, gorgeous as it looks and feels it can be an expensive and inefficient endeavor. A fireplace sends most of the heat in your house straight up the chimney emitting as much as 24,000 cubic feet of air per hour to the outside! Bottom line – not very green. But as GreenMe are the no sacrafice, guilt free way to going green we prefer not giving unrealistic green targets. Instead you can limit the loss of heat when enjoying a quiet evening by the fire. By opening dampers in front of the grate (if provided) or open the nearest window slightly – only about an inch you will see a significant difference in your heat gain. Don’t forget to close doors leading into the room. It works believe me and gets you some green creds at the same time! So get toasty!!
Caulk itThis winter I have found that my house seems to be leaking. By that I mean that I have noticed little drafts in certain rooms that I never noticed before. Small spaces and gaps around windows and pipes and wires entering the home create create energy wasting drafts that can cut the efficiency of your heating system. Most caulking products are cheap costing under €10. It’s a no brainer for a cosier home and your saving on your home heating bill too!
