NEW PICTURES AT LAST

if anyone's actually still reading this...here are some pictures from the trip.

I know they're not labeled so just ask if you have any questions about the pictures

Follow the link HERE

Pictures

the back of the garden

a view from the cabin

I'm having a bit of trouble with these pictures...this site is terrible with pictures. so will try to get a link with all of them

Reflections

This may or may not be my final post so thanks for reading everyone!

All in all, I had an amazing trip to Ireland. Our hosts at the Ballymaloe House were truly the best and I just wanted to thank Rory and Hazel Allen, Aidan and Robyn/Darren for being particularly welcoming.

Weirdly, I really only spent time in Cork County, but I loved every minute of being in Ireland (besides being sick). The people were extremely nice, lively in culture, and the country is beautiful. I had delicious food, learned a ton about growing food and even saw some of those infamous leprechauns. Ok, not the last one. But I did meet some great people at Ballymaloe, learned to love the great game of hurling and got to experience a really traditional Irish pub.

Finally, you get to see some pictures! I'll make another post with some pictures and post a link for some more.

I'm leaving on a jet plane..

Yeah, obviously I used a cliche title for this post.

Anyways I boarded the train Sunday for Limerick (a super modern train with high-speed wifi that shames any US train I've ever been on...Amtrak included). I then spent the night in Limerick, boarded an early bus to Shannon Airport and headed off for America.

Not much to report on except that the Shannon Airport impressed me and Delta Airlines impressed me...American Airlines better step up their game.

The Last Day

So finally I get around to a new post.

I'm home across the "pond" now, watching the world cup, trying to recover from illness and preparing for an approaching heavy work schedule.

The last day, Sunday, Eoin and Carol (my neighbor's relatives) were nice enough to take Emily and I to Carol's family farm in Youghal and then out for some lunch in nearby Cobh with their three kids. We then took a tour of the Titanic/Lusitania museum in Cobh (pronounced Cove).

Fun Irish Cocktail Party Fact: the Lusitania (the sunken ship that led to USA's joining in WWI) and the Titanic (I hope you know what this ship was) both left from Cobh Harbor before meeting their demises.

The same harbor was where many Irish boarded "coffin ships" on their way to Ellis Island, NY to get to America during the potato famine.

It's a really great seaside town and if Eoin and Carol are still reading I want to thank them for a fabulous last day in Ireland!

The Final Day in the Garden

So I worked my final day in the garden yesterday. A slow day at that. Certainly bittersweet but not much news to report on.

Went to Midleton Farmer's market today, which rivals Westport's (if not better)...although I was disappointed to see 2 stands with bananas, mangos, and even onions from peru...really? you can grow onions in Ireland. Clearly these stands were not farmers at all but just people selling grocery store food from a stand.

My favorite stand happened to be a woman who makes all her own goat's cheeses--over 15 varieties in all. And she was giving out free samples for every one. She said she did everything from milking and pasteurizing herself...impressive to say the least.

Tonight I watched the U.S. tie England and will head out to Youghal tomorrow before going home to the states

A trip to the pharmacy

Thursday there’s not too much to report. Planted some flowers for a wedding this weekend at Ballymaloe then planted some 100 of the 3000 leeks that will be planted this spring/summer….1/30^th of the way there! Emily planted some cabbage and other stuff and picked lots of arugula—they call it rocket salad here—for the restaurant.

Having been sick practically the entire trip, I finally found time to get some medicine at the local Cloyne Pharmacy. The brilliant thing about it is that it’s nothing like CVS! As soon as I walked in, a woman came to help me, asking my symptoms. After reporting a cough and sore throat she asked even more questions about the type of cough, when I coughed, etc. Hell, she asks more questions than my own doctor. And the place had everything a CVS does (food, sunscreen, shampoo, medicine, etc).

Anyways, she recommended a couple medicines for me and the total came out to 6 Euro (about $7.50) total for two medicines. You can’t get a bottle of Tylenol for that price in America. And better yet, the staff was genuinely nice and actually knew what medicine to give me. I’m really not looking forward to walking into CVS and having a high school dropout who doesn’t bother to say hi and is only counting down the hours until his overnight shift is done and it takes you 3 hours to get your prescription in hand.

That’s what I love about Ireland-- the genuinely helpful people here (or at least this part of Ireland). On the way back, Aidan pointed out that the leprechauns live in the Ballymaloe wheat fields. Good thing to know if you’re ever here!

Oh by the way, it’s time for the 2010 WORLD CUP!!!!!!!!!

News from Ireland

In recent Irish news...

Irish high school seniors begin their "leaving exams". Most stress, but if they fail, they can take it again.

World Cup 2010 starts in 2 days. Many Irishmen are depressed. New sport invented in Ireland--it's called Gaelic Soccer. Are the rules different from regular soccer? Nope, except there's a field goal from leftover hurling goals!

Ireland joins U.N. League of Leprechauns. Bono elected president of organization.

Leprechaun catches gold at bottom of the rainbow. Irish Lotto still at 6 million Euro.

Colin Farrell wins Oscar for Best Actor for his role in "Phonebooth"

It rained in Ireland today. Some realize Ireland isn't made of waterproof turf.

Singer/song-writer Chris De Burgh lands in front of Ballymaloe House in helicopter for lunch (this seriously happened). Many staff members are excited. Me? Never heard of the guy. Had a cool helicopter though.

New study finds Ireland has several pubs.

More from Ireland soon...

Wet Wednesday

Wednesday was a rainy day, but luckily Hazel, Rory’s wife, equipped us with waterproof pants and jacket—yes I came to Ireland without a rain jacket. I know I’m smart.

Today I planted thyme, turnips and some flowers. We then potted up beetroot (beets) and sweet peas, which should be picked later this summer. Everything in the garden is growing, the sunflowers are about to fully bloom, and lots of stuff is getting ready to harvest. Most stuff, like the tomatoes, potatoes and artichokes still have about 5-6 weeks left. Overall, it was a tiring, wet, muddy, rainy day, and it should be a relaxing evening tonight.

Final weekend plans still unknown. This trip has gone crazy fast—only 5 days left.

Peace from Ireland for now….

A trip to the middle mountains

Tuesday was a fairly normal day. Sunny and hot though. I was told it was supposed to be cold and rainy in Ireland…

Tuesday included potting of basil, weeding, more weeding, and laying down a special tarp to stop weeds from growing. Yes, weeds are a pain in the arse.

After work, Aidan drove us up to the “mountains” in Tipperary. The mountains are actually just really big hills, but this time of year rhododendrons abound all across the hills and their purple flowers cover all around you. There’s barely any people living in this part, but we drove up about an hour where we could see across three Irish counties and could see for a hundred miles away. It was a beautiful sight until it started to downpour just as we got our best views. Nonetheless, Aidan was really nice to drive us up (his idea) and it was an amazing sight to see and I’m really glad I got to see that part of Ireland, the middle, where almost no one lives…just fields and farmland. The entire drive though we saw sheep, goats and cows grazing grass in the pastures—a good sign for all those “grass-fed meat” fans.

Sunday relax

Sunday was a relaxing day but we did get to eat from a great Sunday buffet that included cheese croquettes, some of the best pickles, marinated beets, sweet red cabbage, roast lamb, fresh Ballycotton oysters, fried fish, and more.

Mel left in the afternoon, but at night we went to see an American blues pianist Al Copley perform a concert in the Grain Store, with Jean-Christophe. The concert was entertaining as we got to watch lots of old people dance and do the “twist”. We then hung out with the rest of the "young" staff for food/dessert.

Going Local

Yes, three straight days of posts! a new record!

One thing I’ve realized about the food here in Ireland is that everything is local. From meat to seafood to beer to vegetables, it all seems to come from somewhere in Ireland (which means max 6 hour drive away). It’s not just at Ballymaloe that this seems to happen, but in most restaurants and cafes even in the cities. Hell, I’ve even seen fast-food joints serving only Irish beef and lamb.

What I love though about Ballymaloe’s food is that it’s so simple and homey. No fancy dishes, no exotic ingredients, just straightforward delicious displays of quality ingredients. Their vegetable dishes always seem to be my favorite, many of which are picked straight from the garden I’ve worked in (give me the credit for Ballymaloe’s awards).

Fresh, local, just-picked food isn’t just environmentally friendly…it tastes so much better. It’s why when working in the garden I always try a bit of asparagus or radish straight from the ground, a leaf of mustard green, or a steal of a gooseberry. I don’t really care that I’ve eaten way too much soil these last two weeks…the food tastes good. Anyways I could go on but when shopping for food, I’d ALWAYS go for the farmer’s market over the grocery store (although the farmer’s markets these days seems to be less and less about food…next thing you know we’ve got a stand for Abercrombie & Fitch at the market). Last note—honestly there’s something way more interesting about vegetables these days—there’s so many varieties, preparations, etc that people should eat more vegetables and less meat…seriously meat is getting boring in the food world, just ask Jose Andres (link).

And this morning we’re getting the first Irish downpour!

A day fishing

Saturday I woke up, had a good breakfast of fresh Ballymaloe hen eggs and took a walk around the gardens. At noon we all biked down to the Cookery School with Jean-Christophe and Baptiste (who ended up walking because of a broken bike). We had pizza at the little cafe, cooked by one Emily and her husband. Emily works in the gardens some days and is somehow connected to the Allen family in this complicated family web.

Seriously if you’ve read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, the Allen family tree is about nine times more complicated than the Vanger one. The funny thing is, none of them actually work in the same business…some own the restaurant, some are in farming, some own a café, some teach at the Cookery School, some own the Cookery School, some sell food products, and the list goes on.

Anyways after a quick walk through the gardens and teaching the Jeans more English we headed back. When we got back, Rory Allen took us to Ballycotton (the town five minutes down the road to the right from the Ballymaloe house) and onto his fishing boat. After a quick ride out past the lighthouse, we started fishing. But we really didn’t just go fishing…we went catching. Within five minutes, Mel and Emily had brought up mackerel. Then Rory and I started to catch some and then within about 45 minutes we had caught 20+ mackerel and a baby cod that had to be thrown back. The wind was cold on the ocean, the seagulls swarming our catch, and I really felt like a wind-hardened Irish fishermen…kinda (Ballycotton actually translates to “land of the small fishermen’s houses” in Irish). Meanwhile Ballymaloe translates to “land of the sweet honey” while Shanagarry, the actual town its located in, means “old gardens”.

Honestly, this was as much success in fishing (or catching) as I can remember. It was a fun time and we were all grateful that Rory invited us to go out with him.

Friday!

Today was an easy day in the garden as well. I weeded around the asparagus and flowers, groomed the tomato plants and then potted various plants. After just 1.5 weeks of gardening, I now seem to permanently have dirt on my hands and under my fingernails. My white and gray shirts have become brown even after a wash. My legs and arms are covered with scratches from the thorns of various plants. But all in all, I’ve learned lots about growing fruits and vegetables and have become inspired to start my own garden at home…hopefully Dad agrees to the reincarnation of our small backyard garden.

After work, we hitched a ride with Aidan into Midleton to visit the Jameson Whiskey Distillery where we took a tour and got to sample Jameson whiskey, Ireland’s most popular whiskey and number one common cold medicine.

I even got my Whiskey Taster Certificate, as I was able to taste Scotch whiskey (Johnny Walker’s) and American whiskey (Jack Daniel’s) and compare it to the Jameson whiskey.

We then headed home tonight for a good rest as we should have a busy weekend ahead.

A day off from the gardens

So again I’m writing posts on my computer and will put them up once I get to the Internet, hopefully later tonight. Thursday we took the morning and early afternoon off and biked over to the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School, which is run by Darina Allen. She’s Ireland’s most famous chef and she and her daughter now appear on TV all the time here (mostly her daughter Rachel though). There’s no one really like her in America…but maybe she’s a little bit like Dan Barber, chef/owner of Blue Hill restaurant. Darina has lots of cookbooks and is an enormous supporter and trailblazer for “slow food”, local produce and gardening in Ireland. The Ballymaloe Cookery School has demonstrations, short week long courses, and 3 month courses upon which students receive their certificates from the school. Their gardens are larger and even more impressive than the ones at the Ballymaloe House (they’re a 2 minute drive/15 minute bike ride from each other). At the Cookery School, they have more money, more people, more animals, more veggies, more fruit and more food in general, but both are equally as impressive.

The same morning we also walked around the Ballymaloe House and went to visit the pigs and hens that are raised behind the hotel. The hens live in couple luxurious double-wide trailers (yes, you read that right), and we took some freshly laid eggs from their pen after feeding the hens our food scraps.

That night we worked in the Ballymaloe Grainstore (located between the gardens and the restaurant), which is hosting a month-long art exhibition featuring 7 artists and lots of paintings. I helped get the place ready, serve food and wine and collect plates. The Grainstore is still in the building process, but is almost completed, and it’s a big building (formerly held all the wheat grain) that hosts everything from music (Al Copley of the Blues Brothers is playing there next week) to art to lectures to weddings. I heard they even have tons of Bar and Bat Mitzvahs at the Ballymaloe Grainstore (not).

The work was fairly easy and the night went well overall. I met some new young workers including Jean-Baptiste, another France native, who is doing an internship at Ballymaloe this summer.

Wednesday

Sorry I can't upload pictures--internet problems--but I'm going to have them up the day I get back to the states.

Wednesday was a planting day. We spent all day planting Brussels sprouts, chervil, dill, different flowers, cabbages, watercress, sunflowers, onions and more. Mel took the day off because she’s been feeling ill, so we got her some medicine and hopefully she’ll feel better today.

Last night Robyn and Darren took us out for a drink at the Black Bird pub then we got food and took it out to the beaches of Ballymanoa (that’s a takeaway for all you Euros), a five-minute drive from Ballymaloe. Flicker, their dog, played with the rest of the dogs on the beach…it’s no Compo. After dinner, we went to their friends’ new house, a beautiful house looking out over a field/bog and just a walk from Ballycotton’s town. We went back to Robyn/Darren’s house for tea and came home to relax.

In only about 10 days in Ireland I’ve really come to love this place. Last night was a great example of why. When at Robyn’s friends house, we were with about 8 other strangers, yet they were welcoming, funny and interested in us. The Irish people, above all, seem to be truly friendly people. Maybe it’s because were in the country, I don’t know. I do know that the Irish have such great pride and tradition for their homeland and its something that’s really contagious. So much is rooted in tradition, yet nothing feels old and outdated. Anyways, I’m entering the second half of my trip…can’t believe it’s gone so fast!

Sorry guys- Internet here is sketchy.

I haven't been quick on updating my posts because the internet is unreliable here...but keep up the comments please!

Anyways, we were all very tired from the long night at the pub. But it was a beautiful day out. However, there was some not-so-fun work to be done…lots of weeding, taking down dead wood and removing ivy from the wall. It was a long hot day that seemed to get up to 80 degrees (I don’t actually know what that is in Celsius for those of you in that system).

Quick note about the weather in Ireland: it’s crazy.

Aidan likes to joke we’re in “Sunny Ireland,” which I guess isn’t wrong because during the spring/summer (now) it is sunny from about 4 am to 11pm. Yes, the sun seems it is at its highest point at like 4pm…crazy.

But it never gets above 85 degrees or so, it’s never humid, and when the sun goes down at night, it hits like 40 degrees. It rains a lot, can be cloudy a lot, rarely snows and overall no weather report should be relied on.

I guess this all makes for great agriculture, as the garden has just about every fruit and vegetable except citrus fruits and bananas…there’s even a kiwi tree that gets kiwis!

Traditional Musical Night at an Irish Pub!

A couple nights ago, a rainy night at that, we went to a town about twenty or so minutes from Ballymaloe. The town is so small Rory said it wasn’t even a town, but it has one thing…a pub. Not a surprise, is it? We arrived around 9pm and packed ourselves into the tiny room of Powers Pub.

Everyone ordered a drink as Rory Allen, owner of Ballymaloe, set up to play his guitar alongside his friend Jimmy on mandolin and an American woman on harp. The entire night they played Irish folk songs that everyone in the pub would sing along with, except us “Yanks” as they call us.

All three took turns singing and there were plenty of guest singers for different songs. They even played hits like Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”, Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”, Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” and Janice Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee”.

The pub was packed with about 35 of us—ranging from 20s to 80s it seemed. And all sung along, danced along and had a great time. One very drunk man in his seventies seemed to ask every single female in the pub for a dance, even the bartender, another seventy-ish woman.

A young guy, maybe 25, was just as drunk, singing songs louder than the real musicians, and even gave a hilarious failed attempt at strumming the harp.

Yes, we have this all on video!

Music didn’t stop until 2:30am! When Rory drove us home to Ballymaloe, he summed it up, saying, “This is Irish tradition at its best. Sure, people were drunk, but there were no malicious intentions whatsoever. Everyone comes to have a good time with each other.” (Yes I paraphrased because the Irish like to use funny phrases to describe everything)

All in all, it was a fun but tiring night, and it was surely an amazing display of the Irish pub tradition.

Monday

The Irish eat lots of potatoes. Every lunch has included potatoes in some form—mashed, boiled, baked, in shepherd’s pie, with fish, meat and chicken. Unfortunately no potato desserts.

Anyways, in the garden everything is labeled first with the vegetable and then by its type. For example “Cabbage- January King” or “Lettuce- Little Gem”. Potatoes, though, are simply labeled by their type—“Duke of York” or “Pink Fir Apple”

Just funny that potatoes aren’t actually labeled as potatoes like every other vegetable. I guess that means they really know and love their potato varieties?

Monday, May 31, was a cold one. 50s, windy, cloudy with a chance of rain. The Irish weathermen say that more than they say their own name. It didn’t damper our day farming though. I did some weeding, then planted some Sorrel, and then did some more weeding—the second time pulling out wild garlic, which is actually a weed but can also be eaten!

After lunch we did some watering and sewed seeds of kale, cabbage, broccoli and more. We then potted some more vegetables.

The plant process is a continuous cycle so there is ALWAYS something to be done.

A quick run down:

First the seed is sewn (placed into some potting soil in mini trays).

Then after a couple weeks, they are moved to small pots.

A few more weeks, and they are planted into the ground.

Given some time outside and they are ready to be picked (timing all depends on the weather/type of vegetable)

Tonight we are going to a pub to watch Rory Allen (the owner of Ballymaloe) play guitar live along with some other local musical acts, most of them playing traditional Irish music!

It was a great time and I will share stories in a later post! More from Ireland soon…

Back home

We are now back to the good life at Ballymaloe. More from Ireland coming soon…

Aidan (not sure if it’s the right spelling) is the only worker who comes in every day to tend to the gardens. He started in February as well with Susan, who oversees the garden plans/layouts. Aidan was always a carpenter, but wanted a change of pace, so he just took up gardening/farming this past year but says he loves it. He’s been really nice and a big help overall so just wanted to give him a shout-out here.

Hurling!!

How to explain Hurling? Paddle hits ball. Ball thru goal posts=1 point. Ball past keeper into net=3 points. You can read the rest of the rules on the almighty Wikipedia.

Imagine Tiger Woods chasing his wife with a club over his head….that’s part of Hurling.

Add in bits and pieces from quidditch, baseball, soccer, lacrosse and rugby.

Sprinkle in crazy Irish men screaming “too many foicking steps”, “foicking disgraceful”, “that’s a foicking free” and “for foick’s sake pass the ball” every single play no matter how good the refs are...

And what do you get….an amazing game to watch.

There’s fighting, great saves, lots of goals and passionate fans. What more could you want? Tipperary vs Cork is a huge rivalry and Tipp was favored to win the game and even the national championship, but Cork took them on and won 22-12 in front of a home crowd.

The stadium looked about the same size as a Staples football (exaggeration) but announced attendance was 36,300. Oh yeah, we were in the standing room section that filled every inch of the stadium. It was still awesome.

Seriously, they should have this sport at every college in America (UC-Berkeley played Stanford last year in the first ever college match). It’s a sweet sport and I hope it becomes popular in America one day…soccer first though! Speaking of which, World Cup 2010 begins in TEN DAYS.

Last day in Cork

We woke up anticipating to go to Midleton on Sunday morning. But we learned that there was going to be a huge Hurling match at 4pm in Cork. I was told this was the thing to stay for. So we stayed in Cork and ate Turkish food, wandered the city, read up on the rules of Hurling and then made the walk to the stadium and got the student discount tickets to the big game.

Tipperary versus Cork Rebels faced off in the quarterfinals of the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association).

Things I've learned in Ireland

SO what was realized/reconfirmed about Ireland/Europe after 1.5 days in Cork.

1. The Europeans have it down right. Tax is included on all prices so you don’t get things costing you 5.76 and need to get 24 cents in change!
2. Restaurant prices include tax AND tip…..no more wasting precious time arguing “is 15% normal or should I tip 18% or maybe 20%...no more ‘double the tax to get your tip’ using your cell phone as a calculator”
3. Just about everyone has a STUDENT DISCOUNT, from museums to sporting events to bus fares. And they even give it to me when I show them a student card from an American university they’ve never even heard of. Why can’t America be like this when the cost of college is way more than the Euro schools?! And no a 1$ discount for children 13 and under at the Maritime Aquarium doesn’t count!
4. European public transit is so much better than America’s (aside from NYC, DC and a few others)….but you knew that already.
5. No bathrooms have paper towels, just those dumb air dryers that don’t work. Minus one for Europe.
6. When you buy things you think, nice I saved some money, only 50 euros…and then you realize that’s 60 dollars. Minus one more but Europe still wins.
7. The Irish love their pubs.
8. In Cork they love their sports. There’s a surprising number of Turkish stores/restaurants in Cork.
9. The Irish love playing U2 on every sound system.
10. Oh yeah, they love beer. And pubs…
11. The Irish are really nice people…seriously.
12. Everything is in Irish as well as English. Except no one speaks Irish…do they even bother reading the Irish writing?
13. The drinking age is 18…that was too obvious though, wasn’t it?
14. There's a pub in every town no matter how small..

Saturday in Cork

Saturday sent us first to the English Market, which has an amazing variety of different Irish foods. Irish sausages, every vegetable/fruit imaginable, cow tongues, and fresh-caught fish from Ballycotton (our “home town”). We got lunch at one of the sandwich stations in there and then caught a bus to Blarney.

Blarney is known for one thing--the famous Blarney stone. Touristy? Most definitely. A must-do in Ireland? Hell yeah.

We walked up the 100 steps of the Blarney castle and got in line to kiss the stone which is supposed to give you great eloquence and sophistication.

It dates back to one of those old queens. Do I truly know the story? No…but I was willing to shell the 8 euros do see a cool castle, walk the beautiful gardens surrounding the castle and check “kissing the Blarney stone” off my bucket list. Yes, kissing the Blarney stone is on Discovery Channel’s “99 things to do before you die”.

After that little tourist trap, we went back to Cork and did some shopping, city-walking and eventually ended up at University College- Cork (UCC), which has a beautiful campus on the edge of the city that rivals just about any American campuses.

Finally, we splurged for a great dinner at the Corn Store Restaurant and ended the night in again at Sheila’s.

Cork--better than Dublin?!

Ever heard of Ireland’s second biggest city? I know most people can only name Bono, Dublin, leprechauns and Guinness when asked about Ireland, but Cork’s actually a pretty cool city.

It’s relatively small and we basically walked all over the city throughout the weekend and it only takes about 20 minutes to see most of it. But it’s got great pubs/restaurants, fun spirit and great towns nearby.

So if you’re ever in Ireland, check out the west—Cork (and maybe even Limerick/Galway) and its surrounding towns (including Ballycotton)—over just simply going to the main tourist destination in the east, Dublin.

Cork City Weekend Trip

Just got back from our weekend trip to Cork City after what felt like 10 days there. Here’s a recap of the past few days….

Friday, May 28 was fairly uneventful. We worked all day in the garden. Lots of weeding to be done to make the garden look pretty for a wedding this weekend that would send 250+ people to Ballymaloe.

Susan, a South African native and the new head of the gardens, recently took over the job in February from a man who had headed up Ballymaloe’s gardens for almost 50 years. Susan is only making the gardens better, as she is almost completely organic (the old guy used chemicals) and Susan is moving the plants around and planting new things to make the garden more successful.

Also on Friday, Aidan had me trying all the different greens in the garden. My favorites were the mustard greens—a spicy, horseradish kick, the chive flowers that tasted like sweet onions, and lastly sorrel, a green leaf that tastes just like a sour green apple skin.

After work, Emily, Mel and I boarded the train to Cork. There we found a great hostel—Sheila’s hostel—for 48 euro/night total, where we had our own private beds and bathroom.

We scoured over the two Ireland guidebooks we had and made our plans for the weekend. Friday night we headed out to a really good but cheap vegetarian restaurant in Cork. We then stopped by a traditional pub called the Old Oak to try some of Cork’s favorite alcohols, Beamish and Bulmer’s, and went back to Sheila’s early to get ready for a busy Saturday.

Off to Cork

We are working today (Friday) and will be off to Cork for tonight and Saturday and then will spend a day in the city of Midleton on Sunday.

Pictures coming soon hopefully!

Day 3

We all made the quick walk to the garden that’s about 100 yards from our cabin to meet Aidan and Jean-Christophe. I had watering duty this morning—watering plants and filling newly dug holes—that included lettuce, green beans, artichokes, sweet peas and potatoes. I’m getting really good at this watering thing. They call me the Sultan of the Soaker, Wizard of Water, Intimidator of Irrigation.

10am is Tea Time. And at Ballymaloe, tea time MEANS tea time. Mid-watering, Aiden told me to drop everything and go for tea and scones. Today there were delicious scones and raisin bread with an unbelievable homemade rhubarb jam. Seriously I think I’m already addicted. Aidan, master garden keeper, says rhubarb is one of the easiest plants to grow in the garden…just let it grow and fertilize with a bit of seaweed. But don’t eat the leaves—they’re poisonous—so you just keep the stems and boil in water to tenderize the tough stems and mix with sugar. We talked with Jean-Christophe (JC for short—yes he’s Jesus Christ) over tea—he is from a town near Lyon, France and is staying at Ballymaloe for 2 months, working in the gardens in the morning and in the restaurant in the afternoon as an intern.

Lunch was grand today. Looks like I’m not gonna be losing any weight even with all the hard work. Today’s included delicious fried fish, shepherd’s pie, spaghetti with meat sauce, cabbage, homemade pizza and more. Lunch is always at 12:55- 5 of 1- and if you’re late you won’t get the best food—so don’t be late.

After lunch, I covered the beans with plastic mesh to keep birds/rabbits out. Then scooped chicken manure and spread it all over a patch of land where salad greens will soon be grown. Yummy…sorry Dad I think there might be chicken crap stuck to your boots for a while. Lastly we cleared rocks and then sewed seeds in the glasshouse. To say the least my feet are dead tired.

Peace from Ireland for now…

So maybe no one's reading this...

If you're reading my blog...comment on some of the posts.

I know this blog might be corny…okay, really corny.

Let me know if my last post was too long, too short, or just too boring. Any ideas of what I should include? Or just jealous you aren’t here?

I'll have some pictures uploaded in the coming days!

Day 2...Work begins!

Day two was the start of work. Real quick: we’re living in a cabin. Mel, Emily and I each have our own room and there’s a nice kitchen that is stocked with some homemade bread, cookies, fresh milk, and fresh jams and relish from Ballymaloe.

Ireland had a long, dry, cold winter this year so for the most part, we are currently harvesting only select greens and herbs, onions, leeks and cabbages. Most of the farmland actually consists of wheat that grows year-round. But, it is beginning to get warm, so its time to plant a lot of produce now (or veg, as they call it).

Robyn introduced us to Susan, who oversees the garden, Aidan, who maintains the garden everyday, and Jean-Christophe, another helper who just came from France a couple weeks ago. We planted cauliflower, several types of cabbage, broccoli and Brussel sprouts today. I know that seems like nothing, but trust me, it takes forever. All this was in the huge bricked-in garden.

The steps:

Dig holes at measured 50cm increments. Place manure pellets in holes. Place small potted plant in hole. Fill up with water. Cover hole with dirt. Spray water over plant. Label plants. Cover with nets to protect from birds/rabbits.

10am=tea time. Always gotta have you tea in Ireland.

12:55pm= lunch time. This is when a lot of the staff eats and you get all sorts of choices, most of which is leftover from the restaurant service. Today’s included beef, shepherd’s pie, chicken in cream sauce, chickpeas, curried eggplant, rice, buttered carrots and a ton of desserts from rhubarb pie to lemon custard to chocolate cake to and Irish seaweed pudding-like thing that actually tasted really good.

By the end of the day, my hands felt like they’d never be rid of all the dirt. We took some stuff from the kitchen for dinner (pork belly, quiche and crab pate) and picked fresh greens from the garden for salad.

First day impressions: this place is serene, calming and friendly. And the weather is pretty perfect. About 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit…great sunshine but you’re rarely sweating.

Sorry for the long post—I promise the rest will be shorter!

P.S.—also in the walled garden includes onions, rhubarb, pumpkin, kale, leeks, kohlrabi, and ton of other stuff I’m forgetting. And there’s almost too much cabbage…its like the worst vegetable next to raw onions. (Yes, I hate raw onions as much as Scott Conant)

First day in Ireland

Sorry, it's been a few days, but I haven't had Internet. Here's a report on my first full day on the Emerald Isle.

Day 1 consisted of mostly travel. 940pm flight from JFK, land at Shannon airport around 10am their time. Anyone with a Euro passport is simply sent through customs with a smile as long as they hold up their passport photo. Then again, all I got was a stamp and sent through. I wish U.S. customs were just as quick…well, maybe not.

Upon landing at Shannon, Mel and I took a 2-hour bus ride to Cork (Ireland’s second biggest city), had a 2 hour wait, and then another hour-long bus ride to Ballycotton. The second bus happened to have mostly uniform-dressed middle schoolers going home from school on it. Looking out the window on the bus ride, I noticed a couple things.

First—Ireland really IS the Emerald Isle. Rolling, perfectly green-grass hills covered every bit of land in between the patches that were city.

Second—I saw a lot more black people than red-heads…yes, you read that right. Those Irish stereotypes are a bit off (although the pub beer-drinking one is dead-on).

Robyn, our host, picked us up at Ballycotton and brought us to our chalet (really a cabin) at The Ballymaloe House to unpack and shower after a long day of traveling. Robyn is a New Zealand transplant who happened to come to Ireland 7 years ago and did a few months of work at the Ballymaloe Cookery School and in the Ballymaloe hotel before settling down in Ireland and marrying Darren, a son of one of the hotel’s owners. Robyn is a graphic designer (she did Ballymaloe’s website) and she also helps out in the gardens and provides salad greens/herbs to the restaurant. Darren raises pigs and hens for food and eggs and is a big kite surfer.

SO just to make sure you understand Ballymaloe is a cooking school, restaurant, hotel and farm, as well as selling food its own products/cookbooks. It’s pretty sweet.

Robyn and Darren then made us some chicken, fresh salad from the garden with arugula, mustard greens, and rocket lettuce, and lastly a potato and just-picked asparagus salad with homemade mayonnaise. Instead of eating at her house, the four of us, joined by their terrier-beagle, took a 2-minute drive to the ocean shore and ate right on the cliffs that lead into the water.

After dinner, we went to the local pub, Blackbird, for a pint of Murphy’s beer, which is brewed in Cork. Yes, the Irish like their pubs. After meeting some friends of Robyn's, we went to sleep early because of some bad jet lag.

All About Ireland

Still haven't left yet...but I figure I'll share a brief bit about Ireland that I know (which isn't much so correct me Mella if anything is incorrect). Most information is from my Dublin-born geography professor.

Contrary to popular belief Ireland is not ruled by drunk red-headed leprechauns.

Ruled by England until the 1920s after WWI. New government tries an autarky (basically no international trade)...obviously this attempt sucked and in the 1970s Ireland became a place of cheap labor for globalizing companies (similar to Mexico today minus the drug lords?). From the 1980s on, Ireland improved education and increased financial services/technology greatly, forming the "Celtic Tiger" of the 1990s, the period of unbelievable economic growth in Ireland (like China today but more honest and subtract 1 billion people).

Hence, Dublin became a technological/tourist center of Europe and has a very young population (40% under 25 years old). But the Irish still get a large amount of their food from their home country compared to other countries its size. It's now a large producer of potatoes, beef, and cheese, among other things, and it has embraced the local "Farm to table" approach quite well.

Oh and they have that thing called Guinness (apparently Ireland's #1 tourist attraction is the Guinness Storehouse).

Real famous Irish people include Daniel Day-Lewis, Colin Farrell, Liam Neeson, and some guy named Bono and his band U2 (most people reading this will not have heard of half the famous hurling, rugby, soccer players, poets, writers, artists from Ireland so I won't mention them).

No Ryan Merriman from the "Luck of the Irish" disney channel movie is not Irish, surprisingly. However, a good amount of the Harry Potter films actors are Irish.

So why am I doing this?

Still haven't left yet, but for those who wanted to know why or how I came to do this...well....

When I failed to get any full-time summer job I knew I wanted to travel and somehow found out about WWOOF. The process is just about as informal as they come, so really anyone can do it. Pay a small fee 10-20$ maybe for the list of farms, contact the farms you want to work at, and if they want you, show up. Some farms ask that you stay 2 weeks, some 1 month, some say come by to help out for whatever amount of time you want..even a few days is fine.

Some hosts are huge farms, some are small farming projects, some just a family's large garden, some are agricultural communities. There are hosts in cities, mountains, and coastal areas. I could have picked hosts with no electricity, some that were totally vegetarian, or ones that only raised cattle, but I'm glad I started off with something less remote with a wide array of opportunities.

WWOOFing a seriously cheap way to travel. Pay for a plane ticket and you get free shelter/food in exchange for some work (many ask that you help out for 5 hours a day with weekends/nights free).

So am I trying to save the world with WWOOFing? Of course not. That's for Capt Planet. But there's something about eating food you helped grow and eating food you KNOW. Besides the fact that it tastes better, there's more satisfaction in knowing where your food came from and knowing you helped it grow from seed to food.

Maybe I'm a food elitist, but canned food usually sucks. Fresh food doesn't. And when you get something local, you're supporting the local economy. Sure you're cutting back on CO2 emissions too, but honestly, when a busted oil rig is spewing out about 40,000 gallons of oil into the ocean per day (yes I looked that up), I'm not sure eating local really halts CO2 emissions by decreasing shipping of foods across the country.

I enjoy eating local, organic food for the main reason that it supports people financially and it tastes better (and it helps the environment a little). Watch the documentary Food Inc. and you'll realize why you want to buy food you know. The film only brushes the surface, but let me tell you it's a lot tastier and more comforting to buy food from smaller, local practices.

Anyways, still haven't left for Ireland. Leaving tonight.

Intro

So here's the deal. I'm going to be in Ireland the next three weeks with two friends, Mel and Emily (although we'll all be going different dates). I'll be writing about my adventures on this blog. Hopefully I'll be able to update it every day but I doubt that will happen. Enjoy.

We're doing a program called WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). (Check it out here http://www.wwoof.org) WWOOF is in countries from Sweden to South Africa to China to Uruguay and even throughout the US. Unfortunately I won't be building a dry cleaning center for homeless leprechauns on this trip. Instead I'll hopefully be doing some farming, traveling and eating fresh produce. Simply, WWOOF gave me a list of farms looking for workers and I emailed a bunch asking to work for them in exchange for food and shelter (that's how WWOOF works), and (yes I use a lot of parentheses). Anyways, some farms already had workers, others wanted us to work.

Long story short: I email one family. They say we already have wwoofers coming, but my relative needs some wwoofers on her farm. Her relative emails us asking us to come work at her farm....and sends us this link of the farm. http://www.ballymaloe.ie/

I immediately said yes. Check out that link and scroll over "accomodations" and click "gallery". You'll understand why I chose this place.

I knew nothing about The Ballymaloe House (pronounced Ballymaloo...I think) except for the website/what the woman had told me. I soon found out that my parents stayed there in the 80s or so. The hotel is also home to one of the top cooking schools/restaurants in all of Ireland and is owned by Darina Allen, famous TV chef and pioneer of the European slow food, farm to table movement. It has its own 200 acre farm and all food for the restaurant is grown on the farm or other nearby farms.

Ballymaloe is in the southeast corner of Ireland just miles off the coast and about 45 minutes from Cork...if any of you have memorized a map of Ireland. (I know most people have)

I've yet to leave for Ireland, but it should be a great time as I'll be able to travel, cook, farm, eat delicious organic/local food. I'm almost as excited as Snookie was to leave for the Jersey Shore! I'm eager to see and experience all the Emerald Isle has to offer.

Everyone please comment and enjoy the blog!

P.S.--great Irish song to get you in the mood: Ireland by Garth Brooks.

P.S.S.--famous Irishmen include Samuel L. Jackson, Freddy Prince and Mariano Rivera. (jk..)