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“So much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to” ;2012 has been just lovely. We have enjoyed good health and a wealth of homegrown food which we happily shared with family and friends throughout the year. That in itself would have been more than enough for me. But thanks to my humble blog, 2012 also bestowed some great opportunities and accolades upon me. The year started with a visit from RTECountrywide’s Damien O’Reilly and when he aired his piece on Hunters Lodge on his Saturday morning show, I thought my website would dissolve such were the hits it received – and that set the tone for an amazing year… …

“So much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to” ;2012 has been just lovely. We have enjoyed good health and a wealth of homegrown food which we happily shared with family and friends throughout the year. That in itself would have been more than enough for me. But thanks to my humble blog, 2012 also bestowed some great opportunities and accolades upon me. The year started with a visit from RTECountrywide’s Damien O’Reilly and when he aired his piece on Hunters Lodge on his Saturday morning show, I thought my website would dissolve such were the hits it received – and that set the tone for an amazing …

The plan was to record a piece about keeping chickens when the Ear To The Ground crew arrived here in late summer. But this very quickly turned into a feature on living the Good Life when the programme director, Paula Williams took a stroll through the garden. ;Never mind chickens, eggs, pigs and bees, I think the thing that impressed Paula most was the size of our onions! ;I’ve great hopes that she will harvest a crop like this herself next year.After a night of relentless rain I feared that the only filming that would take place would be at the kitchen table. ;I was worrying unnecessarily – by 9am the skies had …

Ellie celebrated her 15th birthday recently, and let me tell you that Ellie really likes her birthday cake. She’s a great little cake baker herself so no pressure for me then! Last year she was mightily impressed with the Avoca chocolate cake I made for her. It was truly the chocolate cake of all chocolate cakes. ;So how do you top that? I contemplated making Babaduck’s Rainbow Cake but time was against me so I came up with a genius plan..Recently my cousin Orla Henry launched A Cuppa Cake, a home bakery specializing in hand-crafted cupcakes. The timing was perfect – an ideal opportunity …

“You have the life we aspire to”. Nowadays I hear that more and more from people who want to get back to basics, grow their own food and in some small way, get closer to nature. And they can. ;It won’t happen overnight, but taking one step at a time, there’s no reason why they can’t grow some of their own food in 2013.Now is actually a good time to think about growing some food next year. Over the Christmas holidays start thinking about what you might like to grow in 2013. How much space do you have? How much time have you got to spare? And most importantly, what do you like to eat? Herbs on your windowsill, potato bags, soft fruit bushes …

The forecast was for cold winds and blustery showers, and that’s exactly what we got for our Irish Country Magazine photoshoot today. It’s December. It really is to be expected isn’t it? And it could have been worse – imagine trying to do a photoshoot for next Spring with four inches of snow on the ground! So we got a little wet, but we have some great shots to show for it.My three girls were up bright and early this morning to help me get my props ready and then we set off for Old McDonalds Farm & Feed Store in Carlow. The proprietor, Leo Connolly, very kindly allowed us …

Twas the night before Christmas and I baked the ham. ;And glazed it with honey produced in the garden..It’s early Christmas morning and the smell of turkey roasting in the oven is beginning to fill the house. ;The sleepy children of Hunters Lodge are beginning to stir, so it’s time to see if Santa visited last night.Food and family – I couldn’t be happier.Happy Christmas xx

“So much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to” ;2012 has been just lovely. We have enjoyed good health and a wealth of homegrown food which we happily shared with family and friends throughout the year. That in itself would have been more than enough for me. But thanks to my humble blog, 2012 also bestowed some great opportunities and accolades upon me. The year started with a visit from RTECountrywide’s Damien O’Reilly and when he aired his piece on Hunters Lodge on his Saturday morning show, I thought my website would dissolve such were the hits it received – and …