Bumblebee Flower Farm Ireland

18/02/2024

Hello Spring and Hello again all. I've been quiet for the last 6 months due to ill health, and last month, my ex-husband Steve passed away suddenly. The reasons you fall in love and marry aren't the same reasons you separate, and that separation doesn't shield you from the pain of loss💔

But this is spring, and life goes on with or without you. Snowdrops and crocuses are blooming, the redwing and fieldfares have moved on, and soon, our summer visitors will be arriving.
Robins, wrens, and blackbirds are all getting ready to build their nests, and the bumblebees are emerging. There's work to be done.

20 odd years ago, Steve and I started this garden as a sanctuary for wildlife. It's now an all-consuming part of my being, and in its own way, it's a comfort.

I've also been doing a lot of research on how industrial food is produced but more importantly what our food consumed before we get to eat it. My own health was brought to its knees because of some of these processes, even though I'm pretty careful about what I eat. I did have a period when it wasn't as good as it should have been.

Because the 'icide' doses allowed in our food and recreation are small individual doses, they don't kill you, but the cumulative effects eat away at your immune system and can take years to manifest.

I will be going into more detail and explaining the correlation between our health and the health of our soils.
Healthy soil means healthy people and healthy ecosystems

As always, bee kind Mags xx 🐝🐝🐝🐞🦋🐦🌱

15/09/2023

Dahlia 'Lifestyle' one of my favourite anemone Dahlias and the butterflies and bees think so too. I love the mix of yellow orange and pink.

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

07/09/2023

Dahlia Breakout. A dinner plate dahlia. It's very similar to Café au lait in size, shape and colour but with a more lemony centre. Petals are a little softer. It's a super wedding and event Dahlia. It would need to be harvested immature for a bridal bouquet due to its size.
What's your favourite dahlia?

kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

06/09/2023

Rhizosheath and fungal hypha on rush seedling. This is from the dahlia field and a good indication of the work the microbes are doing 👌

The only thing soil is deficient in is plant dependent microbes, which is why I'm growing and applying them to the dahlia field.

A rhizosheath is directly on and around the root zone and the microbes are building a castle wall to protect it from pests and disease in return for the food the plant gives to the microbes in the form of exudates. A perfect symbiosis. 🥰

Soil, no matter how degraded, has every nutrient in it, but it needs the right microbes to go and get them. They're the mobile part of the partnership. Then, you need the predators to consume them to have plant available nutrients.

It's that simple... but we love complicating things and have been fooled into believing we need to be adding everything to get plants to grow.
All we need are the microbes to have a truly self-sustaining environment.

Plant food creates unhealthy plants that have too many soluble nutrients in their cells, more than the plant can utilise. The excess is what attracts and feeds pests and diseases. They also interfere with soil structure building, the ability to capture and store carbon and water.

We're continuing to create the conditions that favour the very things we say we don't want. We need to decide what we really want and either accept we'll always have problems or change our mindset and really regenerate and end the merry-go-round we're on.

We cover this on our introductory course this Saturday. There's a link in our bio to book 😊

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

31/08/2023

Compost moving day yesterday, and look what I found 😀 you might need to zoom in to see the tiny yellow miniature lemon shape. That's a tiger worm cocoon no less. The worms have been active already and delighted to say I found reproduction going on as well as lots of juveniles and plenty of cocoons. These cocoons hold about 20 babies, but only 3 or 4 will emerge. It takes about 30ish days so you can see how a population explosion can happen in about 3 to 4 months. I found about 150 adult worms and the same goes for juveniles so I'm happy out 😀

The Compost has moved to it maturation site, and depending on how fast the fungi grows (its really good already) I'll use some in October but save some to allow it to mature more and apply in early spring on the dahlia field to build the structure needed to cope with our incessant rain. It will also increase water holding capacity if we have a dry summer next year.

If you'd like to know more about this process, then why not join us 9/09/23
Early bird booking ends tomorrow 😀
Link in bio to book

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

27/08/2023

When learning is fun! An incredible afternoon spent in the company of and a masterclass in smoking wild fish by none other than the living legend Sally Barnes. The knowledge and talent of this lady is beyond words, and I'm privileged to call her my friend. It was so wonderful to catch up with so many people I haven't seen since the pandemic. I hope it won't be as long again ❤️

25/08/2023

Made my day seeing our only Irish lizard basking in the sun. I know I have the right habitat but I've never seen one before. He/she watched me watching them😂
It could be female as the belly was quite large and no orange underbelly, from what I could see. I didn't want to pick it up for a closer look because if it was female, I could have caused her stress and compromise her pregnancy. Fun fact they are one of the few amphibians to give birth to live young.
Maybe could shed some light 🙏

Diversity, diversity, diversity 🙌🙌🙌

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

22/08/2023

Fun fact..all mushrooms are fungi but not all fungi make mushrooms 🍄
I wanted this pile to be fungal dominated! There are at least 4 species in it already and it's only day 12😀 can't wait to put a sample under the microscope!!

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱🐞🦋🐦🐝🐝🐝

21/08/2023

It's working up to a beautiful harvest this morning 🌄 Excited to create bouquets with this lot 😀

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱🐞🦋🐦🐝🐝🐝

17/08/2023

Pile built and other pile has met temperature 🙌 it needs to maintain 55c for 3 days to ensure all parts of yhe pile have been through the hot middle. This is to make sure all seeds, pathogens, humans, and plant are dealt with.
The process usually takes about 3 weeks. I want to grow fungi, so I'll be leaving this pile to mature for a few months 💪

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

13/08/2023

The not so pretty side but the most rewarding! Growing biology in a compost medium.
So far, the tweeks in the recipe are working. Today is day 3, and I've just done the first turn. It has 24 hours to come back up to temperature 🙏 so Wednesday or Thursday for the second turn.

Biological thermophilic compost soil health and application methods workshop
Is here on the farm 24th and 25th September. If you'd like to know how to grow the biology your soil needs then give me a call 086 0823318 email [email protected] to book.



kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

09/08/2023

Gathering materials for my next go at fish hydrolysate. I didn't have enough High N to get the 3 heating phases completed, so I've increased the fish this time. I'm also using some of the last pile as part of my browns. It's going to be pretty incredible this time as the life in the last one is really good already, but it wouldn't have dealt with seeds and the possibility of human pathogens so we're off again tomorrow.
It's really an art as much as a science growing biology in a compost. This is what we will be teaching here on 23/ 24th September. We'll go through materials construction and turning.
Email [email protected] or give me a call to book 086 0823318
We have an introductory offer or €350 if booed before 27th August 😀



Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

08/08/2023

A little more info on courses here and at Ballymakenny Farm Spudshack . Please share if you think you know people who could benefit from this 🙏

07/08/2023

July 24th 2021 a w**dy mess. Lots of beautiful, generous people came to the farm to help get this under control, for which I'll be eternally grateful for ❤️

Weeds are nature's first responders trying to heal and cover bare ground. Each of them tells their own story about what's ailing your soil. We need to pay more heed to them and start understanding what's really happening. These early successional plants will always appear in bacterial dominated soil' which this was back then. The poor soil was moved, mixed, which ended up slicing and dicing the poor fungi and wiping out all the predators needed for a functioning living soil 😢
2 years later most of the beds don't have 'w**d' pressure anymore because fungi are now in the system along with the necessary predators for nutrient cycling.

I have never put any food on this area of the farm and haven't used any anywhere else since then. I only add organic matter in compost and extract, and I don't rotate either. This is the third year with Dahlias here, and the dahlia tunnel is in its 5th year.
This can be done but you have to have a functioning soil ecosystem with all the trophic levels present.
These are the things I will be talking about and teaching how to get the best from your soil.

It's not perfect yet, but it's getting closer 🙌
My pollinators and resident birds, rabbits, hedgehogs, and whatever ever else lives here adore, it too🐝🐦🦋🐞🌱

It's a work in progress and living testament to working with Mother Nature and replicating how she works 💪

I'm 1 person and I do all this myself...Well I do have trillions of microbes that do the real heavy lifting and I take the credit 😂

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

06/08/2023

Our 3 offerings to suit all levels (sorry about missing text at the top. My skills in that dept...)
Because regenerative agriculture is working with principles and adapting them to your own unique situation, it's not easy to set regulations and so it should be.

That's part of the thinking that got us into this mess in the first place.

We will also have 2 workshops specifically for flowers, but I'll go into details tomorrow.

I took advantage of the beautiful day today and now il only fit for bed...couldn't string a sentence together 😂

Enjoy what's left of this glorious evening 😀

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

05/08/2023

I was dreading going out this morning after the sleepless night of wind and rain 🌧 its a miracle that there wasn't more damage 🙏
A few leaning dahlia plants, but that's about it. I did cut most of the open heads and removed any dinner plates just in case, and it seems to have done the trick.

I haven't put up any supports this year, relying on biology to keep them strong, but that wind was something else!!!.

I should have taken a photo before I deadheaded, but I was a bit preoccupied 😂
If it's calm tomorrow, I'll do a live update on the trials and let you know about upcoming workshops

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱🐞🦋🐦🐝🐝🐝

04/08/2023

As we draw nearer to our final wedding flower creating it was so wonderful to meet Cathy and Phil today while collecting their flowers for their special day tomorrow.
When Cathy booked last year, she told me she was more excited about the flowers than she was about her dress. No pressure!!😳

It was an honour for me to have free reign and just go with what I felt would be perfect.
Sweet peas were the only request but sadly the wind we've had in this part of West Cork meant they were not to be😢 perennial peas are beautiful but no scent so mint, scented geraniums and garden roses had to provide this.

When you grow naturally, it's not always possible to guarantee a particular flower, but beauty isn't lacking. When we embrace true seasonality and protect wildlife and ourselves, then it's worth being flexible.

Our flowers represent a livable future, and we don't think that's worth trading...

Cathy loved her flowers 💐 which made me happy, and my pollinators love what I do here and what I stand for 🙌

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

02/08/2023

lovely animation for soil health in agriculture

Why Soil Matters - and how to improve it is a short animation on why good healthy soil is important to all of us and how as a livestock or arable farmer you ...

27/07/2023

Nitrogen fixation is a complex system and so much more than plant clovers and job done. This is alfalfa, and we're told it won't grow without being inoculated with the correct rizobium bacteria. Just as well my alfalfa can't read😂 cos it's fixing nitrogen. That's what has started in those little growths. I want to trial the alfalfa as a source of high nitrogen for thermophilic compost amendments. As it's only starting, I'll have to wait a few weeks before the bacteria will give some to my plants.
Every day's a school day 🙌

My pollinators are well impressed with it, it's a hive of activity from sun up to sundown, it's glorious in wedding bouquets, and it's edible. Has a fantastic long taproot great for breaking up compaction. I think it's one of my favourite workhorse plants

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

21/07/2023

Our last wedding flower delivery ever!!! It was a bitter, sweet day for me and quite emotional. Today I delivered my final wedding flowers to Aoife and Patrick, but I couldn't have had a lovelier couple to end what has been an incredible journey and experience. I'm blessed to have had the opportunity to create magic for so many beautiful people over the last 13 years growing myself and over 25 years as a professional florist.

We have a few more weddings that are collections before we close that door permanently. I think I'll be very emotional then because it was a huge part of my professional life for so many years.

Life and work are ever evolving, full of endings and new beginnings, and so it should be. Nothing is fixed, and to grow, we need to continue to evolve to be able to create and recreate.

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

17/07/2023

This is a very proud moment for me 😀 I'm now qualified to perform biological soil assessments.
Imposter syndrome crept in for a while, and I took way too long between exams but got there in the end.
So, I am looking forward to furthering my knowledge and hopefully give you a better understanding of the essential workers in our soils that provide everything we need to not only survive but thrive !!

Without them, there will be no us!

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

13/07/2023

Cage off and first turn on the way. I'm grateful it's dry🙏

11/07/2023

Colour explosion this week thanks to hydrangeas, gladioli and Dahlias!

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

10/07/2023

Trialling fish hydrolysate as a high nitrogen source, which I hope will also give me a more fungal dominated compost.

It's just liquidised fish and water. I'm not fermenting it because I want all the resources intact.

The pile went to 65c in 24 hours, so if it holds that, I'll be turning again on Wednesday evening. Hope it stays dry for a few hours while I do🙏

This pile is for tunnel 7, the one that hasn't any irrigation. After a full microscopy analysis today, it still needs way more fungi and nematodes to become self-sufficient. A work in progress

If this works, I'll roll it out to all the other tunnels and save a fortune on electricity running the irrigation 😀 and have happier, healthier plants and biology!
Win win 🏆

Bee kind
Mags xx 🐦🦋🐞🌱🐝🐝🐝

25/06/2023

DON'T BE THROWING AWAY THE GOOD STUFF! This is the incredible root ball of a juvenile native grass plant already being colonised by ectomycorrhizal fungi. I'm trialling propagating my own local species to inoculate the dahlia field.

From the soil structure and aggregates I'd say there's other species in there, too🙌

This is in the 'w**d' class but when you work in a whole system, then you start to realise it's true value.

I've potted up a few different species that are colonised and I'll grow them on over the summer and see if next spring their roots will provide spores.

The Rhodale institute has very good instructions for growing a large innoculum but the grass they recommend is an invasive species here so I'm trying a different angle.

Nothing ventured. Nothing gained😀🙏

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

10/06/2023

Hello Melody Dora! Not getting ahead of myself 😂 there's always a dahlia that sends up a flower long before they're ready for harvesting. That said we're on track for mid, end of July this year 😀

Summer vibes ✨️

Dahlia season is on its way

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

07/06/2023

Twice in a blue moon! The most beautiful and deliciously scented rose in our mixes this week. I adore her💕 the soft lilac pairs so well with the campanula, don't you agree 😘

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱🐞🦋🐦🐝🐝🐝

31/05/2023

Pastel feel to this week's bouquets. I think it's fitting for the weather. What do you think?
These are off to just in time for the bank holiday weekend

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

28/05/2023

The anxious wait is over! Dahlias are above ground and looking good 🙏 Each of the beds have a different trial going on.

I'm so excited to see the developments and to be able to show and share what a living soil can support.

It's been a busy few months growing the organisms and introducing the inoculations, seeing how they're taking up residence under the microscope 🔬



It's hard to believe this field was w**d infested and full of struggling Dahlias 2 years ago. The power of working with nature still amazes me😀

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝

09/05/2023

Rose season is upon us! The delicious scents will get dopamine and serotonin flowing 😋 this beauty is titanic. A stunning creamy white that opens out fully allowing pollinators access to her nectar. The scent changes as she matures too. An added bonus.

Bee kind
Mags xx 🌱 🐞 🦋 🐦 🐝 🐝🐝