A trip to the Organic Centre.

We had planned to head for the coast with our friends last Sunday but the weather had different ideas, we had had several good days  without rain so we couldn't really complain. As eventually our friends are hoping to have a smallholding and have a go at this self-sufficiency lark we decided to take a trip up to Rossinver in Co. Leitrim to show them

the 'Organic Centre'. We hadn't been there for four years and then things did not look so good,

this time however it was wonderful, including the lunch that we had there.

It was a good choice for a day out as the weather did turn wet but the centre has eight very large tunnels,

seven of them overflowing with produce, it proves how abundant a good Organic system can be.

The cabbages were so big you couldn't walk down the pathways.

There's a pond in this tunnel frogs reside there and keep the slugs a bay.

the eighth one is a lovely garden tunnel inhabited by bees and frogs. A lovely place to just sit and enjoy the flowers without getting wet.

Lovely looking toms if you like big ones.

 They grow many varieties of tomatoes,

The trusses of tomatoes were huge.

unfortunately very few had labels on them,

Yes, I sampled a couple , they were very sweet.

in fact there were very few labels on anything apart from cabbages and carrots which is a shame as labelling the plants would help people to make a decision on what varieties they would like to grow themselves.

The outside demonstration garden did have the varieties named, the flower gardens didn't.

I want this plant.

I totally fell in love with a superb Crocosmia, and I want one, but no name! Possible 'Spitfire' which is as near as I can find to it, maybe someone will know which one it is.
It is so nice to see how the centre has developed over the years, I taught poultry keeping there in the early days when teaching was done in a wooden shed and the toilet was a composting loo. Now the centre has an eco building complete with a living roof and it looks great.

No trip to Rossinver is complete without a small detour to the nearby waterfalls,

after all the rain they were at their best, although springtime is probably the best time to see them with all the wild flowers that grow along the banks and pathways. The visit was a great way to spend a rainy day.

 We returned home to a 100% home produced Sunday roast, our own chicken, carrots, French beans, new potatoes and of course homemade stuffing with all the herbs from the garden. Who needs supermarkets?

Freddy likes posing.

Finely a couple of photos of Freddy,  brother to Misty, Freddy is now a house cat, he has been grounded after we found him laying sunbathing in our lane,

he doesn't know about cars or neighbours who don't care what they kill in our lane, we have already lost one cat in this no through road, and a couple of pheasants have also met their deaths,  this  in a single track lane that goes nowhere which is why we chose the cottage in the first place. So he is grounded, but doesn't seem to mind too much.