Natural Cosmetics, and Summer Camp

My soapmaking course participants prevailed upon me to teach a Natural Cosmetics course, so I'm planning to run it as an evening course, on June 14th.


It will be at Mullingar Educate Together from 7:00pm to 10:00pm
Cost is €35.

Participants will learn how to make Bath bombs and other bath products, Massage oils, Body creams, Exfoliants, and will make origami boxes to package them in. All materials will be provided, including a wide variety of essentials oils to scent the products. You will go home with clear recipes so you can make them on your own, or with your friends and family.


I'm also getting ready for a Science and Nature Summer camp for 7-12 year olds - at the same location. Working on some interesting projects - getting inspiration from this site - the school gym would be an excellent location for walkalong glider flying, and learning about what keeps airplanes in the air....

To book either, email annambrowne@gmail.com or phone me - 087 2222562

Mullingar Summer Camp

Once again, I'm planning a summer camp - at Mullingar Educate Togethr NS. We'll be making the most of the organic garden that was a part of the school's 2011 Pride of Place award - it's their third win, and their second in this location.

Summer Camps are funny things. Sure, they occupy the children during the
long school holidays (and get them in out of the Irish Summer weather!). But
they generally fall into two categories - Sport or the Arts. Once again I'm bucking this trend to teach students about Science through Nature.

Readers of this blog know that I have been been gardening ʻforeverʼ. I hope to share some of my enthusiasm for nature and the outdoors in this camp.


On top of my BSc, I have just finished a Post Graduate Diploma in Education in Maynooth, so I'll be putting some of what I've learned into action.


ʻCurious Kids – Science & Nature Summer Campʼ is 5 days of fun activities for
7-12 year olds. It runs fro July 25th to July 29th.

Using the school garden and common household ingredients, students will explore Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Participants will harvest,
cook and eat fresh produce from the garden. They will plant and save seeds,
and make seed bombs. Like all good scientists, they will keep a record –last
years participants still refer to the diary where they documented their experiences and observations.


The cost is €70 per child; if you have more than one child attending there are discounts available. For bookings/more information, contact Anna on (087) 2222562 or send an email to annambrowne@gmail.com.

A taste of Westmeath - calling all locavores!

A busy weekend ahead for me, with my soapmaking course on Saturday, and 'A Taste of Westmeath' in the Park hotel on Sunday.

Doors open at 12:00, the usual purveyors of fine food - including my brother Joe's Organic Beef and Pork.

There will be cookery demonstrations from Fergal O'Donnell from the Fatted Calf and Gary O'Hanlon of Viewmount House - I'm looking forward to seeing these guys in action. Looking at the menus in both restaurants is making me think about some trips further afield for fine dining in the near future, now that my studying is done.


There will be lots of free samples, and wine tasting (probably not local, though) - I'm hoping to munch my way around all the stands.

€3 is the admission charge - kids are free. See you there!

Return to the blog

Hi -

I've been away from this blog for ages - and my 3 gardens are suffering from similar neglect! My college course is almost over, and I'm looking forward to getting blogging again - and to getting my hands really dirty over the next few weeks getting the garden in order.


Apologies if you posted comments and I didn't publish or reply - it was a hectic time (though very enjoyable) and I hope that any courses I run will ebenfit form all that I learned about being a teacher.

Speaking of dirty hands (and teaching) , I'm also planning a soapmaking course for next weekend - if there's enough interest.

As always, it will take place in Mullingar Educate Together NS, next Saturday May 28th.

Time - 10:00am to 3:00pm. Cost €60.

Participants will learn how to make soap from scratch, in a safe and playful environment - and will go home with recipes, and soap that they made, coloured, and scented themselves. Essential oils, colourants and organic additives - like calundula petals, poppy seeds, cosmetic clays will be provided.

If you're interested, please let me know asap. If you'd like to learn to make soap, and this time doesn't suit, let me know that you're interested and if you'd prefer an evening course or a Sunday - or a different Saturday.

Contact me - at annambrowne@gmail.com, 0872222562

If you have any friends you think might be interested, please let them know too!

Little Gull in centre of group, another to the right on 'final approach'. Blue cast due to photo being taken from a distance, through a window, on an iPhone, and before I had my coffee this morning. Probably mostly the coffee thing. 5 kids here, enjoying what is hopefully the last of their 'snow days' at the expense of my hearing, so retouching will have to wait!

You know times are hard...

... when you start seeing sea-birds in the back garden, this far from the coast. We're right in the middle of the country, and we have some unusual visitors fighting off the Starlings and (less successfully) Rooks. My 'Collins Complete Irish Wildlife' - a good one for Christmas! - identifies them as 'Little Gulls'. According to the guide, they are the World's smallest gulls, and they don't even nest in Ireland. So I can only assume the poor little perishers have been as discombobulated by the weather as the rest of us, keep the grub coming, and hope they find their own way home when things settle a bit. Not easy to get a decent photo as they spook easily, but if I get something useable I'll post it.

Somewhere else

So you have not heard much from me lately - I'm getting to do a bit of harvesting, but not much else. Eating lots of pumpkins. :-)

I'm settled into my Post Graduate Diploma in Education at NUI Maynooth - and enjoying 2 days a week teaching practice in Castlepollard .

Collaborating with a fellow student, we are having an online conversation about the cource, not too much about vegetables or food, but come check us out, and leave us a comment.

See you back here in the Spring, I hope.

2010 successes - home garden

Well, 2010 is not over yet, but we're transitioning into the colder autumnal darkness. Worth marking what were the successes and failures in the summer garden this year.


Upside down tomatoes - not prolific, but no blight. They are starting to ripen now. Yummy!
Courgettes doing great. Onions and shallots were fab - all harvested, dried and stored.
Some potatoes that self seeded produced a huge crop in a raised bed, and the spuds in pots yielded reasonably.
Garlic got rust, but it seems to be fine - lots stored, and lots saved for planting more in a month or so - will plant loads of hard neck garlic.

Sunflowers in a pot are great - just about to bloom. The cherries ripened, and were very small and tasty in September. No Damsoms. No pears - a few apples on one of the trees.

Lettuces did great in window boxes until July.
Beetroot didn't do so well. Carrots were a dead loss. Sunflowers in the front bed were decimated by slugs when they were several feet tall. Also wasps were harvesting cellulose from other sunflowers and weakened the stem, so the wind blew them over.

We saw lots of butterflies, bees and other bugs in the garden - which was great, the long hard winter would have decimated them. We will leave our teasel to provide homes for them again this year.

The tall beans are getting decimated by the wind - as always - but some nice borlottis growing there.

I have planted a lot of daikon and corn salad for the winter - and the leeks seem to be doing well. Have planted spinach also, it has germinated and is thriving in seed trays.

The home garden was neglected a little in favour of the allotment, and I have left a lot of leeks to go to see to save seed - they have now occupied the same area for > 12 months, so a good weeding is in order. The seeds don't seem to be turning into the small black seeds that I would expect - anyone know anything about saving leek seeds?

Rhubarb and Strawberry crumble

 

This is not a timely recipe at all, but I came across this photo and wanted to share it with you. At the start of June, we had plenty of lovely tender rhubarb at the school garden. So we made a strawberry and rhubarb crumble. It was truly delcious - they are such a great combination.

I've had an item to make rhubarb and strawberry cordial on the to-do list since then, but I think that will have to wait until next June. Something to look forward to after my exams!

Rhubarb and Ginger Chutney

Rhubarb has such a unique flavour, and there's only so much crumble you can make. I like to freeze rhubarb when it's plentiful - I just wash and dry it, cut it up and bag it - and come back to it when there's time.

Last week was my first week in college since 1984 - I'm back studying to become a maths teacher. I was more exhausted each day, and had no kitchen time at all - thankfully my supportive husband took care of feeding me (and the rest of the family) very well all week. But after a great sleep, I wanted to feel like myself again.

So I spent a little time in the garden, filling up a recently renovated raised bed with compost. It will settle in readiness for the spinach I planted in trays last week, and for the hard-necked garlic I saved.

I felt a bit more like myself after then, but some kitchen time was in order too. So I made some Rhubarb and Ginger chutney - and here's the recipe. Tastes pretty good - but with chutney you have to wait a bit - hopefully it will taste even better!

Rhubarb and Ginger chutney

1.5 kg rhubarb
2 large onions - chopped up
300ml white wine vinegar
350g white sugar
100g brown sugar
2 large thumbs fresh ginger - chopped up
1 teasp ginger powder
5 chunks crystallised ginger
100g sultanas
1 teasp salt


I simmered all the ingredients for an hour or so, and when everything was soft, and the bubbles were lava like, I potted it up into sterilised jars. If you try making it, let me know how you get on!