After 25 years developing and enjoying ‘Trevor’s Kitchen Garden’ surprising myself how much one can grow in a small space, the time has come to move on. The chance to buy a house on 3 acres has come up in Tacumshin, County Wexford between the birdwatching ‘Mecca’ of Tacumshin Lake and Lady’s Island Lake. The puffin paradise of the Saltee Islands is visible from the house as are the wind turbines of Carnsore Point. The 3 acres has some hedgerow and trees planted but the rest was rough grazing, with no chemical inputs for years, if ever.
The challenge for Áine and myself is to transform this ‘blank canvas’ into a diverse organic horticultural holding. There are already some old apple, pear, plum and quince trees planted so we are not starting from the beginning entirely.
To buy this house and smallholding in Tacumshin means unfortunately selling the original ‘Trevor’s Kitchen Garden’ to pay the bills. Anyone interested in buying a handy house, close to train, bus, schools, library, shops etc .? You can be fed from the uniquely certified organic garden and heated by a wood stove and solar panels, topped up in winter by natural gas heating?
Meanwhile, one of the two greenhouses in the garden is coming to Tacumshin. Next week I’ll blog about the challenges of dismantling the glass and metal frame and erecting the Fingal Greens’ famous greenhouse nearby. With protected cropping, even on a small scale, we should have fresh oriental greens and salads for our first winter in the ‘sunny south-east’.
Trevor is co-founder and was, until his appointment to Government, a board member of Sonairte, the Irish National Ecology Centre, near Julianstown, County Meath which is an Agricultural Training and Visitor centre with a 2.2 acre walled organic garden. He is also a member of Amnesty International, the Dublin Food Co-op, the Irish Organic Farmers’ and Growers’ Association, Organic Trust and a former member of Macra na Feirme. A former teacher and fluent Irish speaker, he relaxes by reading, walking and playing music. His favourite form of relaxation is tending to his prolific organic garden at home in Balbriggan, North County Dublin, an area known by many as Fingal.
Source: Trevor’s Kitchen Garden – New ‘Trevor & Áine’s Kitchen Garden’ on 3 Acres – Trevor Sargent
