It’s deep winter in Ireland and the countryside is covered with a blanket of snow. In the winter months freezing weather isn’t uncommon in Ireland but it is usually accompanied with dry weather and clear skies and disruption is therefore usually minimal. Cold weather with snow and ice however is a relatively rare phenomenon in Ireland and may occur for brief spells only once or twice a year in the low lying parts of the country, if at all.
I’ve had a nice winter break visiting family and friends and have had time reflecting on the year gone by and intentions for the year to come. So it’s time to get busy again!
Hawthorn Wine
Besides general everyday cleaning and tidying I had a job hanging over from last year – straining out the batch of Hawthorn wine I set brewing last year. I don’t brew much these days except for the obligatory bit of cider each autumn and I am very familiar with that process. Processes that I am unfamiliar with however I can tend to leave to one side until I have time for the “unknown unknowns” that are inevitably going to crop up, and take an unknown amount of time to deal with. Also, I was a little apprehensive about opening the fermenting bin as I had left it much longer that the two weeks recommended.
Being snowed-in in an off-grid mountain cabin with very little electrical power however I was suitably available for such tasks!
I was happy to find on opening up the brew that all was well inside. It looked good and smelled very good. My straining system was pretty primitive however and I definitely lost a volume of product in the wine-soaked fruit that I was removing. I still ended up with around seventeen litres of wine however.
The Magic Hawthorn Tree
It’s the first year that I’ve really put the fruit to use from the hawthorn tree growing right outside my door. I’ve previously used it for flavouring water kefir, but the abundance of fruit on the tree year after year was calling out for something more. The haws on this tree are extremely big, as it is a cultivated variety.
Grafting the Magic Hawthorn Tree
A few years ago my neighbour said that he always wanted one for his garden and so gave me the idea to graft it onto wild hawthorn, as the seed itself is not viable. Now he has one in his garden and there are many more in my customer forest gardens and orchards around County Cork. I haven’t done any grafts with this one in a few years as I still have some in the nursery, but maybe its time to do some again this spring as it is proving so valuable.
Which exact variety it is is now unknown, but Martin Crawford at the Agroforestry Research Trust in England is very enthusiastic about them and has a number of varieties with large edible fruit available. Here is a link to a Ukranian variety that they stock: https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/product/haw-crataegus-ludmil/
DIY Snow Crampons
My home garden is on a relatively steep slope and can be slippy even in just wet weather. Add a layer of snow and ice to that and something beyond regular boots are called for. Behold the DIY sheep-wire snow crampon! I am really happy with how these worked out and on the first attempt, with materials readily available at any permaculture demonstration site : )
Snow Crampons Materials
- Old sheep fencing
- Some thin wire
- Bike tube inners
Tools for DIY snow crampons
- Pliers
- Scissors
I hate to interfere with the creative process too much therefore I will just leave you with some images of my crampons and leave the rest to your imagination : )
Off-grid solar system during the winter in Ireland
Due to shorter days, lower light levels due to the low incident angle of sunshine, and cloudy, overcast weather, there is much less solar power available during the winter months in Ireland than other times of the year. Therefore solar generated power is in very short supply at my off-grid permaculture cabin. If you add a layer of snow to the solar panels that incoming power reduces to zero!
One of my first tasks today was brushing off the layer of snow on my solar panels. There was no point in doing it yesterday really until it had stopped snowing. Even with power generation restored I came to the office in the village today while I could, as I really don’t want to run down the home off-grid system at this time of year.
The equipment for this system was all bought from Bimble Solar in Brighton, before Brexit!
Here is a link to Bimble: https://www.bimblesolar.com/
I had a nice view of the snow-covered landscape while I was up there so took a few photos.
Here’s a link to more details about what I get up to in the garden at the off-grid permaculture demo site: https://permaculturedesign.ie/about-paul/
