Year: 2026

A couple of weeks ago I was delighted to join up with IRD Duhallow Social Farming in Newmarket in North Cork to give a demonstration and talk on natural orchard care. On the 24th of March I was joined at the IRD Duhallow social farming headquarters beside the James O’Keefe Instutute in Newmarket by about a dozen local apple tree enthusiasts from around the Newmarket area. Participants including farmers, retired farmers and gardeners all keen to get answers and ideas for how to best look after their precious apple trees. We were joined by Ellie O’ Donovan and the IRD Duhallow social farming team who organised and facilitated the event. The workshop took place in the IRD DUhallow social farming orchard and in one of the spacious polytunnels on site, which are conveniently located beside each other on the James O’ Keefe Institute Demesne. Why do we prune fruit trees? Continue Permaculture Story

In October 2024 I did my first interview with Cormac Harkin on the Permaculture Vine Podcast. Its all about my permaculture journey including my life and work story, professional insights, business challenges and how politics and permaculture relate to each other. Permaculture Vine Podacast Interview Cormac and I go through alot of topics in a short time. This is Cormac’s video description in youtube: Paul has combined his interests in nature and design to offer a permaculture design, drone mapping, and orchard care service from his home in Ireland since 2016. With a formal educational and professional background in engineering and design, he brings these skills into his design service. His home also functions as a testing ground for various permaculture methods and ideas, including vegetable growing, rainwater harvesting, stream water abstraction and filtration, drone mapping, fruit tree grafting for nursery establishment, grafting to mature trees, plant propagation from cuttings, Continue Permaculture Story

There is always something that can be done in permaculture, and it has been tempting to just make use of the good dry weather to get ahead with all the winter jobs calling out for attention. There is a risk of never taking a break to reflect – especially if your work involves orchard care it can be tempting to just drive on if dry weather presents itself! I’ve come to respect the deep winter natural pausing time however and I’m happy that the holiday time in mainstream society still largely reflects this. I find that even a couple of days spent looking back over the year and meditating on what I’d like to manifest in my world is very worthwhile.   On the professional front I remember wishing to take a bigger step into my teaching vocation this year, which really manifested in ways that I could not expect Continue Permaculture Story