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O’ Donnell’s Furniture Wildlflower Meadow

· June 12, 2019

O’ Donnell’s furniture have a wonderful wildflower meadow in front of their premises on the Baltimore road. This local family run business is participating in the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan by conserving certain areas of their grounds in order to save the Bees. Out of the 98 Bee Species in Ireland, one third are being threatened with extinction due the decline in pollinator numbers. This needs to change. Aodh O’ Donnell managing director explained that since they have left the meadow grow an Irish purple orchid has been found growing on the meadow along with many other species including many ox-eye daisies. Tim Cooke, employee at the firm is leading the pollinator project and it has been a real success.

It’s great to see local companies signing up to the pollinator plan and as you can see their grounds are enhanced and improved by doing less. There’s less grass to cut, more biodiversity, more bees and ultimately it’s a win win for nature and whoever has to cut the grass at O’ Donnell’s. Well done O’ Donnell furniture and we hope others will follow your lead! Sustainable Skibbereen urge you to leave areas of grass uncut to encourage wildflowers and help our pollinators. And don’t miss the picture of the amazing orchid below!

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Chapel Quay Transformed

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen

· May 28, 2019

Today we had to forego our painting as the rain came! However it did give us a chance to do some
more planting. We decided to go for some more wildflowers and chose the banks, bunks and ditches
mix from wildflowers.ie. We prepared a seed bed by removing some bindweed and grasses, leaving
some plants already growing which looked interesting. We raked it and scattered our seed mix and
are looking forward to the results. Otherwise the garden is looking fantastic and it is so nice on the
lower section to feel like you are really at the river’s edge. We sat and had coffee and croissants and
discussed future plans, including a bug hotel for the garden, our upcoming seedbomb event among
other interesting conversation.

World Bee Day is the 20 th May and it really is vital that we plant for the pollinators. The phacelia we
set at the garden is coming up really well and the bees love that. Our wildflowers will also be a big
hit with the bees. Tidy towns have installed a water butt at the garden next to the downpipe which
we will be able to use. The sticks we cleared and left for the council have still not been collected. I
think at this stage they won’t be so the plan is to move them to the boys school and incorporate
them into their dead hedge.

Wildflower mix, banks, bunds and ditches

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Chapel Quay

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen

· May 28, 2019

Wildflower mix, banks, bunds and ditches

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Seed Bomb Workshop

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen

· May 20, 2019

@ St Patricks National School, Skibbereen. Wed 22nd May 2019 7pm

From From Gardenista.com
“Seed bombs are the main weapon guerrilla gardeners can use to spread flowers in bare spots, creating pockets of beauty and habitats for pollinators. Gardening without permission is another way of describing these activities: not strictly legal but filed away by the authorities under the category of “What’s not to like.” Alex Mitchell in her book The Rurbanite shows us how to make seed bombs, using guerrilla tactics to spread cheer.

“Seed bombs are best, and the most fun, when thrown into neglected roundabouts, central reservations, flower beds, and planters,” says Mitchell.

Many guerrilla gardeners arm themselves with trowels and work nocturnally. But with seed bombs it is possible to make a difference without that considerable commitment; lob a bomb from a bicycle, a car window, or when passing on foot.

Seed bombing is best done in spring and autumn, says Alex Mitchell. Or, time your attack to coincide with heavy rainfall.

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Chapel Quay: Civilised activism

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen

· May 16, 2019

We met on the 11 th May at Chapel Quay to continue our work on the biodiversity river garden there. We are making great progress with the space and it is wonderful to see it taking shape. The phacelia flowers we sowed have germinated and our coming up nicely. These are beautiful blue flowers which the bees love. We have created two arcs in the lower section of the garden for these flowers. We added some bee friendly wildflower seeds into that area too.

The grass was cut by Bev and Rob painted the gate using our sponsored paint from fusion home interiors. Beata joined us too and helped out. She loves visiting the garden with her daughter. The hard work was rewarded with some freshly ground coffee from Colm in O’Neills coffee shop. A great café in town which we are lucky to have. We moved the picnic bench to a new spot down by the river and had our coffee along with some croissants. Some great conversation and plans for an upcoming seedbomb event were discussed. A great morning and keep an eye on our page for any meetups at Chapel Quay. We try to be there most Saturday mornings between 9 and 11 am.

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Deer Video

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen

· April 18, 2019

Beautiful baby deer by the road in Killarney National Park.

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Fusion Home Interiors – History in the Re-making

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen

· March 4, 2019

Ciaran from Fusion Home Interiors donates paint to restore and improve the railings and gates at our project at Chapel Quay. The neglected garden will be restored and become a wildlife observation area for schools, and a picnic area for visitors and families. Sustainable Skibbereen members under the guidance of wildlife expert Calvin Jones will be working on the garden over the coming months.

The restoration is also supported by the County Council who have said

…Historic Quays – Comprising of old disused stone quays along the town side of the River Ilen between the two road bridges, these quays were once the primary means to transport goods and people in and out of Skibbereen. Some of the quays are in private ownership, others are unrecognisable and some have been blocked with stone and deposits. However,what is unquestioned is the historic significance and value of the quays and therefore their protection should be considered as part of this plan. In the past, communities and public bodies turned their back on water bodies but now the tide is turning in this regard. Therefore an opportunity presents itself … by ensuring that the quays are redeveloped as part of any proposal on adjoining land…

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Wildlife Garden Bee Friendly Arc

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen

· February 18, 2019

Our intrepid volunteers get to grips with the Wildlife Garden at Chapel Quay. From a rubbish strewn wilderness it is slowly being converted into a wildlife observation area by the river for schools and picnic area for residents and visitors.

Men’s sheds meanwhile are renovating the benches and tables.

Plus phacelia for the bees will be planted in the arc shown.

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Comfrey: A Green Healer

Posted by Jacqueline Kilbryde

· January 22, 2019

Comfrey Symphytum officinale has enjoyed a long traditional use for healing damaged tissue. So much so some of its common names include Knitbone and Boneset. It is a native plant to Ireland, a member of the Borage family, and is found growing in rich damp, moist soils, especially along river banks.

The leaves and roots are used and preparations such as infused oils,salves and creams can be made for topical use to apply to cuts,bruises,swellings,burns, insect bites and stings,sprains,fractures and broken bones. I make infused oils from my comfrey plants throughout the growing season and have it ready when a salve or cream is needed.

Comfrey repairs damage to superficial and deep tissue injury by its ability to resolve inflammation effectively and due to a constituent inherent in the plant, Allantoin.This is also found in another of our native herbs, Ribwort( Plantago lanceolata) but to a lesser extent. Allantoin stimulates the proliferation of new cell growth and along with the mobilisation of white cells involved in tissue repair, a speedy resolve is effected.

Another element found in comfrey is a sticky substance called Mucilage. Mucilage rich plants (refer also to our native Marshmallow) exert a soothing effect, and a simple infusion of comfrey leaf or root can be made and applied topically as a wash to inflammed,painful skin lesions.

Internal use of comfrey has been cautioned but it continues to hold an honored place as one of our most effective healers in external use. On top of all of this Comfrey is a green manure par excellence. Every year I harvest leaves and stems from my plants and cut them up roughly.

The cut leaves are placed in deep wide containers and water added and left to macerate for about a week. The sun’s heat will hasten the breakdown of the plant material which releases an abundance of its minerals.

It makes an excellent plant food and Nettles can also be added to the mix which also contains huge amounts of minerals and iron. In the autumn the roots can be dug up and seperated and replanted to replenish stocks so that the herbalist and gardener ensure a continuous supply of comfrey plants.

Jacqueline Kilbryde Medical herbalist MNIMH MIRCMH

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Tidy Towns goes Sustainable in 2018

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen

· September 28, 2018

Congratulations on another increase in points for Skibbereen Tidy Towns in the national competition this year, rising to 7th out 39 towns in West Cork (not that it is a competition)!

Great to see so many specific mentions of the work of Sustainable Skibbereen in general and Zero Waste, Herbville, Men’s Sheds, Incredible Edible, Schools Group and Wildlife Project in particular. The report also contains great advice on how to take this forward in 2019. Onward and upwards for Skibbereen.

From the judges report

“We were particularly impressed by the number of community and voluntary groups who help you out with Incredible Edible Skibbereen, the plastic recyding project, the Herbville project, the Wildlife Project and Mens Sheds all actively engaged in your work. Your communication strategy is both comprehensive and effective with both traditional and digital communication methods used. We were delighted to read that your committee have built up a close partnership with many of the schools in the town and that schoolchildren are now involved in a range of exciting projects.

“It is also pleasing to see that additional tree planting (in partnership with the schools) is taking place and the Herbville initiative (started by the sustainable Skibbereen group and helped by Mens Shed) is applauded

“We applaud your decision to undertake a wildlife scoping study over the next three years and we note and appreciate the aims of this study.

“The range of excellent projects under way in St Patricks Boys School which include planting the herb spiral, keeping chickens, growing organic fruit and vegetables, making compost, planting native trees and hosting workshops for West Cork primary educators is applauded. The excellent work of the new Gaelscoil, Abbeystrewry National School. St Josephs National School, the Skibbereen Community School and the Sustainable Skibbereen Group is similarly impressive and we urge them to keep these high-quality projects up.

“The Incredible Edible Skibbereen initiative is wonderful and we wondered if it is possible to quantify how many locals are growing food and what impact it is having. Perhaps a survey could be undertaken of the participants to establish this? The zero waste Skibbereen group is a wonderful initiative and we encourage you to run follow-up events to monitor what it’s 90+ members are doing and the impact it is having on waste minimisation and sustainable resource use. Recording the results of all of the above actions and the other laudable initiatives set out in your application form will enable you to quantify the overall impact of all of this work and allow you to conclude more environmentally sustainable behaviour is taking place.

Full Report Here

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