GORSE

Chips, mustard and pints

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 09:38:56 GMT

The tent is still up in the garden and is now full of rainwater and a few soggy teddies. Despite multiple reminders to keep it zipped up, the children do not pay heed to such boring instruction when there’s far more interesting distraction. I understand, I can be guilty of not listening to myself when there’s fun to be had elsewhere. I repeat in my head…

I'd rather be outside

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:48:52 GMT

I walk barefoot out to the garden to count the orchids, another one catching my eye in the long grass and watch as the bees happily laze around in the golden hour sun. I’ve spotted meadow brown, speckled wood, green veined white, ringlet, red admiral, common blue, painted lady and tortoiseshell butterflies all in one day and wonder is it a good year for…

So what if I don't eat biscuits?

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 12:46:53 GMT

I had my dress tucked into my pants and an old toothbrush in hand scrubbing at the grouting along the tiles in the shower. I was having a Cinderella moment as I recalled that only a matter of hours earlier I was laughing with my friends by the festoon lighting in a beautiful garden, sipping a cocktail. Now I’m yawning from lack of sleep and letting the …

Holding or letting go

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 07:42:46 GMT

I watch a Hummingbird Hawkmoth hovering and darting, gorging on the dark red valerian that grows cheerfully all along the top of the lime washed wall at the Manor House. To my far right, in the bluey distance I can see Slieve Snaght the highest peak of the Inishowen peninsula in Donegal. To my left the sweep of Church Bay and Rathin’s cliffs are hiding …

Observe and Relax

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 26 May 2026 19:42:37 GMT

If I didn’t own a bakery, have three kids, 6 chickens, a dog and a mortgage and I had little financial worry then I think I’d be running a tiny winebar. Lots of ifs. I’d cook up delicious things daily based on things I’d pick from my beautiful walled garden (also not reality) things I’d collected from incredible producers nearby, (thankfully they do exi…

Rolling roles

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 19 May 2026 15:28:14 GMT

Today the relentless rain has forced me indoors and as it’s not my favourite habitat I’ve busied myself with the mundane task of cleaning the house. This is a job that I view with disdain and futility since I know that, in a few hours time, the children will be home, bags on the floor, feet wet and muddy and there will be instantaneous requests to be fe…

Blooming, breathing and busy

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 12 May 2026 06:59:35 GMT

A sudden, involuntary bump and twist of the front wheel made my heart jump. I was up on the verge having turned my head almost 180 degrees to follow a fluttery butterfly around on the gorse, feeling the intense need to identify even if I’m not looking where I’m going. A Painted Lady, worth it. Eyes back on the road.

It is hedgerow heaven now; the gorse…

Trying not to be scared

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Mon, 04 May 2026 05:01:49 GMT

It’s taken me a long time to realise that maybe I have a bit of a fear of friendship. It’s not the sensitivities, intricacies and commitment that they can demand, I can handle that easily, it’s that three very special friendships of mine have ended in heartbreak and that is a tough wound to heal.

Portmoon

The first was when my childhood best friend moved …

A bit of advice for you

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 19:10:05 GMT

It didn’t come across as overly bizarre when the man who’d come out to fix the washing machine said maybe he could try and melt the plastic back together to mend the hole. I shrugged, yea maybe. I’m used to eccentric fixes and innovations because I think in another life my dad might’ve been an inventor trademarking all sorts of strange but genius contra…

Frauds and Tight Trousers

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:59:46 GMT

A small gravel path runs steeply up the hill by a little stream which meanders down the glen off the beginnings of the Antrim plateau by Craigban. Up here the gorse covers the valley sides creating an amphitheatre of yellow and a peaceful quiet place by the old oak. Once I stared long and hard at a falcon shaped branch on an old fallen Ash willing it to…

Cold, Chilli and A Cure

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 05:16:41 GMT

I despise being cold. I know this sounds a bit off brand from someone who absolutely loves to jump in the always chilly Atlantic year-round and be outside at every opportunity and honestly I really do but I’m just voicing my annoyance. I should rephrase, I hate the unseasonal cold at this time of year, I am ready for transition. We have had warm sun bu…

Into the West

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 05:14:42 GMT

From bed I watch the Jackdaw start building a nest in the chimney of the old cottage across the road. One guards their new premises while the other collects perfectly sized sticks and sheep wool for the cosy creation that will house their precious eggs. Years ago, I remember watching the jackdaw move into a half-built house near us, they made the most o…

Free and Fair Food

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 06:10:40 GMT

On a midweek March morning, I know I can walk the Lochaber shore and not see a soul. I stand out on the rocks and watch the oyster catcher searching for food in the shallows, I count the kittiwake and fulmar as they wheel around above me and notice the little grey wagtail picking around the stones of the pebble tideline. The stillness of the rockpools r…

When flaws aren't

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 06:05:42 GMT

I felt I had more to say, to share with others, with you; maybe to help switch on an interest in nature or food, to encourage time outside and simplify making things yourself. Sometimes when the news is very intense or overwhelming I need to rant but often it can simply just be the emptying of my brain, the freeing of those thoughts that swirl around wi…

Fáilte Spring, we've been waiting for you

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 05:46:50 GMT

By now all of you who pay to subscribe here should have received the details for our get together, I can’t wait. It’s going to be such a fun day. If you’ve missed the details or recently become a paid subscriber please send me a message and I’ll forward the information.

I was outside so much this week I feel my face has been well and truly battered by …

After that we’ll rest, the little lies we tell ourselves

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 06:17:22 GMT

Most days when you walk at the top of the bay there’s a breeze blowing, drowning out the other sounds of the land, only the Raven and the sheep are loud enough to be heard. Sometimes the gales blow so fiercely that you really shouldn’t be standing up on the top of the cliff but from time to time there’s a rare day when there is not a whisper of wind and…

Riverdancing

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 06:09:20 GMT

I’m celebrating a minor triumph. Not the fact that I just got my foot stuck in the duvet and miraculously didn’t fall on my face but that tonight middle child asked for beans on toast and finding the cupboard devoid of the usual tins of baked beans I warmed some black beans instead with passata and a splash of apple balsamic and he munched it all happil…

Marmalading adventures

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 06:23:12 GMT

The kitchen smells great. I am extra happy about this because yesterday when I came through the door, I was met with a stench which I originally put down to the tractors spreading slurry in the field beside us until I realised it was worse inside the house than outside. I checked the toilets, sorry, and the kitchen drains but everything seemed fine and …

Bitter, Bright and Brigid

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 06:22:18 GMT

A dull Saturday afternoon at the end of the month was brightened by a beautiful walk at one of our favourite spots. The bay can sometimes be sheltered but, more often than not, it is exposed to the cold north winds and we need to pick up the pace to feel any warmth. There’s not much life around apart from a couple of cormorants and the buzzard circlin…

A few failures and walk with me.

Ciara Ó hArtghaile — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 06:06:28 GMT

The youngest is jumping around, highly animated, trying to explain something to me, ‘did you know that…’, she had her arms out as far as they could stretch, fingertips twitching, ‘space has no stopping?’

Just like her beautiful imagination, it has no edges. A vastness. How lovely it would be to have the innocence of possibility, that anything could happe…