Welcome to a week in the country

The (controversial) number in tonnes of snails that it is claimed can be produced off one acre. See Sluggish returns for farmers

Just an Echo by Harry Leahy

One wild wave crashed out on the rocks

in a distant ocean far away,

I heard its roar but the fruit it bore

was no more than just a salty spray,

then I saw them gulls that wheeled above

as sunlight glanced off their supple wings

with a trick so slight as to steal the sun’s light,

same chance that we catch them wild west winds.

From a field of toil long left behind

that had tasted the sweat of our work and play

came a gentle summer breeze to steal

the fragrance of flowers and the new felled hay,

then that sweet one called my name again

and I heard it more than once or twice,

that call from the sweetest soul of them all

was alas just an echo of our mother’s voice.

I understand the allure of a slow cooker- really, I do. I would love to just be able to throw things into a pot and have dinner ready eight hours later! But I must confess: I don’t own a slow cooker, and I’m not sure I ever will. The thing is, I cringe every time I see a video for a slow cooker recipe and someone throws in raw onions. I would need to fry or saute the onions before adding them into a slow cooker, which would defeat the purpose of owning a slow cooker. If I’m going to fry the onions, chances are I’ll also want to sear off the meat. Then, I’ll already have a pot with fried onions and seared meat - I might as well keep on going and build on that flavour! (Stay tuned for my next topic: why I never use an air fryer.)

"People can’t take any challenge either and there’s no resilience. Life has a lot of hard knocks and you must have the resilience and the capacity in yourself to be able to take on as many hard knocks as you can." Mary Coughlan

Letters drawn in the sand on Salthill strand in honour of the late trad musician, Séamus Begley.

I understand the allure of a slow cooker- really, I do. I would love to just be able to throw things into a pot and have dinner ready eight hours later! But I must confess: I don’t own a slow cooker, and I’m not sure I ever will. The thing is, I cringe every time I see a video for a slow cooker recipe and someone throws in raw onions. I would need to fry or saute the onions before adding them into a slow cooker, which would defeat the purpose of owning a slow cooker. If I’m going to fry the onions, chances are I’ll also want to sear off the meat. Then, I’ll already have a pot with fried onions and seared meat - I might as well keep on going and build on that flavour! (Stay tuned for my next topic: why I never use an air fryer.)

with Dr Catherine Keena, Teagasc countryside management specialist

Look out for mosses, which are tiny plants growing in clumps that produce spores instead of flowers and seeds. Mosses act like sponges, soaking up and holding on to water. Sphagnum moss is the bog building moss that has created peatlands, but other mosses grow on walls, banks and other damp places. Ireland is rich in mosses because of its mild wet climate and relatively unpolluted atmosphere with 533 species, of which 40 are on the Flora Protection Order 2022, because they are rare. Half of all European moss species are found here. Mosses are a different group of flora which are part of our native Irish biodiversity.