Welcome to a week in the country

Sisters Jane and Grace Amond in the field of wildflowers sown by their Grandad and Granny, Peter and Margaret Minchin, on their farm in Coolnacuppogue, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow. They love going out to see how high the sunflowers have grown and admire all the butterflies and bees that are attracted to the flowers / Sinead Amond

Hi Janine,

Regarding Dee Laffen’s article, Unwrapping the truth.

I just wanted to put forward the main concern I have regarding packaging when shopping for fruit and veg.

Cleanliness! I will not place any items “naked” in a basket, on a conveyor belt or counter top due to my belief that they are all very unclean to say the least. How many times a day are they cleaned? I would presume they are never cleaned or perhaps only in order to wipe off a spillage.

So even if the items are loose, I will put them in a clean bag provided by the shop; if close/available I will use a paper bread bag. So it is not just a case that the industry has to change the way they provide their goods and all will be well, the whole process has to be thought through. I also have concerns about the cleanliness of bags for life.

Also, even if you can access a farmers’ market that is on on a day and time that you could go to it, the produce is not necessarily of good quality, ripeness or indeed affordable.

If there are answers to this I would be delighted to know them, however I would rather do anything above grocery shopping, so if it takes longer than it does already I will not do it more than once (I also don’t do online shopping as I never like the fruit/veg that is selected).

Regards,

Regular reader

(Name with editor)

The age regular prostate screening should become a part of your routine health check-ups, if you are male. Read more on Five Steps to Improve Men’s Health.

'In secondary school, I used to write shows for the talent show. I was good at composing stories, but my ideas were sometimes too risqué for the school. My first show was banned because I had a woman giving birth on stage!” Tipperary playwright Aine Ryan.

In this week’s Meet the Maker meet graphic designer and calligrapher, Natalie Moriarty.

Congratulations to Shane O’Neill in Co Clare who correctly guessed that the total distance of the current Kerry Greenway is 29.6km. Shane has won a bike rental voucher from Like Bike Greenways Cycle Hire (likebikes.ie). Hopefully Shane will get some nice weather as he travels the Kerry Greenway in style - best wishes from all of us at Irish Country Living.

With Dr Catherine Keena

Teagasc Countryside Management Specialist

Look out for honeysuckle, or woodbine, creating a really pretty picture in our autumnal hedges where most hedgerow flowers have now evolved into fruit or nuts. With the hedge-cutting season starting on 1 September and 2,000km of new hedges being planted under ACRES this winter, Hedgerow Week 2023 which is an initiative of Teagasc and The Heritage Council, includes Hedge Planting and Management events at 11am on six Teagasc farms: Kildalton Kilkenny (Friday, 1 September), Grange Meath (Monday, 4 September), Ballyhaise Cavan (Tuesday, 5 September), Athenry Galway (Wednesday, 6 September), Clonakilty (Thursday, 7 September) and Moorepark (Friday, 8 September) in Cork. See Hedgerow Week 2023 on teagasc.ie All are welcome! Hedges are part of our native Irish biodiversity.