So, following on from my first #ethicalchristmas post, this one is centred around 'experience' gifts. For those who don't want or need any more physical products, an experience gift is a lovely way to give without adding to the unsustainable mountain of goods we already have on the planet.
And because I love Kildare and shopping locally is of huge benefit to your own area, I am focusing this post on Kildare experiences. I threw the question out to people and looked for some suggestions and I got so many great ones that I don't think I can fit them all in but here are some fantastic options.



First up are the foodie ones - Kalbarri Cookery School is based in Kilcullen, and Siobhan and her team do a whole range of cookery courses for all ages and abilities, including baking birthday parties. This is a great idea for anyone who wants to improve their cookery skills whilst having a fun night out.  You can purchase vouchers from Kalbarri - kids classes will resume in January on Monday evenings between 4-6 p.m. and the teens and young adult classes will also be back on in January as well as a vegetarian cookery demonstration.

Another option for a course is the barista course run by PS Coffee Roasters in their Clane Roastery - priced at €135.00, it's a great introduction to the story of coffee and how to do latte art, as well as how to use and clean the coffee machine. They also offer a coffee subscription service which would be just perfect for the coffee lover in your life, especially as they have recently introduced compostable packaging for their coffees. The subscription service has different options in terms of length and what type of grind you want and the coffee is delivered by courier once a month.

I also have to mention Crean's Place in Kilcullen, not only is it one of my favourite places to eat, it has had a zero waste ethos from the moment it opened - from sourcing local food and in house baking, to removing disposable coffee cups from the restaurant, they are really ahead of the game in terms of sustainable policy. You can buy a voucher from them at varying prices - dinner is gorgeous and I love their brunch options and being newly plant based, I'm delighted that they have vegan options also, even down to offering a vegan option for their new supper club. The supper club is just €25 p.p. for a 3 course meal (with a minimum of 4 guests) and byob with no corkage. It's a wonderful place to eat with a great atmosphere, so this is a present any food lover would appreciate.

Moving away from food, a great idea for anyone with an interest in photography is one of Conor Williams' Photography Courses. I have done two of these myself and can highly recommend them. I went from knowing nothing at all about my camera, to being able to use it properly and knowing a little about perspective and lighting and composition. The atmosphere is very relaxed, Conor is a great teacher and there is lots of individual attention.

Another hobby idea is to treat someone to one of the classes at Florence & Milly in Clane. There is an upcycling 'make your own wreath'class as well as a Christmas Pottery workshop coming up and loads of regular events for kids and teens.



Based in Straffan and Celbridge, the Craft Corner offers classes for all ages including sewing as well as general arts and crafts.

For a more outdoorsy idea, you could gift someone a barge trip - we have done the Bargetrip.ie cruise and it was just the most relaxing way to spend some time. There is a sense almost of being removed from the world even though you are right beside it. They have lots of voucher options and set out from the canal in Sallins.

From North Kildare, you can pick the Royal Canal Boat Trips option, with 3 hour private charters for up to 12 people.  I haven't done this but it looks fab and was recommended by a friend!

Another outdoors type gift would be something from Abbeyfield Farm - you can buy vouchers for archery, clay pigeon shooting or horse riding and all levels of experience are catered for so it could be a chance to try something new.

Although there are lots more options, I've tried to give a balance of different ideas and kept the focus to Kildare so hopefully you will find some inspiration here :) Don't forget to read my first ethical christmas post about how you can benefit wildlife organisations - Saving Two Birds With One Gift



Some other posts you might be interested in:

Trip on a Barge
Trip to Derryounce Lakes

This is the first of a few posts with some ethical ideas for Christmas Shopping. I realise it is early yet but the more organised amongst us are already starting to prepare! Ideally, we should all be reducing our consumption and waste but sometimes it is hard to avoid buying an actual present and this first blog post is all about Irish wildlife/ecological organisations who will definitely benefit from your spending power.  (If you click into the names of the organisations it will bring you directly to the shop).



First up is the Irish Peatland Conservation Council. I'm a little bit obsessed with peatland conservation, I think it is a very integral part of our carbon emission reduction goals and I have seen first hand the amazing work they do in the Bog of Allen nature centre. Their shop also offers nature gifts which will help with the work they do such as 'Offset Your Carbon Footprint The Bog Way.'
For actual physical gifts I have picked a couple I like - the first is a very pretty table runner priced at €20.00:




Next up is this cute bird feeder, not only can you help the birds by putting food out, but you can observe all the different species arriving in your garden.

 For some little stocking fillers you could buy a cotton reusable bag:
Seal Rescue Ireland is another fantastic organisation. They are based in Wexford and what they do is rescue orphaned, injured or sick seal pups from around the coast and rehabilitate them so that they can be released to the wild once more.

This set of bamboo straws, priced at €18.50 is a great gift for someone who needs to use straws but would like to move away from the plastic version.


I also really like this little story book, written and illustrated by Shelley Crosse in aid of Seal Rescue Ireland. It is just €7.00 and would be a really nice gift for young children.



Or you could choose the colouring book, just €3.50!


All of the above organisations have options where you can donate or buy something which is not an actual physical product and this is a great option, both in terms of reducing waste and in supporting ecology and wildlife.

Another suggestion is to 'Adopt a Donkey' This is just €25.00 a year and you get a certificate, a pencil drawing, a bio sheet and twice yearly reports. This is a wonderful way to help the Donkey Sanctuary in Ireland and provide them with much needed help to their funding.

As we were staying in Cloughjordan Eco Village last weekend (check out my blog post here), we were looking for somewhere else to explore in the area and my google search showed me Scohaboy Bog which was just out the road from Cloughjordan itself.
I have long been fascinated with peatlands and bog areas, they are ecologically so interesting and also act as massive carbon sinks, so are hugely important in our drive to reduce carbon emissions.
Unfortunately bogs have been used for a long time as a source of fuel - my own grandfather had a plot of bog and I remember being out on the bog in the heat of summer, picking bog cotton. Peatlands began forming in Ireland about 11,700 years ago but our original peatlands have been reduced by almost 47% due to our exploitation of peat.

(Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128498859000202)

It is heartening therefore, to see more general awareness now of the importance of bogs and especially great to see all the work that goes into preserving and restoring these beautiful areas.
Scohaboy Bog is a raised bog and forms part of a natural heritage area. It is managed by Coillte and a lot of community effort and was awarded the European Year of Cultural Heritage mark by the Heritage Council of Ireland in 2018. The Scohaboy Facebook page describes the Community Conservation Story of the bog here and it's wonderful to see how community effort and cooperation, in tandem with larger government bodies, can bring about such positive environmental results.

It's a gorgeous walk around the bog, especially at this time of year when the autumn colour is in all its glory.





Although peatlands are not as dramatic as other landscapes, the beauty, for me, is knowing that they are a rich world of fascinating insect and plant life. The key to walking around bogs, I think, is to look at the ground as well as around - you can see fungi at this time of year and the rich green of sphagnum moss seemed particularly vivid when we were there!

Sphagnum Moss

The board walk is a brilliant achievement and is the perfect way to explore without damaging the delicate structure of the bog. The only downside is that you might need to step aside for other people if you are taking pics :)





There are different trails you can walk and I'm not totally sure which one we were on but it was a nice walk, less than two hours and we went in a loop which brought us through a gentle wooded area and then back around on the road where we parked.



This bog is a really gorgeous amenity and well worth a visit - pic below shows the work that Coillte are doing to preserve the area.


Hopefully you have enjoyed our Scohaboy visit and don't forget to check out my other #placestovisit posts!

I have been busy in the last while doing a Communities for Climate Action Course, organised by Kildare Leader Partnership and run by Gavin Harte of ESD Training. Saturday was our organised visit to the Eco Village in Cloughjordan.  I had been before and was struck this time, as last, by the warm collegiality and inclusiveness that is immediately apparent there.
Our planned course day included a tour of the community, and some villager stories.  I think this was the part that I found most interesting and inspiring.  Peadar Kirby, formerly a professor of International Politics and Public Policy at the University of Limerick made the point that this time of Climate Emergency is an opportunity for change and that Cloughjordan can be seen as the seed of a new kind of community and society. This for me was very heartening - to see someone who has studied much of what I am interested in and to conclude that it is an opportunity rather than a disaster, is very encouraging.  There were other wonderful stories and the common theme that I picked up was an unease at the way we are 'supposed' to live and a desire to do things differently. And the villagers, of course, have already put their beliefs into action and work hard to live in that different world.


For it is certainly not an easy option and Davie Philip, another course tutor and one of the founders of the Eco Village, has stressed that it has taken a huge amount of work and that there have been many pitfalls along the way.  In that sense, a real commitment is needed and a mind shift away from our own egos is probably a necessary part of that process.  This is something that I find very interesting at the moment, how we might as a society begin to have real dialogue and openness to change. Even in my own life, suspending my own ego and beliefs can be a struggle at times! With this in mind, I'm planning to do a Facilitation course in November, run by Social Justice Ireland.
In general, aside from the Eco Village, I have found the experience of doing a Course with like minded people invigorating and fantastic. I'm not sure exactly if it is simply that we all have similar goals, or if being aware of environmental issues perhaps makes us more open to communication and effecting change, but in any case it has renewed my faith in humanity and given me a new energy.

The landscape of the Village is a bit wild, with quite conventional housing for the most part, but also cob houses and apartments and interspersed with trees and edible bushes. It is all very open, there aren't any big walls or fences separating people, just natural meandering borders.



There is an amphitheater and a community woodland - the picture below is from the amphitheater


We visited the Community Farm and also got to see the fantastic Red Gardens run by Bruce




The Community Garden is run on the basis of Community Supported Agriculture and is the first and largest scheme of its kind in Ireland. The idea is that the people in the community commit to paying over the year upfront and this means that the farm has a continuous safe income. This scheme is also open to people in the Cloughjordan community at large and this is something worth mentioning also, the Village does exist within a larger community and has developed good relationships with that larger grouping.
The Red Gardens is run by Bruce who runs his YouTube channel to share his experience and insights. Basically he has seven different gardens and uses a different gardening methodology in each in order to gather data and research the impacts of different methods. I found this so interesting, could have stayed for ages listening to him!
Although the outdoors aspects of the Village are the things I love, I can't neglect to mention that it is not all outdoorsy - the Village also has a Fab Lab which is very cool and the only community Fab Lab in Ireland.It uses open source plans and a 3D printer as well as other tools to make things and this enables people to create prototypes right there rather than looking abroad. Recreate is the enterprise space for co-working and education (and where we spent much of the day).



The success of the Village, I feel, is down to this ability to innovate and think of different ways of doing things- and then of course to have the determination and energy to implement these ideas. The visit was hugely inspiring for me, it gave me renewed faith that we can actually build a just and egalitarian society and that we can learn from the pioneers who have led the way.

Last but not least  I must recommend Django's Hostel - we stayed the night there and it was so nice. It is a hostel, so not anything fancy but we had a nice room to ourselves and there was a super comfy sitting area where we spent a lot of the evening. We chatted to people and were very kindly offered some delicious chocolate brownies which were spare. It was actually really lovely to have that social aspect. Basic breakfast is provided but if you want anything extra, you can always bring it yourself and pop it in the communal fridge.


Some other posts you might like:
Shankill Castle Visit
Trip to Derryounce Lakes
June Blake's Garden

Another little gem to visit, if you are near Kilkenny, is Shankill Castle in Paulstown - I passed it one day whilst driving the scenic route to Kilkenny and was intrigued. Of course on my first attempt to visit it was closed, as it is only open Thursday to Sunday, April to October and I was passing through on a Monday.
We did, however, make it down on the correct day after that, although we left it very late and unfortunately didn't have time to sit in the gorgeous café. It was such a hot day when we visited and it would have been lovely to sit out with some coffee but that's on my to do list for next visit!
It has a gorgeous relaxed atmosphere and the walled garden was just stunning, absolutely full of butterflies and the glorious scent of sweet pea




It was so nice to wander around the garden in the sun and head then over towards the house. We also tasted some of the yummy raspberries :)


We didn't have time to do the house tour although I would like to have a longer day there and fit in the tour as well, because I think it would be really interesting. It is now owned by the Copes, an artistic family who run lots of events and have spent much time restoring the house.
The grounds are just full of gentle charm and it really is a very beautiful spot to visit. There is an old church and graveyard which is another thing for next time. We didn't get to see everything but I really wanted to share this gorgeous spot with you before their season ends.




You can check out the Shankill Castle Website here - admission for the garden is €5 per person and for the house tour and gardens it is €10. I can't comment on the value of the house tour but we paid for the gardens only and it was well worth it and we would have spent longer there if we'd gotten to it earlier in the day.
Do bear in mind that they are only open until October if you want to fit in a visit.

Donegal, of course, is one of my favourite places to visit, pretty much my favourite place in Ireland actually.  This year's holiday was as amazing as ever but we branched out and also visited Fermanagh and stayed in Lough Allen Hotel in Drumshanbo and had a picnic and dinner in Carrick on Shannon.