wildflowers.ie

24/10/2024

Do Something Wild
Go 'Stooking, Retting, Flailing and Rubbing' - hands on 'Scarification & Vernalisation'

'Working with Wildflower Seeds' - Seed House Open Day
Sandro, (Ireland's 'seediest man') & DBN's Seed Head's team present, in an amazing environment:
Our first Seed House Open Days exclusively for the hort' trade, wildlife gardeners, ecologists, designers & all our customers.

Explore our nature friendly artisan seed industry, from Harvesting to Storage it all chemical free
Identify and sort a large variety of species in different batches of dried plant stalks and seeds.
Learn how to collect, pick, dry, process or thresh the seed, both hand worked and machine cleaned.
Discover which seeds need which process. Work with sieves of all types and sizes, flails, seed rakes.
Journey from processing through to pre-sowing (Scarification & Vernalisation).
Why are some seeds stored damp? Others with awnings?
Why don't some germinate after a year and other seeds get better with age.
Focus on species, their by-products, why they are in our seed mixtures,
Learn how species perform in relation to seed.

If weather permits we will harvest seeds in our gene bank and gardens.
Learn about long term seed storage, care of seeds in storage.
'Meet the pests', be alert for disease and vermin. explore 'Working with Dogs and Cats in the seed industry'

A Trials Plot combine harvester and Brush harvester rigs will be available for demonstration
Discover Global demands and Future markets, meet other Irish industry professionals and gardeners, discuss the Irish market.
Have confidence with EU certified Forbes, EU mixture laws, illegal seed mixtures and to top it all, hear the gossip from Sandro, as to why government funded employees in the seed industry are purposefully destroying 90% of Ireland's flora and 'misleading' (through their teeth) about protecting Nature in Ireland.

Our customers always enjoy our open days. informative fun and inspiring!

Dates:
November - Tuesday 5th 2024,
November - Wed 13th 2024,
November - Tuesday 29th
Venue: DBN - Wildflowers.ie, Seed House, Monavea, Carlow. R93T289

Each day has limited spaces.
No children or infirm without assistance, No pets, bar required.

Prices, Nov 5th €40, Nov 13 €40, Nov 29 €75 per person
prices ex 23% vat, everyone goes home with free seeds.

Please prepare to wrap up, its a cold dry airy building, with only localised infrared heat sources.
Our seed house has basic canteen and toilet facilities.
It's a very dusty environment with full-time working animals and may be unsuitable for those with medical conditions aggravated by same.

All those who book will receive emails to confirm and further explain your booking and payment.
Please book by email to: [email protected] subject: wildflower seed house open day, or short code: WS2411
please state which day, how many, brief reason or workplace,

23/07/2024

Wildflower growers and horticulture Farm Talk, walk n' openday 24th July 2024,

08/07/2024

Dear Wildflower Openday Attendee
Sorry about this, Tomorrow's Openday is cancelled due to the weather forecast of rain
INSTEAD
The sun is due to shine on Thursday 11th July 2024
Looks like a far better day.
I hope you all can make it on Thursday instead of Tuesday

We only charge payment on the day, as the weather determines some dont arrive. We collect cash at lunch time
Portaloo available.

We start at Mary Wi***es Bar, as per website map, my team will drive ahead and guide you to parking on good dry grassy ground.

Bring wellies, and shoes, lunch and drinks, and your good company

Soil samples, small amounts, are welcome so to photos of the area you wish to sow

05/06/2024

4 'Live' dates this Summer :
Meet with Ireland's Premier Wildflower Growers

9-July-24, Venue: Urlingford Co TIP. 10am - 4pm
Link: A Wildflower Growers Farm Talk, Walk and Open Day

18-July-24 – Glas Horticulture Trade Show, Venue: NBA, Dublin – 9am to 5pm

24-July-24 Venue: Urlingford Co TIP. 10am - 4pm
Link: A Wildflower Growers Farm Talk, Walk and Open Day

4-Nov- 24 : Working with Seeds, Harvesting, Drying, Processing, Storage, Venue: Seed House

24/05/2024

All Ireland Permaculture Gathering 2024

The All Ireland Permaculture Gathering is back!
After a 4 year hiatus this year we finally managed to get our act back together and this year's gathering will take place at the Slieve Aughty Centre in County Galway in association with CELT Ireland on the 24th/25th August 2024 (arrival on the 23rd)

Preparations for the 2020 gathering were under way when the country was struck by that bug that was making the rounds, which rather spoiled plans for that year and the next. Since then, members of the steering committee were busy with other projects, suggestions for venues were made, but didn't materialise, but fear not, we have been busy in the background and this year CELT have come forward with an offer to host the event. CELT (https://www.celtnet.org/ ) is a charity based at the Slieve Aughty Centre who focus on the empowerment of people through ecological knowledge and skills. They run workshops, guided walks and events aimed at teaching people traditional crafts with a particular focus on forestry and agroforestry. CELT will be providing the local support to organise the event and are also kindly contributing to some of the costs. A big thank you for that!

The fire pit and meeting room at Slieve Aughty

The pagoda at Slieve Aughty

The Slieve Aughty Centre (https://slieveaughtycentre.com/) offers eco-accommodation and horse riding in a beautiful area just south of Loughrea. Their grounds include an organic garden and a few acres of mature woodlands. Other facilities include a gathering hall with kitchen, an organic restaurant, a pagoda and firepit plus other outbuildings that we can use as workshop spaces. For those of you who don't fancy crawling out of a tent on a damp morning, the centre does offer a variety of accommodation options, however early booking is essential, as the place books up very quickly during the summer months. Please contact the Slieve Aughty Centre directly via their website to book.

The organic garden at Slieve Aughty

Now to this year's gathering, we made a conscious decision to keep the costs as low as possible so that everybody should be able to afford it and to get the ball rolling again. The starting price for weekend tickets is 20 euros for adults and 5 euro for kids. This includes camping on the camping field and use of the shower block. Advance booking is essential this year, as we will have to cap the numbers at around 200. Early bird tickets will be at that price, but will go up to 30 euro, so the earlier you book the cheaper it is.

Keeping the entry fee low has meant that on this occasion we have had to keep costs low, so we have not brought in any catering for the event. There will be a central fireplace and there will be places for smaller firepits on the campsite for people to organise themselves into cooking circles. There is also a kitchen available in the conference room. So please bring in some food and cooking equipment. There is also the possibility of treating yourself and eating at the on-site restaurant, who will offer a special vegan/vegetarian menu for participants of the gathering. This will of course come at an extra cost. In fact if you arrive on the Friday, the restaurant is having a pizza night, but you would need to book that in advance by sending them an e-mail, as they don't have the capacity to provide pizza for everybody.

Finally to some practicalities about the gathering itself. Those of you who have been to our gatherings before know the score, but for those who haven't, this is how it works:

Arrival is from 4pm on the Friday, but the official start is on Saturday morning at 10am with a morning circle and should wrap up by 4pm on Sunday. On arrival, please register at the welcome tent.

The event is strictly alcohol and drug free, no pets are allowed and please do not bring any meat to cook.

Leave no trace! We want to leave the place in the same way we found it, so please take any waste with you after the event.

The event is fully participatory. There are no passengers on the perma-ship only crew! Everybody is encouraged to chip in with any jobs that need doing from cleaning the compost toilets or shower blocks, staffing the welcome tent, directing parking, keeping the bonfire going and whatever other jobs might come up.

Workshops are organised by participants. There are no headline speakers or pre-organised workshops. After the morning circle everybody is invited to propose a workshop and pin it to the board. The workshop can be your area of expertise or skill that you want to share with others, or it can be something you simply want to know more about or a discussion topic. You don't have to be a world leading expert to run a workshop. This way might sound a bit haphazard to some, but so far we have never had a shortage of offers for workshops and it has always worked.

As this is a family event we ask participants to lower noise levels after 9pm. Generally this event is about respect for each other and anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.

Finally I want to put a shout-out to anybody living local to the site to volunteer for the preparation team. CELT already have a small team of volunteers, but many hands make light work. Apart from designing and setting up the site, we always like to leave a legacy for our hosts and this year the Slieve Aughty Centre have requested an educational woodland path in one of their woodlands. If you are able to help out, please contact CELT on [email protected]. Volunteers will get free entry to the event.

Any surplus money from the gathering will be going into the seed pot for next year's gathering. We will also have a donation tin at the welcome tin if you are able and willing to give a bit extra. The proceeds of donations will be shared with CELT.

We are hugely looking forward to seeing you all, old faces and new, in August.

08/07/2023

You are invited to a Wildflower Farm Walk and Wildflower Growers Talk through Ireland's largest Wildflower Seed Crops in Urlingford (Tipp/Kilkenny).

Spend a day with infamous legend Sandro Cafolla and the Seed Heads Team of Design By Nature – Wildflowers.ie
Book here by email add subject: Open day 2, [email protected]
Full details http://wildflowers.ie/wild-zone/open_day/wildflower-growers-open-day-2023.htm

See Wildflower meadows at all different stages, new and old.
Learn how to sow, grow and maintain native flora.
Get close up and familiar with meadow species

Learn how to grow wildflowers in many systems from Organic to Biodiversity Protection, Regenerative or Permanent agriculture, even ploughing, harrowing, herbicide and Vinegar are covered.
See for yourself, we lead by example for 40 years our products have locked Carbon @ rates of 5-10 to 15 ton per H.a Wildflowers cut costs, save biodiversity and are beautiful

Sandro says “when native Irish wildflowers are grown well in the right place, they speak for themselves”

The best way to learn is in silence.. Which will never happen on one of our talks!

The day will reveal all aspects of growing wildflowers, with many questions from customers, landscape designers, gardeners and professionals - all aspects of Irish society
The setting is among seed crops still in flower, some harvested, others about to get the chop. See - Hand Harvesting and Harvesting Machinery at work.

Ask Your own questions, Bring site photos and soil samples, measure your site. As we limit the numbers to 25 to 50, so that there is space on each day for Sandro to listen with each visitor and offer advise for their own garden as we do by email everyday to many thousands more..

Topics covered will include :
Site selection, Seed bed preparation, seed sowing, germination, first cut, first years and long term maintenance and much more.
As the farm contains wildflower crops, you will get close up to the species, look at w**d killing, how to prepare a site for wildflowers.

An ideal outing for for professionals and gardeners, farmers, farm advisor, conservationists, biodiversity, tourism. tidy towns, nature loving wildlife attractors, horticulturists, and wild flower lovers.
Share your own experience and Sandro and friends can point you in the right way, bring soil samples and photos. (No recording all shows are copyright 2023)

A talk on growing wildflowers. the results of 30 years research and activism

Sandro answers all topics, clearly distinguishing between wildflower growers advice for large scale areas and small gardens,
and ...
If the sun is shining and the 'portaloos' arrive,unlike the last time.
Sandro's will briefly explain away, the many examples of the badly informed 'fad' journalism about wildflowers and biodiversity, point a finger at who it is that's destroying our flora directly and who's stirring a split between farmer and green, rural and urban, progressive and nimby.
We expose the lies, falsehood and marking ploys that get wildflowers a bad name.
We show clearly -What's wrong with No Mo May? Why do Irish people think Calendulas and Californian Poppy are wildflowers? Who is responsible for all the dis-information about wildflowers? We expose major greenwashers and more.

29/03/2023

BlindBoy “blows up” brilliant podcast and gives Design By Nature a recommendation and a heart attack... what a mess he's started.
In todays podcast he recommends us as Ireland wildflower growers.
yes(thanks Blindboy, any publicity helps) in the same sentence he recommends seed bombs.
We all know seed bombs don't work. How can 30 different species in one seed bomb grow, only one species will dominate each year, the rest will get smothered.
Better to spread that same seed, by crushing the seed bomb, or buying raw 100% wildflower from us at much cheaper.

BLINDBOY, thanks I agree with the rest of the podcast. Thanks..
is there a schools or somewhere I can donate €500 worth of seed by way of thanks.

Hopefully someone knowns blindboy....

28/03/2023

How to Grow Wildflowers - Sunday April 2nd
Join Sandro Cafolla 'Pop-Up Talk'
+ 200 gram Free wildflower seeds

How to Grow Wildflowers - Sunday April 2nd
book at : https://www.thegardenshop.ie/how-to-grow/
If bad weather there's also indoor space)

Sandro Cafolla - Design By Nature - wildflowers.ie
will talk and entertain you through the full process of how to grow a wildflower meadow
Suitability: Adults Price: €40
Wildflower Talk from 11am to 1pm, Q&A from 2pm to 3pm
:
All courses / workshops take place in a Friendly very personal, Covid safe environment
Note: All courses, activities & workshops must be booked online in advance
If you just turn-up it's €70.00 per person

Sandro has been growing wildflowers since the 80's
The talk aims to share knowledge of establishing native wildflower species

Selecting species and seeds mixes for your site
Wildflower grower expectations
Ground preparation
How & when to sow
Early stage meadow management
Addressing problems, How to control w**ds
What to expect from your meadow over the years
How to maintain & when to cut
Biodiversity and nature.

If attending, measure your plot, bring garden photos, soil samples
and estimate size of shaded or wet areas.
Sandro will personally advise.

https://www.thegardenshop.ie/how-to-grow/
Dublin Road Business Park, Portarlington, Co. Laois, R32 RPX8
(057) 937 3330

See the Venue: https://www.thegardenshop.ie/garden-centre/

--
Kind regards

Mr. Sandro Cafolla.
T/a Design By Nature
Seed House
Monavea,
Carlow.
Ireland.
Eircode: R93 T289

Solas Eco Garden Centre Combines Great Design, Sustainable Principles & Education to Promote a De-Carbonised Lifestyle & Economy

05/03/2021

We sell 100 grams of seed to cover 66 metres.
It's 100% pure native Irish provenance wildflower seed mixtures
at www.wildflowers.ie

For small orders under 50 sq metres,
our resellers are
www.theirishgardener.com
www.thegardenshop.ie
www.bloomingnative.ie
www.mrmiddleton.com
and ask for Irish native as many seed sellers import
wildflowers and sell them alongside our native Irish seed

09/04/2020

Wildflower sowing in 2019 sets up bees in 2020

https://carlow-nationalist.ie/2020/04/08/powerstown-has-50000-new-residents/ #.Xo9oW6Yo-UA

POWERSTOWN is buzzing this week with the arrival of a whopping 50,000 new residents! Five new beehives have been installed at the former landfill, a really positive step forward in huge efforts being…

04/03/2020

We part funded this campaign by supply and pack wildflowers at below cost and including 5 rare species for children to grow.
The seed was posted 3rd March 2020. Its all gone, no more free seed, so please dont ask.

https://supervalu.ie/real-people/save-the-bees
https://supervalu.ie/real-people/save-the-bees/a-to-bees
https://supervalu.ie/real-people/save-the-bees/terms-and-conditions

https://supervalu.ie/real-people/sponsorship/tidytowns/impact-on-pollination

30/09/2019

Good news, saves this Irish business from extinction

The European Parliament has repeated its opposition to patenting plants obtained through natural processes. But what makes it an issue in the first place?

26/09/2019

Glad to be Wildflower seed suppliers to Bride project

Farmers up and running
The last month was spent sifting through the farmers Biodiversity Management Plans (BMP's) and allocating funding to the most suitable plans for each farm. The Project capped a capital spend on environmental measures of €2000, to choose from 16 options. Most of the options consisted of creating new habitats such as ponds, woodland, field margins, pollinator plots, etc and all farmers chose at least 9 options with some choosing 13 depending on their farm enterprise.
This should mean a huge improvement in biodiversity in the medium to long term as well as short term benefits with some options. Most notable (and heartening) since the commencement of the Project is the greater understanding and awareness of the issues that are threatening biodiversity by our farmers and their willingness to make positive changes.

31/07/2019

14/07/2019

They’re beautiful and fashionable, yes – but they also maintain the balance of the ecosystem, are central to sustainable farming, and help slow climate change. We ...

23/06/2019

Caught in the Act!
The proof that imported wildflowers destroy Irish native genotypes, Betony is an Irish protected species, the law states that it is illegal to sell it in Ireland. This cheating lying Irish firm imports British wildflowers and tries to sell them as native Irish.
We caught them out with this product, they should really advertise that their British provenance wildflowers while carrying the same name are not the same genotype and therefore should be listed as Non Native varients of Native Irish wildflowers. Worse they are flooding the country with genes of Betony that if planted near the few remaining Irish plants they would wipe out the Irish gene pool.

20/06/2019

Our Letter to the Editor., about he proposed wildflower meadow for Dáil Eireann

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/views/yourview/letter-to-the-editor-go-further-than-flowers-on-lawn-at-dail-eireann-931232.html

Elaine Loughlin reported “Fianna Fáil leader wants the Dáil to go wild” in the article ‘Green welcome for FF’s wild proposal’ (Irish Examiner, June 14).