Written by Jane Chadwick on Apr 11, 2023 | 8 Comments
Come with the My Irish Jeweler team on a virtual road trip around our lovely island. We will visit some of the sites now home to the 18,000 trees planted in 2023 with our customer support.
The first stop on our trip is a short 20 minute drive from My Irish Jeweler through the foothills of the Dublin Mountains, west to Killinarden in Tallaght, Co. Dublin. Several of the My Irish Jeweler team were lucky to spend a morning planting trees here on a sunny day in February 2023 on behalf of Trees on the Land.
This elevated site is currently a mixture of hedgerow and meadow, but in time will become a social housing development by Ó'Cualann Cohousing Alliance. As part of their sustainability goals, Ó'Cualann Cohousing Alliance want to make this place a happy and healthy place to live with plenty of biodiversity, planting native shelter belts and hedgerows. With a lofty target of 10,000 trees planted in the first year (4500 donated by My Irish Jeweler), the hope is these trees will grow and provide shelter and strong ecological corridors through the development for people, plants and animals to enjoy for many years to come.
Heading an hour drive northwest of Killinardan, through the historic town of Kells, our next stop is in Bailieborough in Co. Cavan. With the Bailieborough Tree Cover Project, the Community Association together with Cavan Co. Council are working to plant over 6000 native Irish trees in small pockets of woodland and hedgerows around the town - 2000 of which were donated with the support of our customers by My Irish Jeweler.
The old Irish name for the town is Coill an Chollaigh, which means 'the wood of the boar'. We are not sure about boar, but it's hoped that the trees will provide shelter, screening, and create new wildlife habitat for birds, mammals and insects. The team also expects it will provide added benefits, helping with local drainage, and freeing up workers to focus on developing local amenities rather than on maintenance like grass cutting.
One such amenity is a short 5 min drive northwest from Bailieborough, at Castle lake and 2 mins further north, Corleck Hill, site of the discovery of the Corleck Head, a 2000 year old limestone carving with three faces, now held in Collections of the National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street
Our next stop is a two hour drive farther north to a 14 acre farm on the the enigmatically named Black Mountain, which looms over the city of Belfast in Co. Antrim.
This farm has 7 acres of woodland on the steep slopes of the ridge. This area has been allowed to naturally regenerate with the introduction of some native species over three acres, supported by the Belfast Hills organisation.
After this early success, together with Trees on the land, 100 native species donated by My Irish Jeweler, including Alder, Birch, Oak, Scots Pine, Hawthorn, Rowan, and Hazel, were planted in several pockets in grassland at around 280-320m. It's hoped they will provide a source of local seed to aid further regeneration where natural sources are lacking. These new trees will also provide habitat for native flora and fauna and will help the farm adapt and protect its environment.
Our next stop takes us 2 hours directly west to the opposite side of the island, skirting beautiful Lough Neagh and then Lough Erne, and on to Co. Donegal.
Just outside of the village of Inver, overlooking Donegal Bay is Shy By Nature Farm. On the Wild Atlantic Way, this scenic 16 acre farm has been the home of the McNern family since the late 1800s. Brothers Ronan and Gareth, have recently taken on the land from their uncle, continuing the family tradition but with ambitions to create a regenerative farm that’s benefits community, nature and their family for generations to come.
The brothers are already old hands at tree planting, breaking ground in 2022. They followed that up with another 1165 trees donated by My Irish Jewleer through Trees on the Land in 2023, planting a hedgerow and shelter belt with native alder, birch, Scots pine, crab apple, hazel, hawthorn, and oak.
Through this planting and their community farm, they are bringing their local community together, getting people planting and back in touch with the land and sharing a meal while doing so. This farm is creating habitat for biodiversity with agriculture, as well as future yields of fruit, fodder, and mulch. A quietly inspirational initiative.
Turning south we have our longest drive yet, driving three hours along Ireland’s wild Atlantic coast, through the surfers paradise of Sligo, vibrant Galway City and the musical mecca of Ennis to the mouth of the river Shannon, and Shannon town.
Many who visit Ireland will know of the Shannon. Its airport was an obligatory stop off for many transatlantic flights for many years. And it is where the longest river not only in Ireland, but in the British Isles, meets the sea.
In 2021, Shannon Tidy Towns partnered with Trees on the Land to identify three tree planting projects to create pockets of woodland through public green space and at a primary school. The aim was to extend the area of existing woodland up from the banks of the Shannon.
The local community and children from the school got involved in planting. The hope is that these trees will increase the biodiversity of the area, bringing new purpose to an underused space and providing an amenity for all to enjoy.
For our next stop we follow the course of the Shannon inland for a time through the busy Limerick city, and north east for close to two hours until we reach the village of Narraghmore in Co. Kildare.
It's said that “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit." The Narraghmore Tidy Towns group seem to have taken that to heart. They developed a Biodiversity Action Plan in 2022 with a keen focus on tree cover.
This April, the group set out to plant 1110 trees donated by My Irish Jeweler, a native hedge boundary and two spaces with apple trees for the future generations to enjoy. The hedgerow will provide shelter for residents, and create an important ecological corridor for wildlife, extending the diversity provided by the nearby Narraghmore Nature Reserve.
From Narraghmore we head 90 km north to Laragh Hill, to a family farm just stones throw from the lovely Royal Canal for our final stop on this 2023 tree planting tour.
Brian recently took over Laragh farm and plans to develop it using agroforestry principles, strengthening hedgerows and creating new areas of farm woodland over the next 5 to 10 years. The 100 new native hedge trees planted with Trees on the Land and donated by My Irish Jeweler in 2023 will provide shelter on the farm for animals and create additional habitat for biodiversity.
This might be the last stop on our road trip for 2023, but My Irish Jeweler is committed to planting native Irish trees across the island for future generations to enjoy. Inspired by our Celtic ancestors, the team here at My Irish Jeweler have an enduring respect and appreciation for native Irish trees. They are the inspiration for many of our favourite jewellery designs and the foundation of our cherished and ancient ogham alphabet.
Spurred on by this appreciation, way back in July 2019, we announced an ambitious goal to plant 5000 native Irish trees here in Ireland through a partnership with Trees on the Land.
It’s fair to say, together we’ve handsomely beat this goal, planting close to 13,000 trees from 2020 to 2022. Inspired by your support, we wanted to do more.
So in 2022 we decided to turn Black Friday green, donating 17,000 native Irish trees, and bringing us to 18,000 for the year and 30,000+ trees planted since we started back in 2019. Achieving this goal is down to the support of our wonderful customers. Thanks to you, thousands of native Irish trees are taking root across our island for future generations to enjoy.
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Jane Chadwick
My Irish Jeweler
Born in Dublin but reared in Canada, as a child I had an interest in Ireland that will be familiar to many young emigrants. I was completely fascinated, wanting to know all about the land of my parents and grandparents. Rare month-long family trips back "Home" cemented my love for Ireland. And I wore my Irish heritage with pride, sporting my tiny silver Claddagh gifted to me by my Irish grandparents until my finger grew too large for it!
As a young adult I moved back to Dublin, studying Geology and Mineralogy in university at historic Trinity College Dublin. After living in Denmark and the Netherlands working as a scientist and university mineralogy lecturer, I finally settled back home in Dublin. I joined the growing family at My Irish Jeweler in 2016, bringing my useful knowledge of metals and minerals as well as my perspective as an Irish emigrant with a love for HOME.
Lovely to hear from you Patti! Thank you for sharing your kind words with us. We are so thankful for how our friends around the world, like yourself, have helped play a part in the sponsorship of planting native Irish trees across Ireland thanks to the organization 'Trees on the Land'. Thank you for your support in the past! We look forward to helping you however we can in the future. Cheers from Dublin!
I am first generation of Irish immigrants. My dad is from Greystones. My mom’s family west of Dublin. The family owned the last surviving castle from Cromwells March to destroy Dublin. When the army was not able to destroy the castle they went around it to Dublin. On their way back, intending to destroy the castle, a survivor, left their wounded came out. The family nursed him back to health. He went out to the army and convinced them to leave the family and castle alone. As my cousin told us, he was the one in 15. He was the one that could read and carried the Bible. The army left Ballindoolin alone. The soldier left the Bible. Robert, my mom’s cousin (Tyrrell) donated the Bible to Trinity collage at our urging. The Bible was so old that the pages were falling apart. The castle is still there. I went with my mom to visit friends around 2000. The Tyrrell foundation was restoring the castle. We were thrilled! I went back a few years ago and discovered that the castle laid in ruins. My cousin’s sisters family took over the manor house and sold it. The new owners are not Irish but have been restoring the house. I don’t know if they own the castle. I know my cousin donated it to the state? So, unfortunately, they dropped the renovation on the castle. What a shame that such history will be lost.
Sincerely,
Colleen Tyrrell Farrell
Upstate New York
Hello Colleen, Thank you for sharing your family story and the story of the Tyyrell castle and land. It is clear that you are deeply connected to your Irish roots. It's wonderful to read and know that the stories of Ireland are preserved and shared around the world.
Beautiful. You're so lucky to live in such a magical place.
Heather, thank you for reading and for your kind note! We are indeed very lucky. And we're very appreciative of our friends and customers who have helped sponsor the trees through our partnership with 'Trees on the Land'. The donations help sponsor native Irish trees which will keep Ireland green and beautiful for generations to come.
Love that you are planting trees and adding naive trees back were they belong! I have a hawthorn walking stick and shillelagh that were made in Ireland for my late husband. They were his pride and joy, most people didn't know what it was!
Thank you, Lynne, for reading and sharing your husband's story with us. It's wonderful that you have a piece of Ireland to remember him by. We are very proud to support 'Trees on the Land' in their efforts to plant native Irish trees across our island home.
Ask Gemma
Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙏🏻 😊 for this beautiful post, virtual road trip around breathtakingly beautiful Ireland, and update about tree planting in Ireland in 2023.
I have donated before, and will do so again.
Patti Friel, Baltimore, Maryland USA.