I don’t often notice the latest skincare trends, but one caught my eye recently and made me reflect on what I’ve learned over the years about natural skincare. The obsession with Korean-inspired ‘glass skin’ – that impossibly smooth, pore-less, dewy look – is completely unrealistic for those of us with […]
Columnists
This month’s recipe is based loosely on pisto, a Spanish dish that is related in a Mediterranean way to the ratatouille of France and Caponata of Italy. It’s an everyday dish using summer vegetables cooked slowly, without fuss and often served with a fried egg on top. The runny yolk […]
What is that cold, wet stuff falling from the clouds? What is this chill I feel? And where has the sun gone? After weeks of lovely weather in May, it’s as if I’ve never known a rainy, grey day. Thirty years of living in West Cork, and all it takes […]
Storm Éowyn and the early January snow aside, the 2025 weather has been relatively kind to farmers. You could nearly say that going back to August last year, we’ve had a good run. It was badly needed, as the previous two years were challenging to say the least, especially the […]
I was hesitant to write about the West Cork railway. There are many local experts and train enthusiasts who know so much more than me about this topic and it has appeared in journals, books and newspapers, so I don’t feel I can add anything radically new to what has been […]
A good deal of the countryside of ancient Ireland was covered with trees and scrub. Hazel was one of the most important providers of food. The nutritious nut (cnó) of this tree can be kept for up to a year and must, therefore, have been a valuable winter food. It […]