Mags Riordan
the owner of Bumblebee flower Farm tells us about her amazing new bee corridor initiative, her everyday at her wonderful farm and how we can all really make a difference.
Q. How does your typical day look?
“My typical day generally starts at 5am. Morning coffee and I do practise mindfulness and expressing gratitude, no matter how dark things may seem we can always find something to be grateful for. This sets me up for the day. Admin whilst it’s dark, first light I head outside either harvesting, sowing or planting. I make the most of daylight hours at this time of year. I try to get in some reading and/or research during the evenings. Fall into bed and start the whole process again!”
Q. What are you working on right now?
“General day to day of running the farm, our new Bee-friendly Cut flower Pollinator Planting Plan and planning our new Dahlia field which will provide us with cut flowers in the summer and autumn. The most exciting part of this is it’s the beginnings of our organically produced Dahlia tubers.
Q. Tell us about your amazing new Pollinator plan initiative
The idea is to create bee corridors across the country and give a better understanding of why this is necessary. It’s an easily implemented pollinator-friendly bed for a cut flower garden. It’s also a means of reconnecting people with nature, spending time with their families and getting involved with helping our bees.
We’re there to help and provide guidance along the way with a monthly instagram live where we go through the steps and stages with a different guest each month relating to the current topic.
It’s all centered around looking at the ‘Whole’ cycle from habitat, to wildflowers that support our indigenous species of wildlife and how we can all help.
Q.Do you think a connection to nature and the wild is important for us and if so why?
Absolutely!Reconnecting to nature as a ‘Whole’, understanding our place in the whole cycle and not separate from it. Civilisations have repeatedly caused their own extinction throughout history but this is the first time it’s being done on a global scale. Covid 19 is the precursor of what’s to come if we don’t act now and respect, protect and value what gives us life.
Reconnecting with our natural world is all we have to do, it’s easy to say but implementing it is going to be a little harder because we need to really look at how we interact now, the consequences of our demand for cheap clothes, food and disposable products is eroding the very things that supports us and give us life.
We’ve stripped so much of the forests that support the life giving ecology that sustains us. We’re poisoning our rivers and seas and the phytoplankton that generate 70% of our oxygen. There’s a surplus in the atmosphere right now but we are depleting its ability to regenerate at an alarming rate and once it’s gone… so are we. We are probably the first generation to realise what we are doing to ourselves but we are also the last generation to be able to do something about it. We are faced with tough decisions that are directly related to a regeneration of life or continue on our current trajectory of degeneration destruction and untimely extinction.
We have the power to influence change. We are stronger than we realise. Our intelligence has the ability to save us.
All it requires is a change in mindset to one that looks at the ‘Whole’ like regenerative agriculture, enterprise and looking at a circular environment. This is what we live by here at Bumblebee Flower Farm and is the essence of all that we do, to improve the quality of life for all living things.
Q. What does your dream garden look like?
Teaming with life, a celebration of our wild flora and fauna. It’s a bit wild with a little more control in places than what I have at the moment.
Q. Do you have any advice for others to connect to nature and the wild more every day?
You have to physically get out there into it.
Be mindful and present, Look at the detail, watch how insects and birds interact with everything. Listening is really important too.
When you realise how the whole web of life supports and nourishes you, you can’t help but respect it and value all forms of life even the bits that might scare you.
Q. What are your top 3 favourite flowers/plants
Dahlias, nettles and herbs.
About : Mags is a floral designer passionate about the environment and growing nectar rich flowers that celebrate the seasons. She believes you can cultivate beauty that has a positive and supportive effect on our environment. #BeeKind
Contact/website: (086) 0823318
bumblebeeflowerfarm.ie Instagram @bumblebeefarm_
