Posted by Jan on December 3rd, 2009

Last October 2008, I wrote a post about the Pro Silva Ireland trip to the forests of Slovenia.  Pro Silva Europe was launched in Slovenia back in 1989 and this year, in September, instead of just a three day forest trip and a brief committee meeting, a much more comprehensive event was planned to mark [...]

Continue reading about An Urgent Message From Slovenia

Posted by Jan on July 28th, 2009

One of the subjects that frequently comes up on this blog site is ‘clearfell forestry’. I wouldn’t be such an ‘anti’ if it was kind of 50/50 permanent forest/clearfell plantations, or at least a bit more balanced. It’s just that in the Cavan/Leitrim area where I live, there isn’t anything else. (Well, apart from two [...]

Continue reading about The Beauty of Rosebay Willowherb

Mostly I want to keep this blog site jargon free and low tech, but on this post I thought it might be useful to paste up my own notes which include a few facts and figures for those who are interested in more technical details: 
 Het Loo Royal Estate
After a good breakfast we piled into the [...]

Continue reading about Visit to Holland - “Het Loo” Royal Estate and Badger Mountain

Posted by Jan on July 2nd, 2009

Even though I’m back over a week from the Pro Silva Ireland trip to Holland, I haven’t been able to get my head around blogging about it until now.  I could say it’s because we saw so much in just two full days, - but that might give the impression that it was a hectic, [...]

Continue reading about Holland Trip - The Forests of Apeldoorn

Posted by Jan on June 17th, 2009

Two friends of friends are visiting Ireland from Australia and they’ve been staying with me for a couple of days.  We spent Sunday together and I brought them for a visit to the Organic Centre in North Leitrim.  Three reasons: - 1) It’s a great place.  Against all the odds, the Organic Centre was started [...]

Continue reading about Visitors View of the Irish Landscape

Posted by on October 10th, 2008

Returning home from Slovenia after another fabulous forestry trip with Pro Silva Ireland, the grey bleakness of the Irish countryside is getting in on me.
After sleeping a night in a hotel in Dublin to recover from the Ryan Air flight, I’m gazing out the window of the train on the journey home and thinking. Why [...]

Continue reading about 60% Forest Cover = 60% Gross National Product