We were due to depart from the USA on Sunday, but our flights were cancelled due to Hurricane Irene so we are now scheduled to leave on this coming Sunday the 4th. In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to share some cherry-licious photos from our tour of Door County last week.

Even though it’s late in the season, the trees at Hyland Orchard still had pretty + tart Montgomery cherries ready to be picked by curious little hands.

When you arrive at the orchard you feel like you’ve stepped back in time when you spot this vintage beauty

And these tempting buckets of gorgeous, freshly picked cherries were certainly mouth-watering….

After you grab a your own bucket, you are escorted to the pretty orchard, complete with rows + rows of trees and a big red barn in the distance

Geoffrey enjoyed picking cherries and we brought a little bag home to share with our friends

It was a wonderful way to spend a sunny afternoon in Door County

Slan Abhaile,

Imen

Because of the changes in our itinerary, I will sadly not be participating in Electric Picnic this weekend. Hope to see you at GIY Gathering in Waterford on the 10th and 11th. 

Photos by Imen McDonnell. Styled by nature. 

Tags: cherries, DOor County, Farming, food, Hyland Orchard, Imen McDonnell, ireland, irish farmer

Yes, we went to the Irish Fair, and yes, we had a lovely….noteworthy time {incl. a very odd introduction to “Irish Nachos”}

But, then we packed up, headed east and, as is always the case when I reach my hometown, time seems to stand still and so do we. Will be travelling back to Ireland on the 28th where I will hit the ground running with a number of events in which to attend and/or participate, if you are in Ireland or planning a trip in early September please come along!

August 30th Food Summer School feat. Alice Waters & Darina Allen, Brooklodge Hotel

September 4th Electric Picnic, Theatre of Food, {Farmhouse Butter Making + Cooking Demo}

September 5th, Outstanding in the Field, Ballymaloe House, Shanagarry, Co Cork

September 10th, GIY Gathering, Waterford Royal Theatre {Farmhouse Butter Making Demo}

Normal foodie posts will resume once we are back on the farm….until then, we will be dallying on the dunes.

Slan Abhaile,

Imen

Photo by Imen McDonnell

Tags: Alice Waters, Ballymaloe, Bord Bia, Brooklodge, Electric Picnic, farmhouse butter, GIY Ireland, I Married An Irish Farmer, Imen McDonnell, ireland, Irish, Outstanding in the FIeld, Waterford

If you have reached this blog for the first time, you may be wondering what on earth a Pedal Pub has to do with marrying an Irish farmer….well, I can tell ya. For 1. we could certainly use a pedal pub or two in our part of the world and 2. I am currently Stateside getting my fill of summer city livin’ {for you Irish farmers interested in marrying American city girls, this is a prerequisite). If you’re not interested in my American summer musings, have a peek at this post or this or even this to see what I am usually getting up to in my little Irish farmhouse kitchen + studio.

This week I have made two too good to be true acquaintances. One, as seen above involves a pedal powered pub and the other, the stunning @freshtartsteph of Dara & Co/Minnesota Monthly and her own lovely food blog, Fresh Tart.

While I was driving through the city centre today, I spotted The Pedal Pub cycling down a busy street. I did a double-take because I hadn’t seen such a thing before. There sat 8 people bellied up to the bar, casually pedaling away. Good way to have some cheer and burn off the calories at the same time. Awesome!

Stephanie Meyer and I had been swapping tweets & messages for a few months before I arrived in the Twin Cities this summer. I am in love with every ounce of her food posts as well as her column in Minnesota Monthly mag. She’s the eyes and ears of the Mpls-St. Paul locavore movement and clearly puts loads of passion + effort into championing her hometown food brands/chefs/restaurants and farms. Stephanie also created  MN Food Bloggers, which has gathered local food bloggers together into one big happy family. She organises special monthly events and shares valuable information on loads of great foodie endeavours in MN.

We met for a light lunch at Lucia’s...and ended up chatting for three hours!  In person, she is delectably genuine +  really sweet (see that smile?). Actually: irresistible. We hit it off straight away and are already planning another foodie gathering before I go back to Ireland. Yay!

Next week: Ireland in America…it started off when I stumbled upon Clodagh’s book at Anthropologie this week

Slan Abhaile,

Imen

Photos by Imen McDonnell

Tags: beer, Dara & Co, food, foodies, Imen McDonnell, ireland, Lucias, Married an Irish Farmer, Minnesota Monthy, MN Food Bloggers, Pedal Pub, Stephanie Meyer