Ómós Digest #218: Springing Forward
An insight into some springtime developments on site.
Spring has always been a time of renewal. A welcome post-winter restart that sets a new pace for the months ahead. It is also a season defined by the smaller moments: the longer evenings, shoots pushing through the soil, and the quiet realisation that summer is just around the corner. For us, this is a summer that has been a long time coming. Yet amongst the hustle and bustle of it all, these smaller moments have been plentiful of late - whether on site, in our test kitchen, or at our daily meetings. Our hive of activity in Abbeyleix is now far removed from the cocoon it once was.
It’s these small moments that matter most to us. One such moment came this week while walking through part of our newly planted garden. We paused to pick some oyster leaf that had only recently been sown. Crushing its leaves gently between our hands, it released its quintessential essence. The air around us was suddenly filled with an unmistakable seaside aroma; that saline quality capturing something so purely coastal, even here in the Midlands. There is such a quiet and simple pleasure in being able to walk through a garden like this, one that we are so fortunate to call our own. This feeling was brought home over the past few days as we took a significant step in transitioning from a building site into a fully realised guesthouse and restaurant.
This week was one full of planting, which took place around the grounds, as we planted seasonal cherry blossom, magnolia and hawthorn, to name but a few. Setting down literal roots felt both cathartic and cyclical, as we began to fine-tune the garden in tandem with the growing season ahead.
