When the word ‘rainforest’ is mentioned, it immediately conjures up an image of humid tropical jungles far from home, burgeoning with a dizzying abundance of life in all its forms and with an air of danger and otherness. In a temperate north-western European context, our peatlands have sometimes been referred to as the miniature, northern, version of the rainforest, but in fact Ireland is home to a habitat that ticks most of the boxes to be called a genuine rainforest.
Read MoreThe purpose of the Autumn Experience Week, same as it was for the Spring Experience Week, was to find a way to bring people into the fold of Hometree in a physical way, to get hands on experience but also have time with the staff and each other. It has been said we know exactly what we need to do to protect the environment, but for some reasons it is not happening.
Read MoreThis report will provide the first follow-up assessment to the initial baseline survey carried out in 2021, which documented the ecological condition of the spruce plantation known as the Illaun Farm-Forest (Costigan 2021). The Biodiversity Metric 3.1 was used to score the site as it allowed for the rapid assessment of biodiversity indicators.
Read MoreOur Farm-Forest EIP has a large community engagement, so we are thrilled to announce that throughout the months of June and July we will be hosting Illaun Farm-Forest EIP Community and Farm Talk Series.
Read MoreHometree’s EIP is the Illaun Farm-Forest Alliance, and it will foster an alliance between landowners committed to enhancing on-farm biodiversity throughout the Glendine Valley in County Clare. In this video Matt Smith, general manager and co-founder of Hometree, talks about the benefits these woodlands will offer to the farmlands taking part in the Illaun Farm-Forest Alliance project.
Read MoreHometree’s Engagement and Education officer Ray Ó Foghlú runs the farmer engagement side of the Illaun Farm-Forest Alliance. Hometree is working to support farmers in ways that benefit their farm, but also the broader environment. The idea was built around a complex of small oakwoods near Miltown Malbay.
Read MoreEarlier this Spring, March 14 - 21, Hometree hosted the Spring Volunteer Retreat Week. This week was a lovely example that showed the dedication of Irish people to engage and learn about the environment and how to protect and regenerate it. Volunteers and Hometree staff met on Monday morning; we had some time to get to know each other, learn about why we are all there and what we hoped to get out of the week.
Read MoreApril is the Earth Month, and for the past eight years we have invited people to connect with nature throughout the year, and we continue to do so every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month at our Ennistymon headquarter site.
Read MoreAt the end of February we started the first thinning of sitka spruce. The first step is to fell one in every six rows of conifers. We will also free up any native trees we come across, by thining the spruce around them.
Read MoreLast September we broke ground on our new Headquarters facility at Ardnaculla, County Clare. The new facility partially replaces the old farm sheds that were there when we established ourselves here earlier this year. It features indoor space perfect for gathering to learn about trees while sheltering from the rain on one of our busy tree planting and maintenance days!
Read MoreHometree has completed a survey of hedgerows at our Illuan Farm-Forest site, and the results are inspiring! Two of the hedgerows are ancient townland boundaries that date to the 8th century. These man-made structures have high embankments and deep ditches and support significant biodiversity.
Read MoreWe had heard of Continuous Cover Forestry, which would allow some Spruce to be removed while leaving the rest in place to provide a protective canopy for new saplings. But introducing a massive disturbance like this to an ecosystem is bound to have both positive and negative effects on biodiversity. So we needed a way to measure these effects over time, in order to ensure our actions are as restorative and healing as possible.
Read MoreLast autumn we got the fantastic news that Hometree has been approved by the Department of Agriculture to receive funding for a year-long European Innovation Partnership (EIP). Hometree’s EIP will be known as the Illuan Farm-Forest Alliance and will foster an alliance between landowners committed to enhancing on-farm biodiversity throughout the Glendine Valley in County Clare.
Read MoreNative woodlands are among the most biodiverse ecosystems in the Irish landscape. A new temperate woodland in Europe can take 100 years to reach similar levels of species richness. Plus, up to 80% of a woodland's plant diversity is found in its understory, which doesn't develop in a new temperate woodland as it does in native woodland.
Read MoreIn August 2020, we made our first offer on the land in Ennistymon, and in May 2021 we got the 'keys'. It's sixteen and a half acres of agricultural land just outside Ennistymon in County Clare. From the peak of a hill in the middle of the land you can see the beach of Lahinch and the mouth of the River Inagh.
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