Even though we only host a holiday once a year to celebrate the mothers in our lives, I think there is more than one day of appreciation to be given to these women around us. From the time we are born, these women nurture and shape us into the people we are today. They do so much for those around them giving love, warmth, and comfort. Often busy from morning to night tending to others, making time for him themselves is often last on the list of priorities. I grew up surrounded by mothers. Whether it was my grandmother, aunties, or mum herself. These are the people who taught me the values of ..read more

As some of you may know, the brand idea for the Flower Child products came from a very simple act of kindness. During 2020 I was struggling with my mental health. It was a time of internal chaos where I was trying my hardest to wear a “mask of happiness”, with a forced sense of enthusiasm and a painted smile. It wasn’t until I received a gift from my best friend that I truly felt seen, understood, and safe to let down the mask of false smiles. I received a card and a gift-wrapped box from Niamh. The card was filled with gentle reminders of why she deemed me to be a valuable addition to her li ..read more

So we have all seen the gift guides that highlight this year’s biggest gimmick or the latest beauty sets released. All the glamourous gift sets packaged with sparkle and festivity. Each year we struggle to find a truly unique gift that will be loved by the recipient. Personally, I find it a nightmare of a task to fulfill my Christmas gift list making sure each person receives a beautiful item that communicates how much I care for them and my appreciation for their role in my life. That is why I am writing my very own Flower Child gift guide. A new gift guide that will help guide you in choosi ..read more

The previous post of this series discussed my life to the point of January 2023. How my life turned from living a blissful dream to experiencing my worst nightmare and biggest fear all in one week. As I dealt with a brain injury following an aggressive seizure along with my life circumstances changing in drastic ways I began to navigate this next chapter of my life that I had just entered. The weeks following my brain injury were chaotic to say the least. As I was scheduled to be admitted to Beaumont hospital for epilepsy monitoring, I struggled to actually get there. For those who are not fa ..read more

In the previous part of this series, I discussed my journey with epilepsy up to the point of Christmas 2022. I highlighted the boundaries I had pushed, the achievements I had made, and the possible mistakes that caused my world to come crashing down around me. In November 2022 I began to notice changes in my health. I could not determine whether the symptoms I was experiencing were either panic attacks, which I had been suffering from for the previous three years, or if they were the beginning of a new kind of seizure that was about to take over my entire life. Frequently, when I would experie ..read more

In the first part of this blog series, I spoke about my journey from experiencing my first seizure to undergoing my first surgery. As I mentioned my first brain surgery did not grant me seizure freedom but drastically improved my quality of life. Moving from 40 tonic-clonic or grand mal seizures a day to intermittent drop attacks, nocturnal seizures, and partial seizures this was a life I was more than happy to live for the past thirteen years. Refusing to let my health define me, I pushed the limits and broke outside the box I originally felt my health place me within. Rejecting the boundari ..read more

My health isn’t something I frequently speak about on these platforms. Not because it is something I am ashamed of not because it is something I'm ashamed of, but rather a case of I want to make sure my health doesn't define me. I have always had the opinion that we are more than our circumstances. At the age of 11 I experienced my first seizure. My family and I were on our way home from an agricultural show when I lost control of my body and began convulsing in the back of the car. At the time I didn't know exactly what was happening but my father had witnessed a seizure before, recognised wh ..read more

The next piece of kit that I in fact don’t leave the back door without is my gardening gloves. Even if it is for a quick walk around the gardens during my lunch break, in my world of an ADHD brain, you never know where the day is going to take you. So, in preparation for any event, whether it is picking a few weeds on my travels or wrestling a goat out of a fence, the garden gloves always seem to find a use. There are so many gardening gloves on the market, and I don’t think there is one best pair out there so instead of recommending a particular style to purchase, I am going to tell you about ..read more

In my last blog post, we talked about design and durability when it comes to shopping for high-quality tools. So now let’s talk about some of the tools that I would count as essential for my gardening tool kit. Here at Turra Lodge Farm one of the things we really struggle with in the gardens is the weeds. As I have steered clear of weed control membrane to reduce the plastic use in the gardens it has meant we now face the yearly battle of Gardeners vs Weeds… one weed in particular we struggle to control is the creeping buttercup. Creeping buttercup is a perennial weed which means it will retu ..read more

Let's talk about garden tools. Garden tools have saved me so much time, energy, and heartache over the years. Having the right tools in your kit is going to change the gardening game for you in ways you didn’t know possible. When I mention garden tools, what often springs to mind for people is those sets of hand tools that you can pick up almost anywhere from a pound shop to a supermarket. A hand trowel, a hand fork, and a hand rake. None of these are what I am talking about here! Well… okay… a hand trowel is actually a necessity, but can we talk about the style and structure of the hand trow ..read more