All water flows downstream
The Untamed Gardener
Aisling Blackburn
The Blackwater is at its lowest ebb, about three metres from the high mark. It’s a long drop from the bridge and you can just make out the water crowfoot, as well as lilies and grassy-like plants.
There are multi-coloured fallen leaves trapped in its fronds, and they sway gently back and forth like the ones in the pre-Raphaelite painting ‘Ophelia’. Interestingly, this iconic artwork though beautiful in content, is representative of the control of women in Victorian England and - contemporary culture’s preoccupation with images of youthful female mortality - Alison Smith.
According to the Tate website, “The background painted the Hogsmill river in Surrey from life. Elizabeth Siddal posed for Ophelia in a bath of water kept warm by lamps underneath” – how her skin hath wrinkled methinks. Often spoken about is rising tides, but what about water levels as they recede? What revelations of the past are uncovered during a dry spell. If she - the river - has been treated as a dumping site, bicycles and other rusting paraphernalia will stick out from the riverbed. As I lean over the bridge, of this ‘Blackwater’, there are birds and a blackthorn burdened with blue sloe, only just out of reach. They escape greedy human hands as they ripen and drop as offerings into the dark depths later in winter.
Haven
Forgotten building sites, waste places, roadsides and the areas around farm buildings untouched by the plough are biodiversity hot spots, unattractive as they are safe from pillaging. There are more pilgrimage sites like these, mentioned to me by other plant enthusiasts. One such site lies outside Ballyconnell town where among the broken tiles and rubble, is a haven for the bee orchid Ophrys apifera, or was for a few years.
A shady place under Beech trees beside a favourite fishing spot is where the broad leaved, Epipactis helleborine grows and mysteriously escapes crushing by cars. Just up the lane I have been keeping an eye each year on a single pennyworth, Umbilicus rupestris. I know this plant from the cliff walk in Bray, where it’s found in abundance on the rock face.
It’s growing vertically out of the end of the hedge where there may be a buried stone. Car parks are a great place to find wild plants, where the soles and tyres of various travellers’ deposit seeds from place to place.
The Mississippi, The Jordan, The Congo, The Nile, The Amazon, The Ganges, The Liffey, The Shannon, The Boyne and the Three Sisters are so famous, even children know their names. Many are associated with female deities. The Shannon pot in West Cavan is where the inspirational Goddess Sionann also rises. But we no longer seem to revere rivers.
Destructive
Sadly, as water levels drop, what is revealed is the ugly reality of fish kills, algae blooms and the stench of chemicals wreaking havoc in our streams. There is only so much a body of water can do to purify our crap. The seen and worse still, the unseen waste, is quietly dumped in far greater concentrations than in the past and therefore more destructive to wildlife. Think the recent kill along the Blackwater in North Cork where 50,000 and more fish have been wiped out. We really need to clean up our act.
The EPA shows 58% of rivers are satisfactory, but the south, east and southeast have the highest concentration of dissolved inorganic nitrogen. What can we do?
Well for instance, leftover paint – artists, painters and teachers - wipe out trays with old rags or paper before rinsing. Re-use paint and allow cans to dry out and recycle them (not always the cheapest option). Many recycling centres do not take them or charge a whopping 3-5 euro for each one. To stop brushes from going hard, wrap them in rags or plastic bags until the final clean, then wash in a container, please do not pour down the drain. When asked what to do with this wastewater the council had no such protocol in place. Paint and thinners are toxic, and all water flows downstream. Check the label of an average house cleaning item where it says, ‘harmful to aquatic life’. Could we consider changing our washing powders and softener to an eco-version, or make our own?
Here’s what I use:
Laundry liquid: 25g soda crystals, three tablespoons bicarbonate of soda, a half block of olive oil soap and 1 litre of water. Grate the soap and melt it in a pot with the water. When cold add the rest of the ingredients and blend together. Add essential oils.