Anna Browne

In the middle of January and while still concerned about Omicron infections, we had a heartwarming but socially distant sushi making class in Mullingar.

We began with some discussion of the equipment and materials, and then Anna proceeded to demonstrate mixing sushi rice and rolling some Norimaki.

Then it was over to the participants who had lots of practice rolling several nori maki. As it happened all the participants were vegetarians, and we had a wide range of cooked and raw veggies to fill the rolls.

Favourites on the night were the beetroot & sesame seed and the avocado and  cream cheese with spring onions and 3 cornered leeks.

To accompany the sushi, we made a ginger miso dressing to toss a seasonal salad, and some miso soup using a konbu stock. It was delightful to sit and sample all the combinations, slurp the hot soup, and practice eating salad with chopsticks!

There were lots of leftover for the participants to bring home for a very portable lunch the next day. We finished up with Green tea and pumpkin sourdough cake with a peanut icing.

I’ll be running this course in Dublin over the Summer, and again in Mullingar if there’s interest – sign up for my newsletter to hear about what’s happening in the gardens monthly and upcoming courses.

Our Sustainable Living Workshops are the perfect way to get a gentle introduction to skills that you can use in your day-to-day life.

Bread & Jam might seem like a simple treat, but it’s so much better when you’ve made that bread and preserved that fruit yourself! Go with the classics like Blackcurrant or Raspberry, or invent your own combinations. Growing fruit is one of the easiest ways to begin growing your own, but what to do with the all the fruit you’ll harvest? Of course you can leave it for the birds and the bees, but it’s lovely to remember the taste of the summer, eating fruit that you have preserved yourself.

Fermented food is a great way to treat your gut well, and using sourdough to bake bread is a great way to get into fermentation. Using a no-knead technique, time does the work of aligning the gluten. The result is bread that is both delicious and better for you than bread made using commercial yeast. My no-knead sourdough course finishes up with a ‘Pizza night’ where the whole class makes and eats pizza.

For something REALLY different, give home-made sushi a try. Sushi is about more than fish, in fact it’s a really good way to make an exciting and impressive vegan dinner. It’s not that tricky once you understand the basic ingredients, and we’ll spend plenty of time practicing rolling ‘maki’ rolls to give you the confidence to make them at home.

Learn how to grow your own flowers – we believe that everyone has ‘green fingers’, if you just give yourself a chance to exercise them! Whether you’ve got a window-box or a whole field to fill, learn about what works best for your space, when to plant it and tips to improve your chances for success. Growing from seed gives you more control over the varieties and quantity and you know that the plants you grow yourself haven’t been treated with systemic pesticides.

Handmade soap is a lovely gift – either for friends or for yourself. It’s a little tricky to make – but you don’t need a degree in Chemistry as long as you follow instructions carefully and measure everything precisely. In this full day course, participants will watch Anna make soap, and then they will get the chance to try for themsleves. Using everyday, easy-to-find items as moulds, and an assortment of essential oil and botanicals to scent and colour, you’ll personalise your own soap. Finally you’ll get a chance to unmould some soap that Anna has made and cured previously, and experiment with cutting, wrapping and labelling it to bring home.