Food from the island and the kitchen garden

Sugar kelp for crunchy meal toppings.

With the beginnings of growth all around, I’m feeling fresh enthusiasm and energy! It’s time to return to the garden and start planting for upcoming retreats. Today, I’m putting in a load of onion sets and broad beans and thinking about the delicious meals we’ll create with them.

In addition to curating our kitchen garden, we’ve been foraging and preserving seasonal ingredients, ensuring that our course attendees can savor the taste of a Lismore spring all year round. We’ve gathered and frozen plenty of wild garlic to make delicious wild garlic pesto throughout the seasons.

Recently, a low tide allowed us to forage for a variety of seaweeds, including dulce, curly wrack, sea lettuce, and sugar kelp (Pictured above). These nutritious and flavorful ingredients make fantastic crispy sprinkles to elevate many dishes—just one of the many delights you'll experience during our retreats.

We’re also passionate salad foragers! It’s exciting to see self-seeded nasturtiums popping up in the polytunnel, along with abundant rocket, mustard leaf, and plenty of zesty sorrel growing under the hedges.

We're looking forward to sharing these fresh, vibrant flavors with you!

Explore Art Course on the Isle of Lismore

A selection of pickings from the garden