GlutenFreeIreland

I was in Erasmus+ funded Europass education Learning and acting for a better future in Dublin, Ireland. Because of the connections I arrived to Ireland 1.6. and left 10.6. You know I need to follow gluten free diet. When you travel gluten free because of a permanent state of a coeliac disease it challenges your daily routines and feeling of security. I need to follow 3 other diets too but 2 of them are are more like "sustaining" and 1 is absolutely "no" because of a serious allergy. That means I have 2 absolutely no diets and 2 of which I can flex a bit in needed because of the other 2. When travelling, these 2 usually needs to flex a bit but not daily and more that 3 day at time. So, there's a lot of thinking, arranging and preparations for every day of travelling when we think what I can eat because at the end also I need to eat something. 

In Dublin many pubs were aware of there is a thing called "gluten free diet". Most of them had announced the allergens in their menus. Unfortunately most of the ones we visited had no idea of the practical activation to serve or keep it gluten free. At my GlutenFreeZone you can learn more and check things out how to make it and keep it. At my hotel they were aware of it and somehow able to serve it. So, every morning I was first in line at breakfast. I learnt that when you order limited Irish breakfast just with scrambled eggs and bacon there is excellent changes to win in the lottery. I stayed in Lansdowne Hotel. In their favor I must tell that they had excellent table in the dining room for the breakfast where they served fruits, yogurts and other things which are suitable for the persons with coeliac disease. So, the hotel's breakfast provided me a good start to kick the day to run. Because I had proteins compared to my normal lunch like egg and bacon the rest of the day was not in a huge panic what came into my nutrition. It is FashionNOW. We neither need to over consume the food.

With the school group I visited Airfield Estate. It is a very interesting place: a farm in the middle of the city. It was not always in the city but the city grew towards it. It is organic farm run by the idea of sustainability. Airfield has its own restaurant where they provide the farm food they grow. 

They have a big fruit and vegetable garden. It was very interesting. We had a guided tour and limited time in there. You should take a whole day out in there if you are interested to explore the gardens and the whole estate. These are grapevines on the pic above. According to our guide they don't harvest them because the grapevines don't grow so well in there that they don't produce the grapes because of the Ireland weather. The plants itself form out a proper wind shield so they let them be there until figuring our something else. I suggest they could use the leaves, that's why I try to grow one in my green house. You can use them in Mediterranean style cooking. 

At Airfield Estate they have also -of course- a beautiful Victorian style green house. It was allowed to peek in but not to step in. In the future we plan to build another green house at home so you can be sure my curiosity woke up and I needed to see some ideas.

They have also the covered beds for growing at Airfield Estate. It was very interesting because for the future green house we want to make the opening roof.

This mechanism is simple and sustainable solution. I bet it lasts from decades to another. I needed to take a pic of it to remember how it is done.

At Airfield Estate they use the sheep fleece as an insulation to protect the plants against the cold over the winter season. You can buy wool insulation at garden centers too. It is sustainable choice if you need any. I don't use any manufactured frost insulation in my arctic garden. On the open land I farm only the plants that survive here without any special support. In my green house I use Finnfoam frost insulation.

I accidentally crashed at MacAri's stand on the street where they advert their gluten free menu. I had to step in (for the last time I had eaten 8 hours ago something small). I was amazed they served gluten free and the process seemed to be safe and well handled. On that night we had Irish takeaway at Malahide beach. It was a perfect Friday night.

I have no idea about MacAri's sustainability program or ethics but you can't always choose what to shop or eat. When you can, make the right choice for FashionNOW, when not, don't think hard on yourself. Just do your best for the better future. 💚