Food from an Irish garden - Fiona Dillon

'I'm not a professional chef. I'm not a horticulturist. I'm not a professional photographer. I'm not a farmer. I was the girl who could burn water, and I truly believed that my fingers might be any colour throughout my life, but they would never be green. I had never seen a pig or a chicken up close. Wasps and bees were all the same to me - to be avoided at all costs.'
That's how slick businesswoman and housework-shy mother-of-four Fiona Dillon felt before she embarked on a stress-free, back-to-basics journey that was to change her life, and that of her family. Now a certified trainer, radio broadcaster and popular food blogger and writer with Irish Country Magazine and the UK's Home Farmer, Fiona has come a long way. These days her home is filled with the smell of freshly baked bread and her larder is stocked with home-made jams, relishes and syrups. She grows her own fruit and vegetables, keeps chickens, geese, pigs and bees, and makes the finest sloe gin this side of the Mississippi!
In this no-nonsense, jargon-free guide, she shows you just how you too can be on the road to self-sufficiency without any great upheaval in your life. Following her 'one-step-at-a-time' principles and stress-free approach, Fiona will have you collecting eggs, baking bread and making butter and jam in no time at all.
If you dream of a simpler life and healthier food, walking a few yards to collect the finest, freshest eggs, going out to your garden or patio to pull fresh vegetables for dinner, or simply cooking up a storm in your kitchen, then this is the book for you. Whether you live in a city apartment or a rural cottage, Food from an Irish Garden will help you make the most of your space. From sacks of potatoes and hanging baskets filled with tomatoes to pots of salads and even wellies filled with herbs, you'll never look at a patio or porch the same way again.