Harvest festival in Waterford, 2017

As we crossed the Knockmealdowns and returned to County Waterford, why not to visit Waterford city again, especially on a Harvest festival weekend.

Harvest festival is a lot about eating and being merry. Parnell street is turned into an outdoor restaurant, live music is playing, some people are cooking and all the other people are eating.

Cuisine from around the world.

And cakes, cakes and more cakes! I got a bag of delicious homemade marshmallows – passion fruit flavor, yum.

Apple juice from the award winning Clashganny organic Farm. 

Banana bread from Dunmore East Amish Mennonite community bakery.

Organic vegetables from GIY Waterford, which stands for, of course, Grow It Yourself.

This is Síona from GROW.

She and her colleague are running the Grow Cook Eat stand, and I can see that it is popular and many people stop by to get a brochure. GIY is a not-for-profit enterprise dedicated to supporting, educating and inspiring people to grow some of their own food.

I am a huge fan and supporter of the GIY idea. It is not only about food. It is one of the aspects of carers mentality. Care for the Earth, resources, health, life.

GROW headquarters in Ardkeen offer a great variety of classes and workshops, including yoga and mindfulness meditation, chicken and bee-keeping, fermented drinks and beer brewing. Just everything.

I am moving from one location to another looking for some craft workshops, but cannot find any. Last year there were plenty – some of them were featured in my blog.

Honey harvest stand looks and smells beautifully.

This man is selling miniature Standing Stones. They look cute and I would love to talk about them with the artist himself, but I am afraid he doesn’t like photographers 😉 As far as I know the artist’s name is Peter Atkins, from Waterford. The replicas he makes are really cute 🙂

But this beautiful lady from Ballybeg Greens likes photographers. Good for her!

I spot a pair of donkey ears in the painting. Carol Murray’s works are here as a part of the outdoor exhibition Art on the Railings where young and established artists of different mediums can hang their artwork in the Viking Triangle.

And look who is here! My ‘friends’ from Dunmore East 🙂

Of course these two gentlemen had nothing to do with the incident at the oyster farm 🙂 They were nice and didn’t mind to be photographed.

These poor creatures deserve a word of mention. They had to wear heavy wigs and thick garb, and those creepy ride-on costumes with fake legs… No wonder they looked so sad. They didn’t even have a proper walking staff to keep their balance and had to use tree branches …

… while there were hundreds of beautiful Shillelaghs!

I just couldn’t take my eyes off all those cute animals.

I hope you enjoyed the festival. Next week we are going to Dublin.

inesemjphotography Have a wonderful weekend!

87 comments

      1. My mother has endless pair of Doc Martins, I might just nick a boot and stuff a plant in it. Her reaction might be interesting.

  4. Wonderful blog again. I think I am very hungry after looking at it! I do not think I have ever had a homemade marshmallow.

    1. Syd, I googled them right away, and was shaken to learn that a homemade marshmallow is nothing but a mixture of corn syrup and gelatin with added flavor. Nothing else. But boy, the texture was divine!

  5. What a very enchanting post, Inese! Your Harvest Festival looks just like the place to be! Of course, I enjoyed all your lovely photographs, but especially those of the food!!! It´s entirely your fault that I´m now heading to the kitchen and grab some cookies! 😉 Will have to bike an extra round later in the park! Haha! 😀
    And I´m totally in love with those beautiful little carved animals on the heads of the Shillelaghs!!! They looks so tiny and perfect! I couldn’t´t have decide which to pick! Have a lovely Sunday! xxxxxxxxxx 🙂

    1. Thank you so much, Sarah! Many countries have that culture of making the walking sticks. I am sure you have plenty of them in Germany. They are a tribute to the car-less era 🙂
      I am sorry that I am such a bad influence 😉 You should try those homemade marshmallows… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

      1. You’re very welcome, Inese! And I’m sure you’re right about there being made lovely walking sticks in Germany too although I’ve never seen any. Probably more likely to be found in south Germany like in the Blackforest…
        Ah – don’t tempt me! Those marshmallows should be illegal 😉 xxxxxxxxxxx

  7. Those are excellent portraits and storytelling shots. The Standing Stones guy reminds me of Angry Pixie from Enchanted Wood. Those Shillelaghs are an art into themselves. I can’t wait to go to Dublin, please!

  9. You bring the magic of harvest so beautifully with this post. Your first shot is spectacular ~ so rare to have such a brilliant blur with a crisp surrounding of people. Wonderful. Harvest is such a special time and the celebrations so deserved ~ enjoyment with food, wine and overall letting go of the stress (pre-harvest worries) are something that never changes for those whose lives depend on the weather and nature. Love seeing the oysters…

    1. Thank you so much! I used a slightly slower shutter speed to get that picture. Luckily, the spectators didn’t move mesmerized by the carousel 🙂
      I finished reading your new post and my computer froze. I will make a comment tomorrow 🙂 Great photography reflecting the narration to perfection.

      1. These are my favorite types of shots, something a bit creative and out of the box.
        This is the beauty of playing with shutter speed. I usually shoot aperture priority, so when shooting a scene that looks interesting (movement around my still subject), I will play with the depth of field for a bit of this effect…but you master it so well with this shot. Love it, and yes, having something mesmerizing like a carousel helps 🙂 Beautiful.

  12. You know Inese, Waterford sounds to be like heaven on earth to live and there is everything right with being merry. Now this post, I did not just want to take the walk, I wanted to sit there at the tables with you xxxx

    1. Thank you! 🙂 It was fun, the tables in the middle of the street. Now after the horrible shooting in Las Vegas I think that it is so cruel and cowardly to attack people whilethey are being happy and joyful.

  13. A wonderful walk along with you here. Foods and art works go so well together. Glad to see many people like photographers. I hope who that did not was still kind to one even he/she does not like the photographer 🙂

    The small art works on shillelagh are so cute!

    1. Haha, yes that man looked like he didn’t want to be interviewed, but at least he didn’t tell me anything rude as some people do. He is selling his stones right across the street from my house. I see them from my window 🙂
      The shillelaghs were beautiful. I didn’t buy any because we already bought one in 2012.

    1. Thank you Joseph! It was a great collection of the walking canes, beautifully crafted. Most of them are Irish traditional shillelaghs, a little bit over-varnished and over-decorated, but still very impressive.

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