Trigonos News Letter 2012
January 2012 enews
Images of Haiti
Paintings and Metal Sculptures by Haitian Artists.
Trigonos: 21st to 27th January
This exhibition of original paintings and sculpture is to celebrate the extraordinary creativity, skill and resilience of the people of Haiti and is the first time it has been shown in Britain.
The paintings and sculptures were bought from the artists and street traders of Port-au-Prince in the weeks following the devastating earthquake of January 2010 by Robin Aherne, an emergency relief worker with the Red Cross. When not abroad Robin lives near Nantmor in Gwynedd.
The exhibition is in The Gallery at Trigonos, Nantlle and
will be opened by Robin at noon on Saturday 21st January.
It will continue until Friday 27th January and is open each day from 11 am to 5 pm. Entrance is free. If bringing a group please telephone in advance, as space is limited.
Find out more Trigonos website In This Issue Trigonos Land Trigonos recipes Late availability PV Panels Weather update Emma
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Trigonos land and food
It's an exciting time of year on the land - sometimes it is frozen, sometimes soaking wet, and rarely workable. This year the weather is mild and it's tempting to make a start on cultivation. Experience teaches caution and so our focus is on the crops in the polytunnels. Salad stuff is always needed and comes from sowings made last autumn. Early onions and carrots have been sown for that first fresh taste of something "real".
In the field we are cropping winter greens, with sprouting broccoli yet to come and, from storage, celeriac, potatoes and some embarassingly large beetroot which, fortunately, our visitors enjoy prepared as Borscht! (see recipe below)Always we have the vision of a beautiful harvest, knowing full well the hindrances on the way. There's nothing quite as rewarding as seeing a field full of healthy vegetables or a tunnel with bright red tomatoes hanging in clusters, and knowing that together land and nature have provided so generously.
Peter and Judy with an enormous savoy cabbage. Trigonos winter 2011. Image by local photographer Alan Price www.gatehousestudio.co.uk
Trigonos Recipes
We often get asked for the recipes of the food we serve at Trigonos but haven't found the time to create a recipe book. As a start, in each enews we will feature a recipe that has proved popular with guests and which is based on seasonal, Trigonos grown vegetables.
Borscht - a traditional beetroot soup serves 6 1½ lb beetroot peeled and chopped into inch cubes 1 cooking apple peeled and diced 1 large onion chopped 4 cloves garlic crushed 3 sticks of celery with leaves chopped 3 pints good stock or water and bouillon ½ tsp marmite or other yeast extract
Method:
Fry onion and add garlic Add all other chopped vegetables and soften with lid on pan Add stock and yeast extract Cook for up to an hour or until beetroot tender Liquidize and season with pepper and salt Serve with natural yogurt and dill Recipe by Ed Kilpatrick, one of Trigonos' chefs Late availabilityWe are offering a special discount of 5% on top of our usual winter discount* on the following dates, which means that a single room full board could cost as little as £48.80 non ensuite or £59.20 ensuite.
22 January - 4 February 8 - 24 February *Winter discount:15% for groups of 10+ staying 3 nights or more or 10% for all other visitors Nov-Feb Whether you want to bring a small or large group or just fancy a few days away with friends or family, please contact us for availability.
Let there be Sunshine
On December 7th The Trigonos photovoltaic array began operation. We have 16 panels generating 4kWh maximum on a good bright clear day. We are optimistic that this will be a frequent event. The cost, around £15,000, has been funded by a loan from Triodos Bank, with whom we have our mortgage. Triodos describes itself as providing "ethical banking for businesses and charities". They have supported Trigonos throughout its 15 year life and we have found them to be excellent partners. http://www.triodos.co.uk
The installation was carried out by Dulas ltd., the company that also installed our woodchip heating system four years ago. http://www.dulas.org.uk ....came rain and shine!Yes, we had them both, as data from our weather station, set up in April 2011 shows. In the nine months to December 1163 mm of rain (46 inches) was recorded with December wettest at 195 mm (7â…” inches) and the 12th the wettest day with 32.8 mm (1â…“ inch).
The highest temperature was 24.8 C on the 3 June and the lowest of -1.7 C on the 6 November.
The strongest wind gust was 55 mph on the 24th October, while the highest mean wind speed as defined by the Met Office (blowing for 10 minutes) was on the 2nd May when an easterly down from Snowdon reached 29 mph.
Our sunshine recording only started in the middle of July. The sunniest day was 27th July when it shone for 12.3 hours.
Emma Jones
Most of you who have visited Trigonos will have met Emma, one of our colleagues working in the kitchen and dining room. Emma died just before Christmas, as the result of an assault near her home. Her death is a tragic loss to her family and especially to her 11 year old son who, as a single parent, she brought up with tremendous devotion.
Emma had a permanent sense of fun and optimism about life. A tutor who regularly visits Trigonos expressed it well:
"Emma was my certain smile. On the silent meals she would catch my eye and wink. Together we would hope our smiles did not become giggles".
Another tutor said:
"Emma was the friendliest of souls - so kind to me when I was recently ill"
And so she was to everyone.
Emma loved riding and not long ago got the loan of a horse. One day she arrived at Trigonos on Peaches - with a big smile as ever. This is how we will remember her.
Trigonos | Plas Baladeulyn | Nantlle | Caernarfon | Wales | LL54 6BW | United Kingdom
by Trigonoson: 13th January 2012
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