Mary White, former Minister of State in conversation with
SANDRA O'CONNELL
POLITICS ENDED with a bang for me in February so these days I’m up at 7am baking bread and scones in time for walkers who arrive at noon.My husband and I have set up Blackstairs Eco Trails, focusing on the secret life of the Blackstairs Mountains and Barrow Valley area.
Visitors have tea and coffee, scones and flapjacks and time for a chat here at home before heading out.
We either walk or take a five-minute drive, in a biofuel car, to our starting point. The walks normally take around two hours but we might stop for 20 minutes in one spot to see an otter on the river or a dipper in a stream.
It’s a low-hills and no-hills ramble looking at birdlife, flora, fauna and fungi.
You’ve heard of slow food, well this is slow walking. There are no forced marches here.
I have spent 15 years as a politician but I’ve been doing this for 30. My husband and I have been keeping detailed records of all the wildlife we have come across for years.
I used to do voluntary walking tours with Carlow Rural Tourism just for the love of it but this one is a commercial venture.
The Blackstairs is not hugely well known but is the small and very beautiful turf-covered range separating us in Carlow from Wexford, with a very rich biodiversity.
I met my husband through a row we had at a party over the colour of a warbler’s legs: he reckoned I wouldn’t know, but I did.
I was home-schooled by my parents for a time. I was unhappy at school so they simply took me out and educated me themselves, which as teachers, they had no problem doing.
I learned all about wildlife from my mother who is a botanist and zoologist.
After the walk we head back for a good old-fashioned rectory tea at home, with bread and home-made jams.
We will then identify some of the species of plant we might have picked up along the way. We have a huge natural history library at home.
The entire day is very laid-back, very sociable and suited to people of all ages. Unhurried, is probably the best word.
We do the walks on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and at other times by appointment. Our daughter Dorothy Ellen, who is a planner, helps out on Saturdays.
Once everyone is gone I wash up and head out to weed the vegetables and water the plants in the greenhouse and tunnel.
We have 16 acres here and grow all our own veg so there’s always digging to do.
In the evening I check e-mails for bookings and update the website with new recipes and information about what wild foods people can safely make use of to cut their grocery bills.
At night I go to bed early, tired from digging and walking and not thinking about Nama or banks at all.
* blackstairsecotrails.ie