Months of good weather has meant a lot of being outside and not very much sitting inside at the computer.  So often, while out and about or working in the woods, I noticed things worth writing about, but somehow didn’t have the inclination nor discipline to open up the computer for anything other than the most essential tasks.  ”I’ll write a couple of posts when the weather breaks” I kept saying to myself.  But of course the weather held, and it’s still fabulous.  So resolving that the weather will stay good for another few weeks, today I took a walk down to the young plantation and remembered to bring my camera. Here’s some of what I saw:

Not long after the trees were planted (1995) we made some bridges across the ditches to make real easy access to the forest. We put chicken wire over the timber so they wouldn’t be slippy. Normally in March the timber is coated with slime and moss, - but look at it now.  Completely dry. In 30 years of living in Ireland I don’t ever remember the ground being so very dry at this time of the year.

The vegetation has been utterly beaten back by first severe flooding; then heavy snow falls; then severe frost for a prolonged period, and now you could almost say drought. Ideal conditions now to get in and do some pruning before the vegetation begins to grow.

Check this out…. No gum boots! Imagine being able to walk out into my very low-lying, usually swampy alder forest wearing just sneakers on my feet in the middle of March! Incredibly dry underfoot.

I passed over the now dislodged big bridge that crosses from the wetter, alder land onto the bank of the higher and drier, oak, birch, hazel part of the forest. This heavy bridge was lifted off its anchorage by the floods back in November. It weighs a ton and will take a couple of very strong people to put it back in position.

While I was crossing this bridge I heard the unmistakeable sound of mating frogs….thousands of them.  I could see them in the distance from the bridge but of course as soon as I crept nearer they, quite rightly, vanished out of camera range. We have four ponds along the wettest area of the forest.  Some we keep clear of weed but we leave this large pond with grass and only clear away the brambles from around the edges.  It makes a perfect breeding pond for frogs. If you look hard you can see some of the slower frogs in the bottom left corner. The grassy surface was swarming with hundreds of frogs until I crept over with my camera. I know, I know, - I don’t have the patience to be a wildlife photographer!

Love is in the air.  Spring has arrived…… today anyway.  Although experience tells me that there’s bound to be some more weather to come before ‘May is out’.

• testing twitter with facebook #fb #

There are now 161 members in the LinkedIn Network Group.

I would like to welcome our latest members:

Colly Murray, Network & Sys Admin @ DIT | Owner @ RetroVino.com

Trevor Coen, Sr Analyst-Non Trading Support at Bank of America

Tommy Weir, Owner, Janey Pictures

Damien Gilheany, Sales at Bosch Security Systems

Jonathan Pipe, Computer Engineer at ‘the computer guy”

• preparing for this evenings Leitrim Business Network meeting - 6.30pm - The Ramada Hotel - http://bit.ly/a3smtY #

29 Companies attended the March Network Meeting yesterday evening.

Our new agenda item entitled ‘Member Presentations - learn from your peers’ featured:

1. Fiona McGuire - Fiona McGuire Photography

2. Kevin Callaghan - Kevin Callaghan Construction

3. Oonagh Monahan - Alpha Omega Consultants

Each business owner presented their business, 1 improvement they have introduced and 1 challenge they are facing where other members suggesting ideas and possible solutions.

Some great ideas were shared both by the members presenting and those in attendance.

It is planned that this be a regular feature and we encourage members to get in touch if they wish to present. It is an opportunity to promote your business and get ideas and suggestions around the challenges you face in your business.

We also encourage members to sign up and contribute to the Network Group on LinkedIn.

Further notes from the meeting are available in the podcast below.

**Next Meeting**
**Member Presentations – Learn from your peers**
**Business Network Podcast**
**Introduce yourself with LinkedIn**
**Introduce a business**
**Network Feedback**

**Next Meeting**

The March network meeting will take place on Tuesday next March 2nd at 6.30pm in The Ramada Hotel.

**Member Presentations – Learn from your peers**

As discussed at the last meeting, we would like 3 network members to make a 5 minute presentation about their business.

This is an opportunity to introduce your business to other members in addition to practicing your presentation and sales skills.

We would also like each business owner presenting to cover 1 improvement they have introduced to their business and 1 challenge they are facing where members could suggest solutions.

1 Minute - You and your business
1 Minute - An improvement you have introduced
1 Minute - A challenge you are facing
2 Minutes - Feedback/Suggestions from members

**Business Network Podcast**

I have started the network podcast again and I am looking for members to interview. Again, this is an opportunity to promote your business and practice your presentation/sales skills.

Podcasts will be uploaded to http://www.leitrimbusinessnetwork.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/LeitrimBusiness

**Introduce yourself with LinkedIn**

There are now 156 members in the network LinkedIn group

I have set up a discussion called “Introduce yourself” where you can do exactly that so please do.

**Introduce a business**

Do you know of another Leitrim based business that would benefit from joining the network, if so why not bring them along next Tuesday, it’s FREE?

**Network Feedback**

We continue to encourage you to send up feedback and suggestions about the network, topics for discussions and presenters you feel would be of interest to the group.

Martino Newcombe and friends

Word just in from Martino Newcombe and Tom Nixon of Trojan Horses that we can see them and their magnificent horses at work this coming Tuesday night at 8.30pm, RTE 1, on Ear to the Ground.  Do some home work by checking out their blog site in advance of the programme and you’ll begin to really understand why these two guys have such belief in writing horse logging back into the Irish forestry story. Fantastic work.  Enormous commitment. And I’ve no doubt it will be fantastic viewing on Tuesday night.  don’t miss it!

• New podcast at http://bit.ly/ct2Kny #
• RT @thedockarts: The Dock’s Spring Programme just about finalised…very exciting…its gonna be a good one folks #

Text Version

“Welcome to the Leitrim Business Network Podcast. It’s been a while since we’ve done a podcast so we’re back now using a new piece of software and we will have more frequent podcasts. Briefly, I am going to discuss the business network itself for those who maybe new to the network. It’s a network for businesses based in County Leitrim and we meet on the first Tuesday of every month at 6:00pm. It’s free to join the network and there is information available at Leitrimbusinessnetwork.com. So I am using today’s podcast to put a call out to Leitrim Business Owners if they would like to be interviewed.”

30 business people from across the county attended this months network meeting. Therese Hackett of Ciúnas gave an informative presentation on Presentation Skills.

Joe Lowe updated attendees about the new financials supports available from Leitrim County Enterprise Board.

Under ‘Sharing New Ideas’ the following 3 ideas were suggested:

1. Enclose an addressed envelope when issuing statements from your business making it easier for customers to send payment

2. Companies should consider applying for an Innovation Voucher from Enterprise Ireland and also introducing a voucher system for their own business as a way to get new customers e.g. free 2 hour consultancy

3. Focus on your own health as well as the health of your business.

The next meeting will take place on March 2nd - Details to follow.