Finishing touches
Nearly two years after building the classroom, we thought it was about time that the floor got finished. It’s lovely Douglas Fir, and was getting progressively more filthy, but deserved better.
Offcuts
Took a trip up to Ballytrim Sawmill with Brian the other day to pick up larch flooring, and spotted a huge pile of oak offcuts – the remainder of a big timber frame. They are wonderful pieces of wood, and so my search for bedside tables is over. Several hours of...
Restoring a gate
This locally made gate came from our kind neighbours Fiona and David, and though of considerable age, is incredibly solid. It is likely made by the Walkers of Ballyward, who have blacksmithed there for generations.
Building a pallet yurt
Occasionally I am let off the farm for good behaviour, and so on Sunday I set off for Co.Wicklow, and Castleruddery Organic Farm to learn how to make a yurt from pallets, with ‘Rubberband’ Ray Edwards. Ray is an inventive guy, and under his excellent tuition, our group learned how to make an extremely sturdy yurt.
Sheds come and go
We are now starting our fourth year here at Lackan Cottage Farm, and what seems like an endless series of building projects is at last coming to an end. The cottage refurbishment, polytunnels, compost loo, stables, the little cottage, outhouse, woodshed, bike store, paths, ponds, wind turbine and solar arrays, and most recently the rebuild of the old hay shed into a workshop and bigger hay shed.
Out with the old, in with the – old
A few miles from us in Ballyward, is the blacksmith’s forge of the Walker brothers. Gates have been made there and horses shod for generations, and Walker made gates a century old are still in use and good repair. Gate styles are very distintive things, and I hope that someone has taken the time to research them properly, though I can find nothing online.