Well, thats the end of the second week living here at Lackan Cottage Farm, although it feels like we’ve been here months. Despite my impatience to get the building work sorted, I’ve come to the conclusion that a rest day is pretty much unavoidable once a week, as various bits of my body give up in protest and demand beer and a sit down. This week we levelled the earth floors, put in new drainage, got the mezzanine floor in, and a load of rafters up.
A *vast* amount of timber arrived to line the ceilings, and we still seem to be spending money as fast as it is possible, although not far off the budget, which should make it less terrifying but doesn’t.
Our run of weather luck ended, with 3 days of torrential rain, but the sun has finally come through and already things look better.
In between building sessions, we’re watching the land, getting to know it better, and starting to make our permaculture plan, if only vaguely. There are so many opportunities here that it is hard to know where to begin, so a bit of observation isn’t a bad thing.
We’re also getting to know the neighbours, who have all been incredibly welcoming, and helpful. Rathfriland is our nearest town, and it has some fantastic little shops. We got chatting to the butcher, who was able to correctly work out that we had moved into Andersons old place, that the Andersons had been customers of his, and that their neice has the hairdressers next door to him. He also seems to know a French Canadian guy who sounds suspiciously like he is a permaculture guy who has wwoofers, so we will be looking out for him next week.  For now, it is time to have a bit of rest, and prepare for the next assault on the cottage…