Birch Cottage has a new website of its own
Visit the Birch Cottage website to bookWelcome to Lackan Cottage Farm
We’re Steve and Claire Golemboski-Byrne, we live here off grid with our daughter, our dog, cats and horses. We make all our own energy using wind and solar, grow as much of our own food as we can (it varies widely) and have used permaculture design principles to help us create a great place to live.
Here on the website you’ll find stories about the projects we’ve undertaken – what works, what doesn’t. You can come stay in our guest cottage – Birch Cottage and we will show you round, or maybe you just want to find out how to do some of this stuff. Either way, welcome.
The magical Mournes
We went off up the coast to Killough to a plant swap event this weekend, an on the way home discovered one of our favourite views ever of the Mournes. The A2 from Killough to Clough is surely one of the most picturesque routes we’ve been on and is definitely a trip we’d recommend to visitors, especially if they are visiting Castle Ward
A look from above
It is always fascinating to take a look at the farm from a different viewpoint, and this drone footage does that perfectly. In the middle of one of the driest periods on record, our forest gardens and woodland are holding up really well, in contrast to the pasture around them. Thanks to Danny for filming for us – we’re planning our next phase of forest garden, and being able to see the land from the air is invaluable.
A taste of Lackan Cottage Farm permaculture smallholding
We made a short film about the farm which gives a flavour of the place. There was so much we wanted to include but it’d get long so they’ll be in another. Enjoy 🙂 If there is some aspect of what we do here that you’d like to hear more about, let us know and we’ll come up with something.
Celebrating locally made crafts
At Birch Cottage we believe that in an age of mass production, beautiful locally made craft items with a story to tell make our place truly magical. Here is our dragon fire poker, made at the forge in the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum. Isn’t it fine? You’ll find that most of the items in the cottage are one of a kind, and we’re always happy to tell visitors all about them.
Brassicas from the dome
Today we were planting out the young brassicas grown in modules in the polydome. After weeks without rain, the soil is very dry.
Early summer in the tunnels
This growing season was slow to get going, even in the polytunnels, but after all the warm weather, it’s all growing like mad. Today we’re having a look round with Claire at what is coming on in the tunnels. We’re new to this film making thing so bear with us.