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.
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...
A tale of two companies
A couple of weeks ago we had an amazing electrical storm, which knocked out our broadband, and also part of our power setup, called the CCGX, which displays information about the whole system and sends it to the outside world.
Open day success
There’s nothing quite like the promise of visitors to get a load of jobs done, and the week leading up to our open day was no exception. Paving laid, beds cleared, weeds thinned, and some serious tidying up. The weather smiled on us the entire time, and our worrying was put aside as a great crowd turned up on the day.
Runner ducks
This morning we set off over the mountains to Kilkeel to fetch home some Indian Runner ducks – 4 ducks and a drake (we hope) who are just 2 days old, and have temporarily moved in with our Hubbard chicks, who are just a few days older.
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.
The gardens erupt into life
The growing season is well under way, inside and out, and we’re running to keep up with all the growth.