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.
Wind turbine first proper test
The windy weather we normally get in October didn't put in an appearance, but finally it is here, and today's weather perfectly illustrates the need for a mixture of generation to keep the lights on all winter. At 10m on an overcast day the PV is producing next to...
Autumn abundance
When we started growing food here, we weren't sure what would thrive, and so I continue to be amazed and grateful when I walk down into the gardens and find an abundance of food growing, now, in November. Strawberries - not only the traditional ones but alpines too -...
Preparing for winter
In our world turned upside down by changing climate, we began the year with a cold, wet 'summer', and have ended it with a warm sunny autumn. Strolling around in a t-shirt in November is definitely not normal here in Northern Ireland, but we (and our tomatoes - they...
An epic climate journey
Today we were inspired to meet Morgan and Garrett, who are undertaking an epic journey from New England to Paris, via Canada, Iceland, Scandanavia, and the UK by bicycle. Their destination? The COP21 Climate Change Conference in Paris in December. Along the way they...
Energy independence
For those who can't already claim some form of payment for generating their own energy, or who will face vastly reduced incentives from 2016, there would seem to be few reasons to invest in renewable energy such as solar PV. Recent coverage of the Tesla home energy...
Are you a Good Worker?
Well, here we are again. I'd love to regail you with tales of how our veg are coming on (fine, by the way), but I've spent the last couple of weeks being fascinated and horrified by our political masters. This isn't supposed to be a political blog, but when those...