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.
What a view
Sometimes I walk outside and am in awe of the sights that greet me. Some of the most beautiful times are first thing in the morning as the sun is coming up and the mist is clearing. I honestly couldn't live anywhere else. Even without their leaves...
May the sun shine
Today we were most fortunate to be able to go and pick up a not inconsiderable quantity of used solar pv panels - 0ver 3kW worth, together with a load of mounting rails. Although the panels are a few years old, they're good ones, and should barely have any...
Preparation
Suddenly November is upon us, and with Samhain we draw breath in readiness for the coming winter. Already we've been battered by October winds, so our preparations are well under way, but the shortening days are a constant reminder that we need to be ready for...
‘Proper’ plastering
We were visited by Lauren and Phil this week, who were very modest about their earth plastering knowledge but turned out to have considerably more experience than we do. They rustled up some plaster test patches on a couple of spare bales, and we (well Phil)...
Earth plaster update
Stage one of our earth plastering is now complete,and all the bales have a coat of clay slip. Some of the holes have been filled with clay slip mixed with a generous amount of finely chopped straw, and it is looking a little less undulating around the edges...
A magnificent gift
This marvellous looking thing is a fruit press, and was kindly given to us by Sally, as she is hoping to return to her native USA after many years in Northern Ireland. Now we can make good use of our apples, and hopefully next year our grapes too. Its even got...