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.
Volunteers wanted!
After a much needed winter break, we are gathering ourselves for the year ahead, and thinking about the projects that lie ahead. As always there is much to do, so we are looking for some volunteers to come and lend a hand. We will feed you and put you up, (or feed you...
The way of the whippet
This is Wilma the Whippet, the latest addition to the Lackan Cottage Farm household. Dumped in mid December, with 12 puppies, Wilma was fortunate enough to be picked up by the dog warden and taken to the Mid Ulster Rehoming Centre at Drumbonaway kennels. Sadly...
Could you give Martin a home?
This is Martin, a mostly Welsummer cockerel, who is truly a great looking chap. Martin is looking for a flock of ladies to call his own, and until then is roaming our smallholding, singing to any hen that will listen. Could you offer Martin a home? Otherwise I will...
The finer points of firewood
When you rely on wood for your heating and cooking, you realise that there is a vast amount of knowledge that was once common but is now largely forgotten, all of which is really quite vital to your success. Our first year has been a steep learning curve, but we're...
Can you help the Happy Pig?
[youtube height="480" width="600"]ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qopqYjIbVM[/youtube] Mark Boyle, known for his writing about living without money, has settled in Ireland, on a 3 acre smallholding, and hopes to create a free space for learning, creativity,...
I Am Alive
If you enjoyed 'Live before you die', then you'll love 'I Am Alive', again from Dreamtime Films. [vimeo height="480" width="600"]http://vimeo.com/32915202[/vimeo]