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.
A little bit of Wales has come to live at Lackan Cottage Farm
Well, after weeks of pole preparing, canvas proofing and waiting for half decent weather, we finally put up the tipi in the camping field, and it is very fine indeed. There's more to it that I ever thought, and it took a day, but we got there in the end, and...
Food swap success
We held the first South Down Food Swap a couple of weeks ago, and it turned out to be great fun. Swappers brought with them a great selection of veg, jams, preserves, pies and more, which made for some very competititve bartering. We can't wait to do it again....
The end of the season
Well, our busy season has finally come to an end, with the departure of our last wwoofers of the year - Armando, Clare and their son Leo, who have just returned home to Illinois in the USA. Most of their week here was spent preparing all the bits and pieces we...
A tipi for Lackan Cottage Farm
Three years ago now, Claire and I set off for Wales, to spend several amazing days far away from roads, electricity, phones and people. Our home was the tipi above - Waterfall Tipi, and it was here that Claire agreed to marry me. Ever since, we have wanted to...
Our first permaculture weekend
This weekend saw our first two day permaculture course, led by Hannah Mole, and we had a ball. After a frantic week of preparations by our wwoofers Bettina and Caroline, the place looked amazing, and the energy of having some 20 people on site was really...
The very first South Down Food Swap!
As part of the South Down GIY (Grow It Yourself) group, we are pleased to announce the very first South Down Food Swap on Saturday October 12th, between 2 and 5pm. The idea is that people bring along their surplus, and are able to swap and barter for the things...