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.
It’s volunteer time again
At last September is here, and our intrepid Wwoofers have arrived - Caroline (left) from Sweden, and Bettina (centre) who has hitchhiked all the way from Austria (again)!. We love having people here - it is great to hear their stories, and the feeling of community is...
The truck is reborn (again)
Somehow in amongst the other work, I managed to gut our truck, which was home for 18 months, and has subsequently been the residence of many volunteers. It ended last season desperately in need of a refurb, but even I was surprised just how much work it has taken to turn it into a really nice place to stay. Now it is complete inside, I want to move back in.
A tremendous treebog
We needed to get our truck ready for visitors early, and having the loo nearby was a part of that.
Harvest time
Managing the vegetables has been hard going whilst keeping a tiny Lyra happy, but today we all headed out and harvested my favourite crops - garlic and onions. The garlic has its roots trimmed off, and the muddy outer skin removed, and after a few days drying in our...
Abundance
In this, our first year of growing here at Lackan Cottage Farm, we have been blessed with great abundance. Indeed so great has been the harvest of some produce that we are able to share it with others. Elaine and John from the Turnip House came to visit, and we...
An unexpected find
One of the best things about living where we do, is that Turleys hardware store is nearby. Turleys is one of those places that sell everything. Well, almost. I have yet to be disappointed by them, and occasionally they really come up trumps. Back in the late...