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.
The story
Funny how things come along in groups. First we had the local paper over to look at our stove, in the quest for some stories from older readers who might remember living with a range that had to be tended around the clock. Then we got a call from a press agency who...
What next?
The work on the house is barely complete and already our thoughts are turning to other (and equally important) things. Because we have a waterless loo, any waste water from the house is relatively clean greywater, which can be put through a reed bed system, before it...
The Aerobic Separating Remote Composting Waste Collection Facility
Although it doesn't have quite the same feeling of outdoor freedom that the composting loo at the farm had, our new compost throne is very fine, and ready to answer the call of nature. I read somewhere that the difference between a compost loo and a composting loo is...
A recycled room
One of the joys of doing Lackan Cottage up has been taking old 'stuff' and making something of it. Wherever possible we've reused things from around the house - for instance the kitchen units are made from the old ceiling in the extension. This floor above was also...
Yarn Bombers in Newcastle
On Sunday we went to Newcastle to see the handiwork of S.O.C.K, (Secret Outside Crochet and Knitters) who yarn bombed the promenade. Their handiwork was very fine, and we got there in time before it was all taken down. You can see more of their work on the BBC website...
Water, water everywhere..
A slightly random picture to celebrate the fact that my plumbing initiation is over, and that we have piping hot water from all the taps, heated purely by the sun, and that nothing is leaking, for the time being at least. Of all the jobs in the house, plumbing is...