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 lies beneath..
Today was a ceiling day. Here is what the ceilings in the house look like. Fairly flat and unassuming. You'd never guess that behind the surface lies this. Yes, a time travelling ceiling. 20th century on the outside, 18th century on the inside. It has perhaps seen...
Massive Fungus source revealed.
The newly found window on the outside. No horriblepebbledash here. A half day at the cottage today, and I wanted to find the source of the Massive Fungus, so climbed into a little gap between the old house and the Horrible Extension to investigate.It didn't take long...
We have lift off..
Well, we finally got started. Not the smoothest of beginnings, as the truck broke a fan belt half way there, and then a mile from the house, I knocked one of the mirrors off on a telephone pole. Brendan and I were there first, and greeted Claire cheerily only to...
How permaculture can save humanity
We watched this lecture by Toby Hemenway this evening, in which he talks about the meaning of sustainability, and how agriculture as we know it can never be sustainable. He gives the example of the longevity of horticultural societies, and explodes a lot of myths...
The eco map needs you!
I'm compiling a map of broadly 'eco' places - anything that is involved with a low impact, sustainable approach to life, from Transition Towns to permaculture farms, and interesting buildings. Other than the ones I already knew about, finding such places in Northern...
Learning the hard way..
Part of the joy of doing everything yourself is what we politely call 'learning from experience', or more commonly, 'f**king it up'. Yesterday was a 'learning' day. First, I discovered just how close to a hot stove flue you can put roofing felt, when the roofing felt...