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.
Fire! and a floor.
An amazing days progress on the roundhouse - Helen, Michael, Alexey, Jim and Edie got almost all the slate floor laid and very fetching it looks too. I fitted the last of the flue, and the fire was lit. Suddenly the little house seems to have come to life. Next week...
The perils of being educated
Although its not something I'll have to worry about for a good while yet, the thorny subject of what kind of education I would want for my child, is hovering at the edge of my mind. I have always maintained that school is basically a lottery, in which having a good...
Heating in the roundhouse
The cob fireplace gets its first proper layer Today I thought I'd try and get the heating sorted out in the roundhouse, and so several barrow loads of cob mix later and here are the results. It'll need a fine finish layer, but its getting there. The actual chamber is...
Martha Tilston
Liking this song from Martha Tilston...
Why?
Someone recently said that they liked what I'm doing but couldn't work out what my motivations were. A really good question as it turns out - in responding I had to think it through.I've always been what I optimistically refer to as self employed. This has taken many...
A front door at last
With the weather on the turn, I thought it would be a good idea to fit a front door to the roundhouse, even if it ends up being temporary. The handle comes courtesy of some of the ivy growing on the neighbouring trees. It's amazingly hard stuff.