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.
New hen house
Here is my best attempt at a hen house yet. This version has front and rear windows, side door, 3 nesting boxes, and a pull out floor. As with all my constructions it won't blow away. The frame was made from reclaimed 3x2 timber, and we went mad and bought the...
Testing testing…..
The ever helpful Philip from Leisure Batteries Ireland has kindly lent us a Victron 750W Inverter, so that we can get a comparison with his new budget range of inverters that are coming soon.Our cheap and cheerful modified square wave 500W inverter works pretty well,...
Hens!
Claire has been studying chicken books all week, and we went to the Rare Breeds thing at the Folk and Transport Museum at the weekend, coming away convinced that the mighty Arucana hen is the one for us. Specifically the lavender Arucana, which lays fantastic...
Never a dull moment
Colin and Clinton working on the new steps. That feels like the end of a particularly long 2 weeks, and its not even the end of the week yet. It began with 50 hours digger driving, which saw the forest garden area landscaped, and 40-odd tonnes of slate waste quarried...
Bankers..
Making it up as I go along
This wind mullarkey is definitely harder than the solar. With solar you just fit it, point it in the right direction, and screw it down so it doesn't blow away. Wind power is a whole different kettle of fish. The turbine comes with 3 lumps of angle steel to use as...