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.
Going off grid – dealing with waste
As a society we use vast amounts of clean water to flush loos with, treat the resultant waste, and generally speaking, dump the end product into the sea. Locals who have walked Ballyholme beach after a storm will know just how much fun this can be.The answer? The...
A visit to Lammas
The Guardian's Heydon Prowse visits Lammas to see how the pioneering low impact development is progressing. For some pictures of how the community hub is progressing, here are some pictures from my recent visit.
Quarrying the hard way
We need something to put on the paths around the plot, and luckily the farm isn't called the Quarries for nothing.....unfortunately there's only one way to get slate out, and its up a hill in a wheelbarrow. Cue a seriously hot mornings work.
Lammas Community Hub build
This wonderful building is the Community Hub, in the Tir-Y-Gafel community in Wales, known more commonly as Lammas. In January I was lucky enough to spend a fantastic (and cold) week with 13 other volunteers, working to clad the roof with its massive pallet and earth...
Mini home made polytunnel
Today I am experimenting with making a small tunnel out of 50mm poly pipe. The ends of the pipe just fit onto wooden pegs, which are (hopefully) a tight enough fit to stop the pipe coming off easily. A bit of bracing along the top to stop it all moving about, and...
Way back when…
A whole twenty four years ago this weekend, I first met Poll - (Apollo). At the time I insisted he was too small a horse for me, but how wrong I was. A fantastic companion all his life, and he taught me an awful lot. I'd give my right arm for a horse half as good....