by Steve Byrne | Jan 17, 2013 | buildings, smallholding, the farm
Usually we take great pride in our ability to dig, shift, lift and cart large amounts of stuff using only human power, and it’s very satisfying. However, the mess that was our old extension contained lumps of concrete so large that it was time to resort to...
by Steve Byrne | Jan 15, 2013 | climate, smallholding, the farm
Following the midwinter break, we’ve emerged from a brief hibernation to begin the process of preparing the ground for growing our veg, fruit, trees and flowers. Although the hens are helping enthusiastically by scratching over and fertilising various bits of...
by Steve Byrne | Dec 31, 2012 | smallholding
Well – what a year. So much has happened, and is all here in our blog, but looking back you wonder how it all fitted in. A year ago we were all set to move to Wales, hadn’t even seen Lackan Cottage Farm, and of course there were only two of us. 2012 began...
by Steve Byrne | Dec 30, 2012 | low impact living, permaculture
Composting toilets can be expensive things if you choose to buy the fancy all-in-one devices. Most aren’t much more than a seperator seat to keep the pee and solids apart, with some sort of fan to dry the solids a bit, and keep any smells to a minimum. Usually...
by Steve Byrne | Dec 22, 2012 | environment, low impact living, permaculture
Would you like to live in a “hobbit” like house, avoid high energy bills and live in a more sustainable community? The “Living in the Future” eco documentary will be launched on 22 January 2013 throughout the UK and shows what life is like being a low...
by Steve Byrne | Dec 22, 2012 | low impact living, smallholding
At last midwinter is here, and we marked the solstice with a fire, shared with friends. The seemingly relentless rain stopped falling just long enough for us to enjoy the night and reflect on the turning of the seasons, of which we are more acutely aware, living the...
by Steve Byrne | Dec 15, 2012 | the farm
We love to share our goings on with others, so as well as this blog, we now have a proper Lackan Cottage Farm facebook page too. Making connections and exchanging ideas is something we love to do, so now there are even more opportunities to do so. These reindeer...
by Steve Byrne | Dec 12, 2012 | environment, low impact living, permaculture, smallholding
The last couple of weeks have also been a bit on the chilly side, with sharp night time frosts, and early fog. Outside pipes and taps have frozen, and digging the ground has become a challenge. It looks lovely though.. We had some amazing frost patterns on the...
by Steve Byrne | Dec 12, 2012 | smallholding, volunteering
Well, after nearly three weeks, our first proper experience as Wwoofing hosts is over, and our volunteer (and now extended family member) Bettina has left to begin her journey home to Austria. Hers will be hard boots to fill, as we have achieved much in her time here,...
by Steve Byrne | Nov 30, 2012 | community, volunteering
The GIY (Grow It Yourself) movement has really taken off here in Northern Ireland, and it was great to visit Sally Taylor’s place in Saintfield – the venue for a meeting of the South Down GIY group. Sally has combined a formal garden, retreat, allotments...
by Steve Byrne | Nov 29, 2012 | volunteering
Although it has been a quiet week on the blog, here on the farm it’s been all go. Our intrepid WWOOF volunteer Bettina has arrived from Austria, hitch hiking all the way – at one point on a tractor. A terrifyingly long list of things to do exists, and...
by Steve Byrne | Nov 20, 2012 | permaculture
One of the principles of permaculture is ‘Obtain a yield’. On seeing the horses the other day, a visitor asked ‘How do you make money from them?’, and seemed surprised when I simply answered ‘We don’t’. It’s an unusual...
by Steve Byrne | Nov 18, 2012 | smallholding
One of the problems with buying land that is affordable, is that it is quite likely to be what is known as ‘unimproved’ land, or that it has been improved, but really not a great deal. Most of ours falls into this second category, and so it was with a...
by Steve Byrne | Nov 11, 2012 | animals
Yesterday I set off to collect our new hens from William over in Cloughey. Daylight reveals that we have 1 Welsummer cockerel, 2 Welsummer hens, 2 Light Sussex, 2 black bantams, 1 goldeny bantamy thing, and a mystery grey hen. They are living in the new polytunnel for...
by Steve Byrne | Nov 9, 2012 | environment
Midwinter is now only weeks away, and our day is finishing ever earlier. This evening brought us some dramatic skies, and the promise of a nice day tomorrow, perhaps. I am off to collect some more hens, and our first rooster, from the other side of Strangford Lough,...
by Steve Byrne | Nov 8, 2012 | renewable energy
One of the reasons that many people are put off installing renewable technologies such as solar PV is that in order to generate enough to power a typical house, you need a lot of it, at fairly vast expense. Being simple peasant folk, that’s not an option open...
by Steve Byrne | Nov 4, 2012 | volunteering
This weekend has been a busy one indeed. We had our first wwoofers – Andrew McMurray, founder of the Drumlin Wind Cooperative, and Mick McEvoy, Belfast representative for GIY Ireland, both inspirational guys in their own right, who came to help put up our first...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 31, 2012 | community
Rima and Tom have been on their travels, storytelling as they go. We thought that the best way to spend this Samhain evening would be sit in front of the fire and listen to the telling of The Bear Child. A fine story it is too and here is a chance to hear it...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 26, 2012 | volunteering
We have registered as WWOOF hosts, and now appear on both the Wwoof Ireland and Wwoof UK websites. Already we are busy organising volunteers from all over the world to come and help out here on the farm. Rather fittingly though, our very first WWOOFer is from here in...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 25, 2012 | buildings
Suddenly bus conversions are all the rage, as evidenced by ‘George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces’ on Channel 4. A lovely bus gets converted, if you can take all the C4 jeopardy, and there’s another good old Lambourn horsebox that is being let too....
