by Steve Byrne | Oct 24, 2012 | the farm
Autumn is well and truly here at Lackan Cottage Farm, and the colours are amazing. This is the time of year for fixing fences, getting the place sorted for winter, and as the land is so wet, cracking on with all the many projects that need attention. First up was to...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 23, 2012 | woodlands
having read about the spread of Ash Die Back disease, I was anxious to find out what our government is doing to prevent its spread here in Northern Ireland, and so I wrote to the department of the environment. To my surprise, I received a reply that does seem to...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 19, 2012 | the farm
One of the more endearing traditions on old country farms is the liberal application of scrap metal to hedgerows and woodlands, and ours is no exception. Everything from piles of tin baths to the old cast iron wash tub – and a vast amount of one of the most evil...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 17, 2012 | renewable energy
As a result of some lucky trading, we were able to pass on the truly massive stove that came our way, but which was way too big for the room, and get ourselves a shiny new Stanley stove for the living room. The gas bottle stove has gone back into the truck where it...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 16, 2012 | renewable energy
Evacuated tube solar collector Someone told me last week that they wouldn’t have solar water heating because ‘It doesn’t work in Northern Ireland’. Funny that, I said, because every time the sun comes out it heats our water to 40 degrees, at...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 13, 2012 | the farm
We may have had the wettest winter for 100 years but days like this are worth waiting for. Perfectly frosty and clear, no noise except for the hens helping me to muck out the stables, and the smell of woodsmoke. It doesn’t get a lot better than that. Suddenly...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 12, 2012 | volunteering
If you fancy rolling up your sleeves and coming to be part of a new smallholding, then we want to hear from you. We’re going to register as Wwoof hosts, but if anyone wants to come and spend time under the usual Wwoof agreement, ie – we house and feed you...
by Steve Byrne | Oct 8, 2012 | renewable energy
I feel like a smoker who is trying to give up and who has fallen off the wagon. Â Although our range isn’t really suited to wood, and is 50+ years old, a few alterations and it has burned pretty well, with one slight snag – the quantities that it consumes....
by Steve Byrne | Sep 29, 2012 | self sufficiency
For those readers who are also smallholders or have small farms, this is an incredibly useful read.Small is Successful – a report put together by the Ecological Land CoOperative – examines eight smallholdings with land-based businesses on 10 acres or less....
by Steve Byrne | Sep 27, 2012 | woodlands
I had an interesting dilemma this week as I did my regular trawl of the woods for dry kindling and fallen trees. We own half of a block of woodland that has been largely untouched for many years – being old bog it is seen as being of little value, and not worth...
by Steve Byrne | Sep 21, 2012 | woodlands
Since autumn appears to have arrived (and because it’ll take me weeks), I’ve made a start on coppicing over in the woods. Although it is mainly birch, I’ve started with an area that has some ash in it, to give the ash a fighting chance, and because...
by Steve Byrne | Sep 20, 2012 | buildings
Having just stumbled outside at 4am in the cold and sheeting rain to rummage around in the log pile, so that I can get the range re-lit and make a cup of tea, I can reflect not only on the joys of early parenthood, but on how handy modern conveniences such as electric...
by Steve Byrne | Sep 15, 2012 | smallholding
Well, what a night (and a day). This time yesterday bump was just that, a bump; and we’d got quite happily used to him or her being around. Anyhow, in the middle of the night she decided it might be time to get outa there, and so this morning, here she is,...
by Steve Byrne | Sep 14, 2012 | buildings
Ever since the horses arrived here, and through all the terrible weather, the lack of stables has really bothered me, and Sherafey, who dashed into hers as soon as it was finished. It also means poor Mel here can eat his dinner in peace without being monstered by the...
by Steve Byrne | Sep 10, 2012 | smallholding
Having once been entirely bog, we’ve got a fair amount of rushes growing. In fact the wood field had so many this year that it was more than half covered. The horses have dealt with the majority of the rushes in their bit of the field, but the far end is fenced...
by Steve Byrne | Sep 8, 2012 | buildings
We’ve only been here five minutes and the place is already looking rather ‘lived in’. Mum has been beavering away making curtains for us using organic cotton (we got it here), and they are very fine. In the kitchen – and here…in the...
by Steve Byrne | Sep 8, 2012 | buildings
It’s a sign of how little sun we’ve seen this ‘summer’ that come autumn, and a little sun, I just wandered about the place, marvelling at how magical it is. As I took this picture I could hear the sound of birds of prey calling, and little...
by Steve Byrne | Sep 5, 2012 | buildings
Yesterday I began my assault on the horrible 50’s concrete extension on the south side of the house, by punching a hole through the wall in front of the previously hidden bathroom window. Today we went a bit further -Here’s the extension first thing this...
by Steve Byrne | Sep 4, 2012 | woodlands
This is a really beautiful time of year in the woods, and I’m in the process of clearing fallen timber and storing it to dry. Here’s the entrance into the woodland, which opens into a great clearing, in which is growing one of the few Rowan trees we have....
by Steve Byrne | Sep 2, 2012 | buildings
Last night Mr Truesdale, from along the road, brought round his extensive collection of locally historic documents, and we learned much. It will take a visit to the public records office in Belfast to unearth the detail we need, but now we do know what we are looking...
