Here we go again
So much has changed in the last year that looking back to this time last year is like peering at another age altogether. We had no beds to grow food in, a solitary little polytunnel, no pond, no paths, no water anywhere we needed it, there was still a huge pile of...
The end of an amazing year.
Well, the winter solstice is here, and as the shortest day comes to a close, its amazing to look back on everything that has happened over the last 12 months, and all the people that it has been our privilege to welcome to the farm. This time last year we had yet to grow a vegetable here, and without the hard work of all the volunteers, from near and far, we wouldn’t have seen the results that we did. The highlight of our year was surely the time we spent with our permaculture course visitors, and the energy that they brought to the farm.
The Landworkers Alliance
We are members of the Landworkers Alliance – a group of people who work the land, campaigning for the rights of small producers and a better food system. It is part of La Via Campesina international and works in solidarity with fellow land workers across the...
Come to the South Down GIY Gathering
The South Down GIY Gathering The GIY South Down Gathering is your chance to come together with like-minded people for an afternoon festival of home-grown food. The GIY South Down Gathering will bring people together for talks, debates and Q&A sessions – so...
Power to the people
Part of our plan here has always to be entirely self sufficient in energy. That said, there is a huge pole and some wires that bring 11,000 volts to within 20 feet of the house, so despite our immediate thought ‘that pole has to go, its right in the way’,...
A chair for Lyra
Isn’t it fine? Our friend Clare came to help us plant trees last year, and came back this autumn to cut some birch, as she makes rustic chairs. Today she brought us this fantastic little Lyra-sized chair, complete with elm seat. It is just beautiful. We are...
Can you give this cockerel a home?
We hatched two lots of eggs this year, and would you know it, from nine chicks we got only two hens. Seven cockerels shouting at dawn every day is seven too many, and so they have all gone for the pot, bar one. Martin (I don’t name them;) is a wily young chap...
A little bit of Wales has come to live at Lackan Cottage Farm
Well, after weeks of pole preparing, canvas proofing and waiting for half decent weather, we finally put up the tipi in the camping field, and it is very fine indeed. There’s more to it that I ever thought, and it took a day, but we got there in the end,...Food swap success
We held the first South Down Food Swap a couple of weeks ago, and it turned out to be great fun. Swappers brought with them a great selection of veg, jams, preserves, pies and more, which made for some very competititve bartering. We can’t wait to do it...
The end of the season
Well, our busy season has finally come to an end, with the departure of our last wwoofers of the year – Armando, Clare and their son Leo, who have just returned home to Illinois in the USA. Most of their week here was spent preparing all the bits and...