Food is one area where current circumstances mean that I’m not going to be self reliant, but will grow as much as possible, and enjoy produce such as free range eggs from the hens on the farm. It is certainly a fantastic learning process – we have growing...
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...
I didn’t start out with the sole intention of going off grid – it has crept up on me over the last year. My interest in permaculture, the transition movement and low impact living has certainly driven me, and now I come to the point where the...
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.
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.
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...
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...
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...
I’d forgotten how many useful things I managed to make around the farm this last year -This potting bench was made from scrap timber, and the giant raised beds are deep enough to allow access for wheelchair users. I’m still in love with the treebog, too...
