Dublin

                                                                       

We’ve had to spend 5 days in Dublin due to a gap in our schedule between farms. When we arrived on Sunday we went to a pub the hostel recommended called The Brazen Head. This ended up being the oldest pub in Dublin. We shared a bowl of Traditional Irish stew and watched the Ireland football playoffs while I experienced Irish coffee for the first time. We learned quickly that any drink that has Irish in front of it means alcoholic.

 

Monday we went to the National Gallery to see Caravaggio’s famous lost painting “The Taking of Christ”. Lucas’ father Jeff is a big fan of Caravaggio and has been educating us about Michelangelo Caravaggio. To see this famous painting in person was remarkable. It’s very dark, busy and confusing to the eye at first glance, however the longer you look at it the brighter it becomes and more detail you see. Although it was in a crowded gallery full of art it stood alone in our eyes.  We look forward to seeing more of his work when we're in Rome. After the National Gallery we went to the Temple bar district where all the classic Irish pubs are. We ended up in Temple bar itself where an Irish band was playing. Seeing a traditional Irish band was top on our list and this particular one was fantastic.
 

 

Since we were spending so much time in Dublin and there isn’t much to see (other than millions of pubs) we decided to book a day tour to the West coast to see the Cliffs of Mohr. This was something I wanted to see but was a bit skeptical that they would just be some cliffs that the Irish hype up to make money off tourists. I couldn’t have been more wrong! There was something very magical about the Cliffs that I find hard to describe in words. We also got to see a farm as part of our tour which was kind of cool. The farm land has been in the family for 300 years, It’s been rightfully owned by them for the past 80. The best part of the farm tour was learning about the traditions they have. They still use farming methods that their ancestors used 300 years ago. With big farming in the modern world today knowledge that was once passed down is being lost. We hope to continue learning about these family traditions on our next farm.



Here we are at the farm we toured on top a mountain like the one behind us. It was very windy!



 

It’s been really hard being in Dublin without my family the O’Connell clan. We’ve made so many happy memories celebrating our heritage together that I wish every one of them were here with me. It’s also been hard not to go crazy buying all my gear for the next St. Patrick’s day.



Blaeneinion

 

 

We’ve had the pleasure of spending the month of August in Wales at a Conservation project in Artists Valley. Our host and The Project Manager Sharon Girardi have been such a pleasure and joy for us to volunteer for. Committing to spend a month at someone’s home who you’ve never met before can be quite a scary thing. It could not have worked out better for us thanks to the love and generosity Sharon has shown us.

 In just a short 3.5 years Sharon (with the help of many volunteers like us) has planted 15,000 native broad leaf, nut bearing and fruiting trees. She has also created a beautiful space around the grounds nearest the buildings with berry hedges and raspberries that are great for making jams. They have planted a 2.5 acre orchard with Apple, Pear, Cherry Plum, Chestnut, Walnut, and many other varieties of trees. Within the orchard there is also has space laid out for camping. There are laying hens in a large enclosure that produce the most beautiful brown eggs.  We can’t forget the two sister beavers that were introduced to the grounds just last fall and are thriving.  I am amazed at the amount of stuff Sharon and her volunteers have accomplished the past few years. And yet there is still so much more to do. Her long term goals are to continue to create the forestry on her 75 acres with native trees while trying to become as self-sustainable as possible using the principles of Permaculture.

 

Above is the gazebo & to the right the chicken enclosure 

 

One of the big projects that I have been working on is to get the Holiday accommodations up and running.  Aside from donations the Holiday flats are the only way to bring in money to fund the overall project. There is a holiday cottage which is a little more posh, The Beaver Lodge that is a bit more rustic, and lastly a family room for B&B customers.  They are all quite nice and very affordable. The views alone are worth the stay!





Above is a picture of what the forest looks like naturally



 

Here is a photo of an area where they felled all the trees then planted Sitka Spruce which is not native to Wales. Nothing can survive around these trees. This would also be called Mono Cropping.

Lucas and Fredrick (Frenchman WWOOFer) have been doing a lot of building this past month. They put a “green” roof on the wood store which will later have live plants living on top, built a beaver hide for visitors to hide in while spying on the beavers, Lucas put together a very neat donation box, and now they are digging the holes for the footings of a poly tunnel. All of which have turned out beautifully!

 

Aside from all the sweat and hard work we’ve put in the last month Sharon has won our hearts to her cause. Trees are being felled all over the world for human use without thinking about the long term affects to the environment. Sharon has a solid plan to re build the forestry on her 75 acres for future generations of humans and wild life to enjoy.

 

If you would like to read more about the project or make a donation to Blaeneinion there is a Donate button on the site.

www.blaeneinion.co.uk



To the left you can see the Beaver Hide that Lucas built, in the center is the dome for growing vegetables & to the right is the house & holiday flats.



Aldermoor Farm

We are packing our bags again getting ready to travel in the morning to our next farm. We are becoming very good packers, I must say! I am reflecting on the past two weeks at Aldermoor Farm thinking about what we’ve learned and how we’ve grown.

 The thing that stands out to both Lucas and I the most is one special day when Dave(the farm owner) got a call about a swarm of Bees that needed to be rescued. He asked us if we would come along to help. This is something I have read about and we’ve both seen in a documentary about Bees. Swarms are great for Bee Keepers and people who want to become Bee Keepers because a swarm of Bees is trying to decide where their new home is going to be. With some work and a little luck we can coax them into a hive we want them to make their new home. It’s also great to capture a swarm because they aren’t always in the most convenient place for the property owner. This particular swarm was in someone’s front yard that is allergic. We packed up our bee gear and headed on over. Following are the pictures of the process we had to follow for a successful transfer.

 Lucas & Dave geared up & ready to go

Dave gently cut down the branch that the Bees were swarming around

He then gave the branch a good shake to try to get the bees to fall into the basket. It's most important to capture the Queen Bee.

He quickly turnes the basket over so they will crawl inside. Once inside we wraped the basket up in the sheet with the bees inside to take them home.

Once they are home you then have to try to find the Queen Bee and get her into the bee box so that the other bees will follow. This ended up being tricky & the Queen wasn't being very coroperative.

I believe I’ve said this before but Lucas and I both really want bees in the future so any experience we get with them on our travels is only going to help us to be successful bee keepers. After this experience we both feel we have gained the knowledge and confidence to collect our own swarm.

I think I look really goofy in a bee suite

Golden Square Farm

We are wrapping up our two week stay at Golden Square Farm in Stockland, England. We have both enjoyed our time here very much. Our accommodations are in a trailer that we share with a French man named Amaury who we call “The Frenchmen”. We have all grown quite comfortable in each others company. When we first arrived he would wash the breakfast dishes as soon as we finished eating, which lasted about 2 days. Lucas washed the dishes for the first time today only because I said I was on strike. They use the phrase “That’s woman’s work” often! (In a very affectionate way of course) Dishes aside it has been great being at a farm with another WWOOFer.

Kath and I went to pick up 4 piglets. They were a little shy when we got them home.

Our hosts Kath and Rob have been awesome! Kath is extremely outgoing and friendly, always smiling. Rob is a little more reserved, but still very nice. They are both great cooks, which is a bonus after our last farm! They have two adorable little girls Tabitha 5 and Jamima 3. The children finally warmed up to us just in time for us to leave. We got lucky with this farm because we (The Frenchmen too) are the first WWOOFers they’ve ever had. We can tell to because they treat us like you would a guest or family member. Farmers that have been taking on WWOOFer’s for 20 years make you fend for yourself more. I suspect after a summer of “entertaining” they will lose some of their enthusiasm.

Rob and Kath have owned their farm for only 1.5 years so they have a lot to do. They have a holiday house they just finished remodeling and have their first bookings this summer. On the farm there’s sheep, piglets, ducks and chickens. We can’t forget the 3 cats that are pretty much worthless since they bring mice INTO the house to show everyone. With being such fresh farm owners they have a lot to share about how they have done things, how they may have done things differently and what they still plan to do in the near future. Rob, Lucas and Amaury have been busy with “guy” stuff. Lucas built a flint stone wall, picnic table, and composting box. Then there’s the big project they’ve been working on all week where they rented a digger and tore up the back field to build a composting septic system. It was a lot more complex than it looked to the “woman’s eye”. The guys have been working hard digging dirt and moving lots of rocks with machine and by man power. This was made much worst by the constant cold rain which has caused a soupy muddy mess. I don’t want to complain but we have been stuck in a constant cold rain since we left Germany. We’ve had only a hand full of hot sunny hours.  Lucas was always saying how England would be cloudy and rainy but I chose not to believe himJ (he added that bit). Having the guys be busy has been a great break for me. I’ve had the two weeks to be a big help to Kath with getting some final things ready for the holiday flat, cleaning and doing things around the house that she just doesn’t have time for. To be honest I will take any job indoors just to get out of the rain and cold.

Lucas on the digger

Being on this farm has changed some of our thoughts for the future. Originally we thought I would stay home and man the farm and children while Lucas worked full time. That idea has changed a bit after seeing that Rob stays home and takes care of the farm and children while Kath works 3 days a week. That’s opened my eyes to the idea that I could continue with my massage business while Lucas stays home to farm. After seeing the labor and skill that goes into building a self sustainable life, Lucas may be the more efficient person to do that anyhow.

The stone wall Lucas built with the help of everyone else, collecting rocks & stuff

Our next stop is a small Island on the southern coast called Isle of Wight. We hear the island is absolutely beautiful. The farm is owned by a Chiropractor and her husband. The thing that drew me to the farm beside the thought of an adjustment is their healing garden. Another dream for the future I have is creating a beautiful healing garden where I can do massage. I hope to learn a lot there!

Here is their web site

www.ntc-animals.co.uk/

London

 We only had 2 1/2 days to pack all our sight seeing of London into.  Lucas’ Dad Jeff is very knowledgeable on the history of London. Therefore he sent us an informative email about all the major sites and gave us a brief background on them along with where they were located and how to get there. Thanks to him I had a very thought out plan on what we were to see each day. J Although I planned for us to be a little more ambitious than we were and we just didn’t get to see everything we wanted.  We rented a “cheap” room in an apartment right by Victoria Station which is a huge tube and bus station centrally located. It was about 4:00p.m. Tuesday by the time we got all settled and hit the streets. We first had dinner at a restaurant boasting Great Britain Food!! The food was good enough but not spectacular. We later learned all the restaurants that say Great Britain Food on the front are part of a large chain with the same menu. After fueling ourselves we headed straight to see Buckingham Palace. It was closed by the time we arrived so we didn’t have the option to go inside. We took some excellent pictures and moved on. A few blocks away we located Westminster Abbey and the famous clock Big Ben. Again, both closed so we took pictures and continued on our way. Next we saw The London Eye which is a giant Ferris wheel, maybe the biggest? I can’t remember. We looked from across the river and agreed we would come back another day to ride it. We then walked a few more blocks to Trafalgar Square where there was a huge monument called Nelson's Column. Also in the square is the National Gallery, of course closed as it was now getting pretty late. Our feet were starting to get sore so we started back in the direction of our room. We hit the sheets early with our next jam packed day ahead of us.

We set out early and took the tube to The Tower of London, which isn’t a tower at all. It’s an old castle that they called The Tower because at that time it was the tallest and largest building in London. You have to pay to get in, but then you have the option to take a free guided tour. Our tour guide was awesome! I over heard someone say that they’ve been on many tours there and this guy in particular was obsessed with all the gory things that have happened in the castle. We enjoyed all the stories very much. We got to see right where many famous people were beheaded then buried. He also told us in great detail why they were beheaded. We got to hear about a beheading that went badly because the axmen was a drunk. He kept missing the guy’s neck so it took him 8 blows to finally sever his head. They then do something to the head to preserve it and so the crows won’t eat it and put it on a spike on top of the London Bridge for all who enter London to see what happens to traitors. Isn’t that fantastic!? Just think what society would be like today if we just chopped everyone’s heads off. I bet we wouldn’t have so much debt. We ended up spending a lot more time there than planned. We saw the Queens Jewels which were inside, along with old armor and swords and things. We got to walk the castle walls where the guards used to keep watch for anyone attacking the castle. Both Lucas and I agreed The Tower of London is one of our favorite places we visited in London. After leaving there we walked in the direction of the Great Fire Monument where they mark where the fire started in 1666 that burned the whole city down. That was basically just a large tower that you could walk up to the top. We weren’t feeling that enthusiastic at the time so we moved on down to road a few blocks to St. Peters Cathedral. I guess it’s one of the largest cathedrals in the world. It was quite huge. They charged a pretty penny to get in so we didn’t go inside. If we went inside everything we wanted we would be out of money and flying home tomorrow! I can’t believe what they can get away with charging for these things! After the Cathedral we took the tube back to our room to take a quick nap and get cleaned up to have a nice dinner out.



The clock Big Ben on the right. I forgot the name of the bridge

Our last day to tour we got up early to figure out our train situation for getting to our farm the following day. Then set off back to the Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the Guards. We weren’t aware that the Queen was going to be there so it was a mad house! We couldn’t see any of the guard changing ceremony although we did get to see the Queen! The masses of people were a big bummer so we hopped on the tube to head out to the Camden markets. This was something I read about and really wanted to do. We parked Lucas at a Local Pub so I could go out and shop the markets on my own. That took us right up to dinner time where we just grabbed something cheap in the market and headed back to our room to rest our feet a minute. Lastly we decided to squeeze in a ride on the Eye of London. It was a perfect blue sky day and we were on it for the sunset. We couldn’t have planned it better!

Our three days in London were exhausting, but we loved every minute of it! We didn’t get to see nearly everything we wanted but both agreed we would like to go back again sometime in our lives. It’s a great city with much to see and full of friendly people.



Me & Lucas in front of Westminster Abbey

Lucky us!

The host on our last farm Christian invited us along on his yearly youth camping trip this past weekend. What good luck for us, we were there at the perfect time! Christian is a volunteer fire fighter where he also works with the youth. We went to a small town in East Germany where we rented kayaks and canoes. We loaded them up and paddeled to our first camp site where we pitched our tents.

 In that particular part of Germany there is a few small towns connected by canals. We think we paddled about 15 miles in about 17 hours total all weekend. Our return trip Sunday was supposed to be quick and sweet but no one took into consideration that we would be going against stream and wind. Actually I shouldn't say no one, Lucas mentioned it to me a few times Saturday and then to the group but with the communication barrier no one understood what he was trying to say.  In the end it took a long HARD day of 6 hours (after 8 the day before) to get back to the rental dock.  Overall, sore arms included, it was the perfect way to end our month long travels through Germany.


We are now at a hotel in Dresden, Germany getting ready for our early morning flight to London. :-)





Kayak parking at the restaurant we stopped at for lunch Saturday

Our 2nd farm

We are quite disappointed with our 2^nd farm. The biggest let down is that no one speaks English here. On the WWOOFing site they claimed to speak English and German.  I feel sometimes that they get frustrated with us because we don’t know any German. With the communication barrier we are unable to learn much from them. Christopher is our host and the person we have to communicate with the most.



Our digs for the week, like I said clean!

At the farm they have about 3 hectors of land that has two fairly small gardens, many fruit trees, and some horses. Everything here is very well maintained and groomed. On our first day of work we had to trim a bush, weed, and sweep the front sidewalk. We were both surprised that our work for the day was to make the front of the place look pretty! At Ulf’s farm there was no time in the day for such silly things. The farm has two large buildings sectioned off into apartments that house the whole Neumann clan. We’ve learned that the farm has been in the family for many generations. There are a total of 5 families that live here currently. We have noticed that everyone has their tasks they do daily. Grandma takes care of the bunnies, Christopher the sheep, his father is an all around fix it guy and Markus’s family tends to the horses. They are very well organized and planned in that way.



Part of the small garden

The biggest difference between this farm and Ulf’s farm is self sustainability. Here they are not self sustainable. They have two gardens and some animals; they buy most of their groceries at the market. Ulf’s farm was a well planned out operation. Everything he did affected something else in some way. All the weeds we pulled went to the chickens or  pigs whose crap was then used as manure for the gardens. Anything we didn’t eat was fed to the pigs, so he had essentially no waste. He had fresh milk; cream and cheese daily form the milking cow. He harvested vegetables from the garden, made jams from his fruit trees and meat from his pigs, cows and chickens. We can’t forget about the honey the bees produce!  Almost everything we had to eat at Ulf’s was self made on his farm. Pretty much everything we’ve ate at our current farm has been processed crap! Things I don’t even buy or eat at home. Ulf told us many times that he feeds us better than any other farm ever will. At the time I didn’t believe him but now I think there may be some truth to his words.  We’ve said many times now how much we miss Ulf. We had long hard days while staying on his farm but we were rewarded for everything we did. Most of all we learned form him. We feel we can’t complain too much though, we do have a safe and clean place to rest our heads at night.

Ulf, Me and Lucas the night before we left

 We’ve spent the week catching up on our planning for future travel. Next week we fly to London where we’ll spend 3 nights sight seeing. Then we take a train to south England to our first farm in the UK. We are really excited to travel the UK for many reasons, and English is one of them!



My favorite thing about this farm is the baby horse