Saturday, March 20, 2010

Farm #2: Jagur Organic

I’ve been at a farm near a fishing village called Cleggan in Connemara on the West Coast of Ireland fr the last 2 ½ weeks now. This was the first farm I heard back from when I was planning this trip. It’s been a mixed bag though I've mostly enjoyed it, and is certainly a change from the place in Limerick.There are no other wwoofers and their children have all left hme so it’s just them and me. They only have dial up which is generally off limits to me anyway so it’s a bit isolated; and why this is the first time I’ve been able to update in the past few weeks.

Besides that they are very religious Jehovah’s Witnesses, which I have to say I was not expecting. I generally think of WWOOF and the local/organic food movement in general as being somewhat hippy-ish, but there is also a very religious/conservative component as well which is what I seem to have landed myself in. It's a little awkward.

It’s a gorgeous area though. Connemara is beautiful and their house is right on an inlet of the sea. The weather has been great since I’ve gotten here so I’ve really enjoyed the work I’ve been doing. I am glad though that I’m only staying 3 weeks instead of the 6 weeks I had originally wanted; I think I would start to go crazy soon.

(No pictures because I forgot to put them on my computer but I'll put them up next time)

Monday, March 1, 2010

Back in Ireland

Hello again! I've been gone for awhile since I was back in Tucson for ever four months but I am back on a farm again! In Ireland!
I got here Friday morning and spent the weekend in Galway, then headed down to Ballingarry in Co. Limerick. Even though Ireland never gets warm ever, its winters generally aren't too cold. This year turns out to be an exception to that; a couple months ago it got down to like 5 degrees. The day I got to the farm it was 28 and the woman's car had frozen so a neighbor had to pick me up. We(the other 2 WWOOFers and I) got to spend the rest of that day painting inside, but Tuesday we went outside to attempt to dig up frozen soil and spread manure. Then is snowed!!




It cleared up a good bit later in the week so we were able to harvest willow and help make a willw fence, and it was mostly sunny for the Farmer's Market in Limerick on Saturday:
Harvested willow branches

Edith and Alanna working on a willow house

Making jam for the Saturday market in Limerick. Apple, cinnamon and chili jelly here