BETSY IN IRELAND

I am a bad blogger

Yup, it’s true. I am a bad blogger. I guess the first step to fixing it is admitting it, so here goes my attempt to get back on the blog wagon.

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Anyway, a lot has happened since last month. I tagged along on a family road trip from Stockholm to Copenhagen then back up to Stockholm - it was a pretty busy ten days. You can check out pictures in this facebook album:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150228032651556.312178.616946555&l=db605bad6e&type=1

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After that trip I came back to Ireland and stayed at Sunny Meadow farm for a week, then my family came to visit! (Dad, Vati and Maggie) we went to Doolin and saw the Cliffs of Moher, which were breathtaking. Then we went to Killarney, which dad compared to Gatlinburg. Kind of kitchy/tacky/touristy, but with an awesome national park. After kitch-ville we went to Dublin and did the usual touristy business there.

After a week Maggie and I said goodbye to Vati and Dad and went to London! The first night I insisted we stay in a hostel just so Maggie could see that it isn’t as bad as it sounds. Well, I think I picked the worst hostel in the world to take her to. It took about an hour to get into the city, which wasn’t too bad during the day. But after walking around all day then getting a drink at a pub the tube was closed so we hopped on the bus. And took it until things started to look sketchy - so we got off. Yes, we got off when things looked sketchy. Anyway, we hailed a cab and he took us to this underground walkway (which was closed, and even more sketchy) so then we hailed another cab and after almost an hour in the cab and several U turns he dropped us off at the hostel door.

We got into our 12 bunk room and climbed up onto our beds which were the top bunk of a three tiered bunk bed. That still wasn’t too bad, the worst was waking up every hour or so to someone snoring or being extremely hot because the window only opened about three inches.

Needless to say, after that we got a hotel then stayed at a friends house in the country. But we did have fun in the city! We ate tons of La Duree Macarons, went to Madame Tussuads and mastered taking the tube. 

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Maggie and I parted ways and now I’m back in Ireland just hangin’ out in Cork. I’m happy to be back even though it’s a bit lonely on my own. Tomorrow I’m heading up to Dublin until my friend Ben arrives and we go to Spain for two weeks!

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I’ll try to write again before I go home on August 11th!

LOVE BETSY.

Thanks for sending new shoes Mom!

Maggie and me near the Cliffs - it was a bit windy.

Ireland is pretty.

The Cliffs of Moher are pretty too.

Sunny Meadow Farm

I’ve been at Sunny Meadow Farm in Co. Galway for over a month - I guess the time flies when you’re having fun!

I’ve been doing a lot of sewing, planting, weeding, watering, digging and any sort of farm job you can think of. My favorite job is pruning tomato plants. Weird, I know. I also like planting in the poly-tunnels. It’s kind of tedious to sew in compost, rake it so it’s even, then measure out lines and finally to plant the plants - but it’s so rewarding to me that it’s worth it.

My least favorite job on the farm is hoeing the weeds out of the paths between the beds - It’s silly and dumb and not hard at all but I don’t like it at all. I also cleaned out the little chicken coop which was pretty stinky but not too bad. The chickens were really happy so that makes me really happy too!

I’m just going to come out and say that the weather here has been terrible in June. It’s been cold, like in the 40/50’s and rainy almost everyday. I built a fire last week so I would be warm in the cabin. I guess I appreciate the sunny days more.

I’m really enjoying WWOOF-ing, but I want to say for potential WWOOFers that it’s definitely not for everyone. I love talking and learning about organic farming, working with animals and getting dirty (really dirty, with dirt). Here at Sunny Meadow we work 30 hours a week, rain or shine - mostly rain. The work is hard and can be frustrating sometimes. But for me it’s worth it. I am learning so much about organic farming and learning about myself and what I want for the future. I’m learning to be more self-sufficient and self-confident, not to mention my arm muscles are getting prettttty big :)

Here’s a link to a bunch of pictures I’ve taken, too many to post here.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150192574206556.303045.616946555&l=28274e0559

betsy

Life is grand

I’m so happy I decided to WWOOF in Ireland. I’ve been at Sunny Meadow Organic Farm in Co. Galway for a week and life here is lovely.

My day goes like this: I wake up at around 8:30 eat breakfast, (usually porridge and an egg) then begin working on the farm around 9am. Lizzy (another wwoofer) and I work together on various tasks, this past week we’ve been working a lot in the polytunnels (three of them), and planting in the fields. We work until lunch time at 1 when Dermot (the host) warms up pita bread and we stuff them with veggies from the farm and local cows milk cheese– delicious. We work until 6pm, then it’s dinner time. Lizzy loves to cook and usually whips up a lovely dinner using ingredients from the garden. After dinner we’ll have a cup of tea and hang out for a while, then go our separate ways.

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A visit from Mom and Vati

Last week Mom and Vati came to visit. We had a really nice weekend in Dublin, then we spent a few days in Drogheda and Dunany. 

Here are some pictures …

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Bye Bye Dunany

I left Dunany house yesterday and I’m already missing it. I really enjoyed my time there and learned how to do so many new things. I drove tractors, a manual car (kinda) and learned how to properly use a drill without breaking the drill bits - oh yeah, and I can tell a masonry drill bit apart from a metal bit, no big deal. I’ll miss the two minute walk to the sea and hanging out with the Workman gang, not to mention the fresh bread delivered twice a week.

I loved my time at Dunany and I’m so happy I went there. Leo, Andrew, Alex and Matthew are wonderful hosts, teachers and friends and I can’t wait to visit again. I’ve made so many new friends and I’m just overall so happy about my experiences in Louth (the wee county).

The internet at my new farm (which I’ll write about in a second) is much, much slower than at Dunany so there can only be a few pictures from Dunany.

 

Poppies in the walled garden.

Alex welding in one of the workshops.

Checking the porridge pot at breakfast time.

Life at Dunany

I can’t believe I’ve been here for almost 20 days - the time is flying by and I’m having a blast, which is why I haven’t updated for about two weeks (oops). 

So I’ve been wwoofing here at Dunany (the name of the house/farm) for exactly two weeks. The first few days I was really nervous about moving into a strangers house in a foreign country (can you believe it?) Luckily the whole Workman gang has had students/travelers/wwoofers in their house for over 15 years, so they made the transition pretty easy. I was also surprised about the type of work I was doing: fencing, painting, mowing, milling, pouring concrete - not exactly what came to mind when I thought organic farming. 

I honestly wasn’t too thrilled about the work at first, but doing labor like I have been makes me feel strong both emotionally and physically. I know I can do it, so I will. I’ve been enjoying the challenge of this experience and I can’t wait to see how life progresses from here. 

Aside from work, we’ve been having loads of craic (Irish for having a good time, fun). We’ve made a rope swing in a tree, had cookouts, played beer pong, and today we made a slip and slide (in the scorching Irish heat of 59 degrees, Alex and Karl were the only ones brave enough to conquer it.) 

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, which is kind of a big deal here. We woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had left us treats on our plates at the table, then Aga (Matthew’s wife) is Polish and she made us a traditional Polish Easter breakfast. She hard-boiled eggs with red onion skins to dye them a lovely rich purple color then we put them into a broth-y soup and added a pinch of horseradish (a Polish tradition to ensure your health for the coming year). After breakfast Alex made eclairs (I didn’t really help at all, I just watched and ate the whipped cream when he wasn’t looking) and we rested before eating lunch with their grandmother and aunts. Lunch was a delicious feast of lamb, potatoes, carrots and green beans - all topped with assorted jellies and gravy. Yum. 

On another note, I chose to wwoof here for several reasons - one of the main ones being a shared language. Yeah, right. Everyone here speaks English, but with an Irish twist. I’ve learned dozens of new words, sayings and slang. I’ve also never heard as much cursing in my life, but anyway my favorite new words are;

razz - a verb for just about anything, let’s razz up some chicken salad or did you two razz in the jeep last night? 

class, deadly - awesome

your mother- (pronounced yaw muddah) the go-to insult for all occasions. 

I could go on and on about my experiences here so far, but I’ll leave this blog entry as is for now. 

Betsy

I made it!

Well, after months of planning, weeks of stressing out and a one overnight flight - I made it to Ireland!

looking/feeling a little jet-lagged in my hotel room in Ashbourne. 

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I arrived this morning feeling completely unprepared and slightly surreal. I made it through customs with no problem, but the officer did ask to see all my paper work and asked how much money I had with me. He gave me some tips about traveling back and forth between Northern Ireland and the Republic (two separate countries, if ya’ didn’t know), then sent me on my way. I bought a €5 calling card, asked for directions then talked about the Kentucky Derby with an old Irish woman for about 10 minutes. I rode the hotel bus from the airport back to the hotel and I thought we were going to die because they drive on the opposite side of the road here! I’m so happy I don’t have to worry about a car here. 

Tomorrow I’m off to spend the weekend with some family friends in Naas (pronounced Nase), then Monday I’ll be off to Drogheda (pronounced draw-uh-duh) to being WWOOFing. 

THE PLAN

Well, the big day is less than two weeks away. I’m leaving from Lexington April 6th, flying to Atlanta then overnight Dublin. I’ll arrive the morning of the 7th where I will promptly go to a hotel and sleep my jet-lag off. 

From then on I’m going to visit some friends of friends in Naas (pronounced nase) for the weekend. Then on Monday the 11th I’ll make my way up to County Louth to begin my WWOOFing experience at the Dunany House. 

The photo of the Dunany house from the WWOOF website:

It looks like they were having some kind of festival, I guess I’ll find out more about it when I arrive. That, or everyone wears traditional clothing every day.