WWOOFing in County Clare


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Europe » Ireland » County Clare » The Burren
September 5th 2009
Published: September 5th 2009
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Since I don't have internet where I'm staying, I can't do a prpper blog with pictures and the like, but what I can do from this internet cafe in Galway, is post a copy of the email I sent to my family describing what I'm doing so far, so everyone can be informed if they'd like to be. Read on...

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Hi Everyone,

It turns out I don't really have internet access at the place where I'm living, so updates will end up being rather infrequent, I think. But things are going well! It hasn't even been a week since I arrived and it's already proved to be a very interesting experience.

I live in a really old house (think stone floors and thick, stone, white-washed walls, rural Ireland circa 1850ish), which has been updated with running water an electricity (thank god). The family told me that when then moved in over 20 years ago it only had one water tap, which they had to pump, and no electricity at all. It's previous owners had abondoned it, leaving it to be home for a bunch of cows. Over the years they have built an upstairs and an addition on one side, as well as an enclosed porch and somewhat modern kitchen facilites. It still feels very old, though; like living in history. The focal point of the main room is a huge stone fireplace with iron brackets that were once used for cooking things over the fire.

The house is on a large piece of property that includes several other buildings, some old and some built by the family, like workshops and barns and storage and stuff. The land is used for growing vegetables (on a relatively small scale, actually; the family keeps most of it for themselves), housing 5 goats (apparently they started with one goat to eat brambles and weeds, but she turned out to be pregnant, so they suddenly had 2. Then another goat wandered in from somewhere else and they had 3. Then the two adult goats got to know each other and soon they had 5 goats total), 2 horses (named Tom and Harry), and several bee hives (which I have not actually gone anywhere near, so I'm not exactly sure where they are). Their land is way at the top of a hill several miles out of the nearest real village, Corrofin (or Corofin, depending on which sign you look at), and technically they're in the "village" of Kilnaboy (or Killinaboy, or Kilinaboy; again depending on what sign you look at), although it's less a village and more a handful of farms that are all really spread out from each other. The area is breathtakingly gorgeous. Since they're at the top of a hill you can see for miles up there. At some point I'll try to get some pictures to you guys.

I live with Robin, who is English but moved to Ireland a long time ago and has even picked up about 1/3 of the accent, and Miriam, who is from Wexford (in the southeast of Ireland). Their daughter Rowena (who is 25) stays there on and off too. There is another WWOOFer at the moment too, and you'll never believe it, he's from Bordeaux. His name is Gabriel and he's 19, meaning he could have easily been one of my students last year if his parents had just put him in a different school. His English is pretty terrible so it's helping me re-hone the superb French accent I picked up last year. Miriam asked me not to speak French with him since part of the reason he's there is to work on his English, but I've decided I'll wait a few weeks and try because I really would love to get some practice.

There are three dogs: 2 big Scotish deerhounds and a small terrier mix. The deerhounds are named Ronnie (12 years old, sweet and slow) and Faye (1 year old, psycho and bouncy). The little guy is Pedro and he's adorable although completely insane. He only weighs about 5-7 lbs and he has the cutest fuzzy folded ears. He thinks he weighs 90 lbs and tries to fight Faye even though he's roughly the size of her head. There's a half-door leading from the main room out the to the yard and Faye can bound over it easily and gracefully, so Pedro assumes he can too. When he tries he ends up hanging over the top of it, scrabbling his feet against the wood trying to dislodge himself and get over. It's pretty hilarious. There is also a cat that doesn't have a name, and he's really sweet. He always wants to sit in my lap and pur but I can't let him because he insists on enthousiatically kneeding his claws into my legs and it's rather uncomfortable. He really looks like Dean's old cat Casey, so I always forget he's a boy. As sweet as he is to me, he's in the dog house with the family because he killed and ate all but one of their doves when Robin accidentally left the ladder up to their house in place. Miriam calls him Bird Murderer.

So far I have done no work in the garden because it's been too rainy. I've been doing a variety of other stuff though, like jarring honey, cleaning windows, whitewashing walls, making jam and marmelade, helping with meals, and doing endless, endless dishes. I don't know how those people can produce so many dishes! Every meal takes like 40 pots and pans, it seems. The food has been really good and we drink so much tea. Miriam makes tea at least every 2 hours. Irish people like their tea.

Today I'm getting my first big chunk of time off. We're in Galway, which is a large town about an hour north of where I'm living, where Robin is selling his honey (along with some of the marmelade) and Rowena is selling a bunch of Miriam's shirts, hats, and scarves (she knits). They only really needed our help setting up, so I'm out on my own for the day.

So far I'm having a great time. It's a lot of work and quite an adjustment, but it's going to be an amazing experience. I'll try to email again soon!

Love you guys,

-Lisa


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7th September 2009

still LOL from your email/blog
Loved this blog! I'm still laughing. So lovely and descriptive. It makes me want to stay at a farm house too. We will be in Ireland in October and I hope we have half the experience you seem to be having. Can't wait to hear more about the farm!

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