Old McDonald in the North :)

Hi all! Well... this should be darn interesting for ya to read now... something different!

First... McGann's pub put a gallery of my pictures up with a link to my website! yay! So excited. Check it out!
http://mcgannspubdoolin.com/component/option,com_easygallery/Itemid,31/

Now... I arrived in the North (for those of you who don't live here... Northern Ireland is part of the UK and not the Republic of Ireland) in a county called Fermanagh. The place I am staying is called Orchard Acre Farms and it's about 20 minutes outside of Enniskillen... Here is the website if you wanna check it out.

Orchard Acre Farm

Just an important note... the images in this blog contain captions that continue the story... there are about 140 images on several pages... enjoy!

A WWOOF stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms and I am currently a wwoofer here! The owners are called Teresa and Hugh and the children are Maeve (11) and Finbar (9). This family is absolutely amazing... completely natural, outgoing, friendly, organic by nature, amazing chefs and just brilliant! I am here with two other volunteers (wwoofers)... Andrea (Switzerland) and Ina (Germany).

to learn more about wwoofing in the UK see here
WWOOF UK


I arrived Wednesday night from a long trip from Galway which started with me sitting down on the bus and the driver standing up and asking everyone to put their seatbelt on... EVERYONE did! It was the strangest thing I've ever seen... #1 - no driver has ever done that that I've seen and #2 EVERYONE listened! Whaaa? Anyway. It was a brilliant trip... I listened to the "Into The Wild" Soundtrack the entire way (yeah like 5 hours of it on repeat... amazing). I crossed into the north and then my phone doesn't work as normal (thank goodness! Need a break from the phone!).

I arrived to Enniskillen and Maeve met me at her favorite shop (I had already stopped there for a bite) and then she took me around a bit while we waited for the bus to take us home to Lisnarick. I was very tired and in my normal... IamInAnewPlace freakout mood... well, not freakout, but just adjusting. I knew I would be fine by the next morning. We arrived to her place and I was exhausted from the day. She set me up my living space which Teresa appropriately named my NEST. For those of you who know me well, you know I like small, little, cozy places... this is no different... I love my little nest!

The next morning Ina and Andrea showed me how to feed the chickens, open the polytunnel (see pictures) and the glass house and we picked some fresh tomatoes. Now, Teresa was scheduled to cater a wedding on Saturday which is why I headed up when I did... So, we spent the next 3 days preparing for the wedding... in the kitchen...

Now, I have to say... I am learning so much about food it's amazing. She is brilliant as she can just look at stuff and put together the most amazing food... a lot of it is vegetarian, which is nice, but they do have meat around... just not like most Irish who eat it all the time! Everyone is very respectful of my eating "issues" and I've been very comfortable here.

While we were in the kitchen cooking, we had just such a blast. I didn't have to do the meat stuff, so that was great, but I learned loads just about basic preparation which I never really knew. I guess I'm not so afraid of cookin' now! She said... "We never have the same meal twice"... which is so cool because every night we eat something different. Oh.. they call dinner/supper "tea" instead... I love the accent! The kids are wonderful and the family is just the best.

Things I love the most about it here... my nest, the mint leaves (we just pick them and make tea... it's amazing!), the eggs (we just pull them out as the chickens hatch them and put them straight into the pot!), the veggies (always fresh and taste so good!), the people (everyone is so wonderful...), the food ('nuf said?)... Ozzie (the goose)... Snowy (the rabbit who we feed carrots to), my new friends, Sean and Barbara (the sheep who will be eaten in the winter) and the anticipation of the Russian birds who will come eat the seed off the Ash trees (see picture).

So Saturday was quite an event... We got up early and loaded everything into the car and went to the wedding. It was non-stop all day and so much fun... but a really small kitchen and Teresa was brilliant... she has a really nice way of directing without making it feel like an order... she compliments as we go along keeping spirits high and motivation high... ya know how people naturally like to please! She's like this with her children too... talk about good parenting/fun parenting! Brilliant.

When we were finished we had some wine and sat out on the porch. We took showers in Gabrielle's house (the woman who owned the place where the wedding was) and then we went out in town to Enniskillen. Oh man and then the culture shock hit. The girls ALL wore ugly, short skirts with high heels and tight tight ugly clothing. The guys all wore the same shirts and had their short hair spiked all the same. Ugh... it was absolutely awful. The three of us stuck out like sore thumbs, but had a blast trying to find a place where we were comfortable! It was a blast and we were pretty tipsy from the wine and the drinks! Good night out...

Today is Sunday and we have the day off... yessss. Good time to rest.
Well, basically we rested, played on the computer and ate more of the leftovers!
Tomorrow will, most likely, start some farm work that I haven't done yet.
Lovin' it up here... have internet access so I'm planning for New Zealand and I have skype so get on and say hi and meet everyone!

Smiles to ya.

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