Hippie community in the mountains

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Car's getting fixed, so I'm just going to hang out for a bit in this glorious little 1 euro an hour cafe.

My gypsy caravan is seriously amazing, guys. It's like something straight out of the Boxcar Children books - I have a little gas stove, and a kettle, and a set of little dishes and spoons and such that match the little kitchen window curtains. It's really more of a tiny cottage. And an actual iron - like.. made out of iron into the shape of a triangle. If I wanted to, I could heat the woodburning stove and use the iron to unwrinkleify my clothes but... I don't know, I'd feel like I was playing around with an antique.
I have breakfast on my own - tea, coffee, cereal, toast.. whatever. I have a regular little pantry. And the other two meals with the family - again, all organic and tons and tons of potatoes. I am so glad that I like potatoes.
My little cottage/caravan is about a minute walk down the lane to the house of the people I'm staying with. Speaking of:

They built the house themselves.
... entirely out of recycled and eco-friendly material.
... and then they dug a freshwater well for their water supply.
Maybe it's less like the Boxcar Children than Little House On The Prairie.

So far the work has been fun. Yesterday I harvested parsley.
... it's about as difficult as it sounds.

Anyway, the whole land is on the mountains of Clare overlooking Lough Greany - which is actually right where Biddy Early lived, if you've ever read about her (famous herbal 'wise woman' in the 1800s). Speaking of herbal wise women, the woman of the house makes all of her own herbal remedies and everything - she does a lot of workshops and such, it's really fascinating. I thought that it was unique until I met the "neighbors" (I don't think that term was meant for people who live 10 and 20 miles away... but apparently not) - everyone around here is completely environmentally focused. I don't think there's a thing that anyone throws away - everything is recycled, reused, composted or burnt. Which is really fantastic and all, but I can't get over not having a trash can.

There was a party up the road a few nights ago - it was all outdoors with a bonfire and a huge circusy tent and everything. It was fun, except for all the "midges" (gnats. Took me a while, but I realized that the midges everyone was complaining about = gnats.) that were biting and swarming all over. It wasn't 2 minutes into the party when everyone had all of their essential oils out to keep the swarms away. People were discussing whether camphor oil lasted longer than lavendar, or if citrona actually attracted the insects, etc, etc.

So I'm talking with some Scottish folks when this guy walks up to us and mentions the midge swarms. He asked if I was using anything, and I said I had about 50 different essential oils that people had spritzed, and he just rolled his eyes and said "Here, have some chemicals." He had bugspray! It was brilliant!
... I sort of snuck it on so no one could see the damage I was doing to mother earth by using aerosol chemicals. It was great. He was pretty much the un-hippie-ist person there - turns out he's a gardener for a wealthy English couple, which makes me think of BBC movies for some reason.

Oh - and I have my next (and last!) farm lined up. It's a vegan organic farm near Youghal (Home of Moby Dick! .... which I haven't actually read.) So I will be vegan beginning next Tuesday until the 6th of July.
... yeah, I'm stocking up on chocolate the second I get into the Cork bus station.

After that, I will be in Waterford for the Tall Ships Race (assuming I get around to making my reservations in Tramore...) and then onto Killkenny and London. Then... other stuff. Belfast, Galway, Ring of Kerry, Donegal... or not. We'll see what happens.

Thanks for letting me know about the musical, everyone - sounds like fun. Hope everything's going okay back in Kansas! .. I think I've heard enough Wizard of Oz jokes to last a lifetime.

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Photos

10 o'clock
... and the sun's still shining.

Comments

[Uthoff]

green w/ hippie jealousy
Hi, Haley; Your adventures have been a blast to read, so thanks for sharing...Keep it up! I'm pretending to be an actor again as Dolly in "Hello Dolly" over at the Columbian July 7-24; kind of nervewracking, but also good for me, too. Have fun, keep teaching us other words like 'midges'. xo Toff

[Vixen]

Wow, that sounds like such an adventure. I'm terribly envious of you :) Can't wait to read more updates. Sorry I haven't commented sooner. (I'm lazy). You're making me want to travel even more though. (hmm.. quit job.. put stuff in storage... postpone school.. travel world! :D ah, it won't happen.) Glad you're having a great time, though. and hooray for the bug spray. That guy sounds awesome.