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| The view |
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| In our courtyard with the farmer's dog. Our apartment is the door up the stairs to the right |
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| The vegetable garden |
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| Our afternoons |
Saturday, September 10, 2011
A wwoofer's paradise
... Or anyone's paradise, really. We have been on the 'farm' in Mallorca now for 4 days, and i still pinch myself every 20 minutes or so to make sure I'm not dreaming. Its the most beautiful place I've ever been, and to be wwoofing here is really kind of ridiculous. Its not a farm but an 8 million euro 'finca' (which technically just means country house) surrounded by 250 acres of mountain and thousands of ancient olive trees, 300 sheep and a bunch of wild goats. Part of the house we are staying in was built by the moors over 700 years ago.
We work 5 days a week, for 5 or 6 hours. Its different than other places, because we aren't growing anything for sale. The garden is mainly for the owners or people who rent the property, but there aren't any renters here right now. The farmer, Tolo, is this really bad ass mallorquin who hunts wild goats with a lasso and goes spear fishing, holding his breath for 3 minutes and diving down to spear some fish. Hes also a really funny dude but he gives us pretty lame work. Probably because we would be useless at doing the real work. With all the animals scattered over the 250 acres his dogs are much more useful than us. We spent one day cutting pieces of this strange grass that grows by runners, and then we spent the next day planting all the pieces in another spot. We also weed the garden and pick whatever is still growing there, and the other wwoofer who has been here all summer whipped up some really delicious gaspatcho.
The afternoons are much more grueling than the mornings. We have lunch, then lounge by the pool, read, swim, sleep, lounge some more. Intense varsity lounger training. Then we have weekends off, for hiking, going to the beach, going to the market, whatever.
I really cant believe that we're here, so far from where we started 2 1/2 months ago in Ireland! So much heat and sun. I love it.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Mallorca, Germany
Well, we have come along way from organic farming in Ireland. Pretty much the opposite, at the beach in Palma de Mallorca, which is basically the Spanish Jersey Shore, filled with german and dutch juiceheads. But dont worry, this was just a quick stop and we are off soon for Pedruxella, a remote estate in the mountains where we will be back to farming again, one last time.
In the meantime we have been in Berlin, Brussels, London, Cheshire, London again, and Barcelona! Barcelona is the best city ever. Cool architecture and unique urban planning, great museums, crazy nights. And its legit to nap in the afternoon, and a gorgeous beach is only a short walk away.
Anyway, running out of internet time, but we will be home in 2 weeks so see you soon!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
photo evidence
I had a few minutes to upload some photos, so even though they are not in order, heres some proof of what we've been up to... I dont have any pictures from the farm in holland, they are on sarahs camera, so i will have to add them later.
So theres a bit... the computer is really slow for uploading pictures so thats all i have for now. More news later i guess. xoxox
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| The Peace Wall in Belfast |
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| Our hosts at Moyleabbey farm in Ireland |
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| Glasgow |
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| Amsterdam |
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| Berlin pub crawl |
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| Brussels |
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| my only photo from the farm in holland, the creepy dharma initiative food |
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| Creamfields crew |
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| Tiesto! |
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Wheeeww
Its been a while since I last contributed to this beautiful blog and for all of our fans out there (aka mom and dad), I am sorry. Its been quite a whirlwind since we left Ireland 3 weeks ago. It was sad to leave that rainy but wonderful island, but this Irish WOOFing adventure has gone rogue and now we are in continental Europe! Surprise! Yes, so we left Moyleabbey organic farm on the 30th of July and headed to Belfast, then to Glasgow, then Edinburgh, Amsterdam, a farm in northern Holland for 10 days, Frankfurt, and now Berlin! Tomorrow we head to Brussels, then back across the channel for creamfields! (anticipatory fist pump), then to Barcelona and Majorca, then home on the 22nd of september. Real life looms ahead. Now, what to say about the past 3 weeks...
Belfast was interesting, we showed up just in time for the Pride parade so the city was a little crazy with all that. We did a tour of west belfast to learn about the troubles, and its crazy to see that they are still constructing "peace walls" between the catholic and protestant communities because theres still a lot of violence despite the fact that they somehow came to some agreement a few years ago.
Glasgow was just a quick stop, basically one and a half days, but we went to more museums there than we have been to anywhere because they were free and it was raining so not so nice to walk around outside.
Edinburgh is the best place ever. Its like a really great sized city and so beautiful and so much fun! When we got there the fringe festival was just beginning, so we got to see a great comedy show for cheap because it was still in previews. I really loved scotland and wish we had more time to spend in the land of "Och" and "Aye". Especially because we didnt have time to go to the highlands so i must go back and do that.
Amsterdam was really cool too but i was perpetually getting lost even though i was reading a map and it looks like it should be simple enough. The Van Gogh museum was really awesome but jam packed with people. Actually the whole city was jam packed with people, and as our luck would have it, it was Pride weekend in Amsterdam, so rainbows and drag queens surrounded us once again.
Traveling has been great but we are realizing why we never planned a whirlwind euro trip in the first place, were not really cut out for the city hopping, 2 days in each place sort of thing: Its super fun but not incredibly meaningful because you go around and take some pics and do whatever tourists are supposed to do in that place and then leave. But since everything seems so close its really tempting to try to go as many places as possible. On our last day in Amsterdam we had a pretty frazzled day trying to get all our plans in order and 20 minutes before we had to catch a train we were booking flights and such and ended up booking a flight from brussels to berlin instead of the other way around! So that was pretty crappy but luckily it wasnt to expensive to sort out. Its really nice to balance the traveling with staying in one place and having a chilled out routine, basically just gardening and sleeping.
Which brings me to our short stay in Holland. I was not that psyched about it when we first got there, but it did get better. On saturday evening, Lambert, picks us up from the train station and hes telling us about how the town, Veenhuizen, is like the prison center of Holland. There are 4 jails in ths sleepy little town, plus the very popular tourist attraction, the prison museum. Also the town was originally founded in like the 1800s as this sort of social experiment where homeless people and orphans and other such miscreants were sent to work and learn to be proper citizens, so many of the houses have sayings written on them such as "work is virtuous" and stuff like that: Then we get to the place we were sleeping which wa not Lamberts house but an abandoned farm house near the garden. Its completely empty, when the former resident died i guess his son took absolutely everything of any value, including the carpets and the light fixtures, and its really really dirty. Then we look in the cupboard and all the food is in these matching packages that look creepily like the Dharma Initiative from Lost... Anyway i was close to running away immediately because everything just had such a creepy vibe but Sarah convinced me that in the light of day everything would be better, and she was right. The gardens that we worked in were absolutely beautiful, and all the different volunteers we worked with were really great. It was more of a botanical garden than a farm, though they do produce some crops for sale, but the main garden is open for visitors to walk through so its all very artistically laid out in labyrinths and fancy shapes. Basically the only gardening task we did was weeding, because they are so meticulous that there cant be a single weed anywhere. But i understand that its the easiest thing for us to do especially since we were there such a short time. Also, ironically, it rained every single day (the irish weather followed us) so the ground was too wet for using machinery or tools so we had to trudge through the mud and pick weeds by hand. All in all it was pretty good though, Holland is cool. I love bikes and cheese and dutch people are all about their bikes and cheese. Apparently playing darts is really popular too, Sarah and I went with Lambert and his friend to the local pub, thinking they would play like two or three rounds, but they were really intense about it so we were there until 3 am. Darts is a really crap game to play when you are drinking because it actually requires a lot of mental math and strategizing, not to mention accuracy. And i always thought it was just get your darts closest to the center and you win. One exciting thing we did was cook up a bunch of recipes for squash because they are growing a lot of squash and dont really know how to eat it, so we made yummy squash risotto and zucchini cake and a few other things. One not so exciting thing we did was catch impetigo from Lambert's 1-year old daughter. They thought she had bug bites. Normally adults dont really get it but i guess our immune systems are weak from traveling, especially since we have not been very well nourished since we were at Moyleabbey.
I dont think im going to write about Germany right now because i have already written a lot and i have some other internet tasks to accomplish, namely, applying for jobs. its really hard to think about work and i cant even remember the title of my honours thesis at this point, so this is not going to be fun. I want to upload some pics but the connection is really slow so i will do it in a few days hopefully.
Belfast was interesting, we showed up just in time for the Pride parade so the city was a little crazy with all that. We did a tour of west belfast to learn about the troubles, and its crazy to see that they are still constructing "peace walls" between the catholic and protestant communities because theres still a lot of violence despite the fact that they somehow came to some agreement a few years ago.
Glasgow was just a quick stop, basically one and a half days, but we went to more museums there than we have been to anywhere because they were free and it was raining so not so nice to walk around outside.
Edinburgh is the best place ever. Its like a really great sized city and so beautiful and so much fun! When we got there the fringe festival was just beginning, so we got to see a great comedy show for cheap because it was still in previews. I really loved scotland and wish we had more time to spend in the land of "Och" and "Aye". Especially because we didnt have time to go to the highlands so i must go back and do that.
Amsterdam was really cool too but i was perpetually getting lost even though i was reading a map and it looks like it should be simple enough. The Van Gogh museum was really awesome but jam packed with people. Actually the whole city was jam packed with people, and as our luck would have it, it was Pride weekend in Amsterdam, so rainbows and drag queens surrounded us once again.
Traveling has been great but we are realizing why we never planned a whirlwind euro trip in the first place, were not really cut out for the city hopping, 2 days in each place sort of thing: Its super fun but not incredibly meaningful because you go around and take some pics and do whatever tourists are supposed to do in that place and then leave. But since everything seems so close its really tempting to try to go as many places as possible. On our last day in Amsterdam we had a pretty frazzled day trying to get all our plans in order and 20 minutes before we had to catch a train we were booking flights and such and ended up booking a flight from brussels to berlin instead of the other way around! So that was pretty crappy but luckily it wasnt to expensive to sort out. Its really nice to balance the traveling with staying in one place and having a chilled out routine, basically just gardening and sleeping.
Which brings me to our short stay in Holland. I was not that psyched about it when we first got there, but it did get better. On saturday evening, Lambert, picks us up from the train station and hes telling us about how the town, Veenhuizen, is like the prison center of Holland. There are 4 jails in ths sleepy little town, plus the very popular tourist attraction, the prison museum. Also the town was originally founded in like the 1800s as this sort of social experiment where homeless people and orphans and other such miscreants were sent to work and learn to be proper citizens, so many of the houses have sayings written on them such as "work is virtuous" and stuff like that: Then we get to the place we were sleeping which wa not Lamberts house but an abandoned farm house near the garden. Its completely empty, when the former resident died i guess his son took absolutely everything of any value, including the carpets and the light fixtures, and its really really dirty. Then we look in the cupboard and all the food is in these matching packages that look creepily like the Dharma Initiative from Lost... Anyway i was close to running away immediately because everything just had such a creepy vibe but Sarah convinced me that in the light of day everything would be better, and she was right. The gardens that we worked in were absolutely beautiful, and all the different volunteers we worked with were really great. It was more of a botanical garden than a farm, though they do produce some crops for sale, but the main garden is open for visitors to walk through so its all very artistically laid out in labyrinths and fancy shapes. Basically the only gardening task we did was weeding, because they are so meticulous that there cant be a single weed anywhere. But i understand that its the easiest thing for us to do especially since we were there such a short time. Also, ironically, it rained every single day (the irish weather followed us) so the ground was too wet for using machinery or tools so we had to trudge through the mud and pick weeds by hand. All in all it was pretty good though, Holland is cool. I love bikes and cheese and dutch people are all about their bikes and cheese. Apparently playing darts is really popular too, Sarah and I went with Lambert and his friend to the local pub, thinking they would play like two or three rounds, but they were really intense about it so we were there until 3 am. Darts is a really crap game to play when you are drinking because it actually requires a lot of mental math and strategizing, not to mention accuracy. And i always thought it was just get your darts closest to the center and you win. One exciting thing we did was cook up a bunch of recipes for squash because they are growing a lot of squash and dont really know how to eat it, so we made yummy squash risotto and zucchini cake and a few other things. One not so exciting thing we did was catch impetigo from Lambert's 1-year old daughter. They thought she had bug bites. Normally adults dont really get it but i guess our immune systems are weak from traveling, especially since we have not been very well nourished since we were at Moyleabbey.
I dont think im going to write about Germany right now because i have already written a lot and i have some other internet tasks to accomplish, namely, applying for jobs. its really hard to think about work and i cant even remember the title of my honours thesis at this point, so this is not going to be fun. I want to upload some pics but the connection is really slow so i will do it in a few days hopefully.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
last week on the farm
Time for my monthly blog update. Its not Kelly again...
Tomorrow is our last day on the farm and I can not believe we have been here a month. As Kelly has already expressed, this farming experience was much different than us working at the shop in Cork; waking up early and working hard all day long outside. We have really enjoyed the family and the farm and it will take some adjusting to get out of our daily routine, but I know we are both itching for some more traveling and are ready to move on. Our plans for the next week include traveling to Belfast then Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland.
Now for a little update on the past week and a bit. Last weekend we went to Wicklow National Park. For those chick flick fanatics, it is where they filmed PS, I Love You starring Gerrard Butler and Hilary Swank ( legit one of my favorite movies. so good. go see it if you haven't). I was obviously obsessed with this fact, and the whole time picturing being in that movie, or at least meeting myself a Gerrard Butler. We left on the Friday and stayed until Sunday at a hostel in Glendalough. Glendalough is one of the main towns in the park even though it consisted of a hotel/restaurant/bar and hostel. We spent the day on Saturday hiking through the park and even though the forecast called for thunderstorms it was a beautiful sunny day. I don't know if Kelly has told you, our luck with weather has been incredible. It is ALWAYS sunny when we need it to be ( i.e. taking a day trip), always defying the forecast. Ireland likes us :)
Saturday night we went to a restaurant in the next town ( 15 min walk away) and had a nice little dinner date. It was here that it became apparent we have absolutely nothing to talk about, that we have been spending way to much time together to remotely attempt any conversation. Our conversation went as follows: " How is your food?" "good, wanna try?" "Sure...oh its good...wanna try mine?" "No thanks." and we were sitting for almost two hours. no joke. After dinner we just hung out at the hostel watching movies, which is something we have been craving, so that was nice. On Sunday, we got up and left, stopping off in Dublin for a few hours before coming back to the farm. Monday we lounged and rested before another week of work.
The week went by as per usual...weeding, picking raspberries, harvesting onions, garlic and peas.
This weekend we decided to have a last hurrah in Dublin. We arrived on Friday to Emer's house and just hung out and caught up on the past 3 weeks. Saturday we walked around the city, got coffee and food and sat by St Stephens Green. We then went to Emer's friends bbq/party which was lots of fun. We met a bunch of her university friends and spent the night listening to music, drinking and chatting.
On Sunday the girls ( Emer and Aibhe) went to a music festival but we decided not to join, but instead hang out ( we are often very tired after the long weeks of work)...however our plans changed. As we were sitting outside on a bench in our Pajamas ( well, I was ACTUALLY in my pjs...we were only down the road from Emers house and just left to get a quick coffee) a friendly dude came and sat next to us. We ended up chatting and he invited us to this boat party. We didn't have time to change as it was leaving but still, Kelly and I spur of the moment decided to go. I am so happy we did because it was easily one of the funnest days of our whole trip yet! We spent the afternoon ( again BEAUTIFUL and sunny) outside on a boat, dancing and making new friends. After we joined our new friends and went to this really cool bar. We eventually got back to Emer's around the same time we did and hung out for a bit reviewing our days before bed.
Monday was sad as we had to say goodbye to Emer and Ailbhe for good :( :( ....well until they come to Canada :). after our Goodbyes we got the bus back to the farm.
This week has been the same ol routine except Wednesday we got the opportunity to go on a Farm Walk. This is basically when farms open up for an open house/tour sorta thing. One of the farm owners educated us on what we were seeing as we were walking by as people asked questions and made comments. It is a really great way for farmers to share information and learn from one another. It was also very interesting for us to see a different farm, one that was 10 times the size and very different than Moyleabbeys ( where we are working now).
Anyway, I think that is all for now. Hopefully this post will suffice until next time ( probs in August at some point). xo
Tomorrow is our last day on the farm and I can not believe we have been here a month. As Kelly has already expressed, this farming experience was much different than us working at the shop in Cork; waking up early and working hard all day long outside. We have really enjoyed the family and the farm and it will take some adjusting to get out of our daily routine, but I know we are both itching for some more traveling and are ready to move on. Our plans for the next week include traveling to Belfast then Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland.
Now for a little update on the past week and a bit. Last weekend we went to Wicklow National Park. For those chick flick fanatics, it is where they filmed PS, I Love You starring Gerrard Butler and Hilary Swank ( legit one of my favorite movies. so good. go see it if you haven't). I was obviously obsessed with this fact, and the whole time picturing being in that movie, or at least meeting myself a Gerrard Butler. We left on the Friday and stayed until Sunday at a hostel in Glendalough. Glendalough is one of the main towns in the park even though it consisted of a hotel/restaurant/bar and hostel. We spent the day on Saturday hiking through the park and even though the forecast called for thunderstorms it was a beautiful sunny day. I don't know if Kelly has told you, our luck with weather has been incredible. It is ALWAYS sunny when we need it to be ( i.e. taking a day trip), always defying the forecast. Ireland likes us :)
Saturday night we went to a restaurant in the next town ( 15 min walk away) and had a nice little dinner date. It was here that it became apparent we have absolutely nothing to talk about, that we have been spending way to much time together to remotely attempt any conversation. Our conversation went as follows: " How is your food?" "good, wanna try?" "Sure...oh its good...wanna try mine?" "No thanks." and we were sitting for almost two hours. no joke. After dinner we just hung out at the hostel watching movies, which is something we have been craving, so that was nice. On Sunday, we got up and left, stopping off in Dublin for a few hours before coming back to the farm. Monday we lounged and rested before another week of work.
The week went by as per usual...weeding, picking raspberries, harvesting onions, garlic and peas.
This weekend we decided to have a last hurrah in Dublin. We arrived on Friday to Emer's house and just hung out and caught up on the past 3 weeks. Saturday we walked around the city, got coffee and food and sat by St Stephens Green. We then went to Emer's friends bbq/party which was lots of fun. We met a bunch of her university friends and spent the night listening to music, drinking and chatting.
On Sunday the girls ( Emer and Aibhe) went to a music festival but we decided not to join, but instead hang out ( we are often very tired after the long weeks of work)...however our plans changed. As we were sitting outside on a bench in our Pajamas ( well, I was ACTUALLY in my pjs...we were only down the road from Emers house and just left to get a quick coffee) a friendly dude came and sat next to us. We ended up chatting and he invited us to this boat party. We didn't have time to change as it was leaving but still, Kelly and I spur of the moment decided to go. I am so happy we did because it was easily one of the funnest days of our whole trip yet! We spent the afternoon ( again BEAUTIFUL and sunny) outside on a boat, dancing and making new friends. After we joined our new friends and went to this really cool bar. We eventually got back to Emer's around the same time we did and hung out for a bit reviewing our days before bed.
Monday was sad as we had to say goodbye to Emer and Ailbhe for good :( :( ....well until they come to Canada :). after our Goodbyes we got the bus back to the farm.
This week has been the same ol routine except Wednesday we got the opportunity to go on a Farm Walk. This is basically when farms open up for an open house/tour sorta thing. One of the farm owners educated us on what we were seeing as we were walking by as people asked questions and made comments. It is a really great way for farmers to share information and learn from one another. It was also very interesting for us to see a different farm, one that was 10 times the size and very different than Moyleabbeys ( where we are working now).
Anyway, I think that is all for now. Hopefully this post will suffice until next time ( probs in August at some point). xo
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
farm photos
Computer is super slow here, we just spend an hour and a half trying to book a flight to Amsterdam. Oh yeah, by the way, we now have WWOOFing placements in Veenhuizen, the Netherlands, and Mallorca, Spain!! check out the Spain place and be jealous: www.pedruxella.com
Basically, we are never coming home. Just kidding, we will probably be home mid-september. Anyway, pictures.
Basically, we are never coming home. Just kidding, we will probably be home mid-september. Anyway, pictures.
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| Driveway into the farm, the house, apple trees, and our mobile home |
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| home sweet trailer park |
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| The Moyleabbey market stall in Carlow |
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| Hoeing onions |
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| Lots of onions |
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| Of course, the raspberries |
Thursday, July 14, 2011
real farming
As you may have guessed from the relatively long period of silence, we are actually on a farm now! We have been at Moyleabbey Organic Farm, near Ballitore, Co. Kildare, since the 4th. And we have been busy! We are working 9-6 monday-thursday, with weekends plus monday off. So the days we work feel long but the break is long too! Its a sweet life really, working outside all day, eating incredibly delicious fresh food, and falling into a deep, exhausted but satistifed sleep, usually before 11 pm!!
And we are pretty great farmers, if i do say so myself. Planting, weeding, watering, more weeding, harvesting, cleaning, selling...eating...more weeding... Weeding seems to be the main thing, everywhere, all the time. We have also been kept very busy by the raspberry patch, spending 5 hours or so twice a week picking them. Afterwards i close my eyes and see raspberries.
I have discovered that I have a deep phobia of slugs. I have always hated them but here they are about 5 inches long and very plentiful. At home they arent usually much longer than an inch. I guess the dampness in Ireland is amenable to slugs. Unfortunately they seem to like me, because the other day we were pulling out old plants in the greenhouse and tons were coming up out of the holes in the black plastic where the plants had been, but sarah wasn't seeing any where she was working. Gah. Such a dumb thing to be afraid of since they literally do nothing except slime around the garden. I was trying to tell myself to picture them as tiny cats. Didnt work. I used to get nightmares about giant slugs.
Anyway enough about slugs. The most ferocious organism in the garden is the nettle plant. They are also giant and they are everywhere and we keep brushing up against them accidentally and then it stings. a lot.
Oh one more creature to talk about. Our first few days we were awoken around 5 am by some angry sounding creatures on the roof of our little mobile home/camper thing. It sounded like raccoons fighting, and it sounded like they were inside. So we were a little freaked out until we found out that there are no raccoons in Ireland, the closest thing to a raccoon is a badger and they wouldn't be on our roof. So, it turns out that it was just a couple birds, magpies.
In our free time we have rediscovered the joy of reading. We brought along a few books but quickly went through those last week and over the weekend. Now we have a few novels as well as some gardening and macrobiotic books on the go. For our weekend we basically just read, and walked. The weather has been really really good since last friday so we went for several long walks. This weekend we are planning to go hiking in wicklow national park, but seems like the weather is turning so i'm not sure how ambitious our journey will be.
So thats about it for now. We are happy and healthy and loving it here.
Sarah says hi.
And we are pretty great farmers, if i do say so myself. Planting, weeding, watering, more weeding, harvesting, cleaning, selling...eating...more weeding... Weeding seems to be the main thing, everywhere, all the time. We have also been kept very busy by the raspberry patch, spending 5 hours or so twice a week picking them. Afterwards i close my eyes and see raspberries.
I have discovered that I have a deep phobia of slugs. I have always hated them but here they are about 5 inches long and very plentiful. At home they arent usually much longer than an inch. I guess the dampness in Ireland is amenable to slugs. Unfortunately they seem to like me, because the other day we were pulling out old plants in the greenhouse and tons were coming up out of the holes in the black plastic where the plants had been, but sarah wasn't seeing any where she was working. Gah. Such a dumb thing to be afraid of since they literally do nothing except slime around the garden. I was trying to tell myself to picture them as tiny cats. Didnt work. I used to get nightmares about giant slugs.
Anyway enough about slugs. The most ferocious organism in the garden is the nettle plant. They are also giant and they are everywhere and we keep brushing up against them accidentally and then it stings. a lot.
Oh one more creature to talk about. Our first few days we were awoken around 5 am by some angry sounding creatures on the roof of our little mobile home/camper thing. It sounded like raccoons fighting, and it sounded like they were inside. So we were a little freaked out until we found out that there are no raccoons in Ireland, the closest thing to a raccoon is a badger and they wouldn't be on our roof. So, it turns out that it was just a couple birds, magpies.
In our free time we have rediscovered the joy of reading. We brought along a few books but quickly went through those last week and over the weekend. Now we have a few novels as well as some gardening and macrobiotic books on the go. For our weekend we basically just read, and walked. The weather has been really really good since last friday so we went for several long walks. This weekend we are planning to go hiking in wicklow national park, but seems like the weather is turning so i'm not sure how ambitious our journey will be.
So thats about it for now. We are happy and healthy and loving it here.
Sarah says hi.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Gourmet hobos in Galway
Woohoo blogging! Its been a while, and as you can see we've been a few places, so we have a few stories to share.
First of all, I am happy to note we have had many nights of warm cozy sleeps without having to resort to whiskey blankets. Hostels are generally pretty toasty. Tonight is our last night staying with friends in Dublin, so we are both reallllly hoping the farm with have warm sleeping accomodations.
It was sad times to leave the little cafe in Cork, and on our last day it seemed like Pat was contemplating how he could kidnap us and keep us working in the shop so that he could go off to India. But we did leave in the end, and he sent us on our way with some of our favorite tea and chocolate covered rice cakes.We spent the last night in town so that we could get an early bus to Killarney. Most nights that we were in the city we would go to a pub with live music and have a pint, but we had never experienced real Cork nightlife so we decided to go big for our last night. After the most delicious pizza i've ever eaten (so amazing after 2 weeks of very healthy food) we got dressed up and went out. We soon discovered that our definition of dressed up (clean clothes and a bit of eyeliner) was extremely dressed down for Cork saturday night standards... The girls wear 5 pounds of makeup and everybody looks like they want to be on Jersey Shore. Later we found out that that was actually true, they legit idolize Jersey Shore. Yikes. We met this guy who is moving to Vancouver in a few weeks and he couldn't understand why we couldn't help him find a place to live. Not sure he's ever seen Canada on a map before.
The next day we hopped on a bus to Killarney, which is a tourist town in county Kerry that is on the edge of a beautiful National Park. We had some great walks through the park. On our second day there we took a bus tour of the ring of Kerry, which goes around the Iveragh (?) Penninsula. I've already started thinking about coming back to Ireland to hike or bike that area because it was so amazing.
Next we had a quick stopover in Limerick, which we learned later has the nickname "stab city". Awesome. We walked around looking for dinner around 8 and the city was completely deserted, except for a couple sketchy characters on street corners. The most interesting thing about Limerick is that it has gridded streets... and that was only interesting to me because im such a nerd about little urban planning things. But i honestly felt like i was in Detroit or something.
We only really stopped in Limerick because we couldnt get a direct bus to the Cliffs of Moher. We heard the Cliffs were awesome and they did not disappoint. So beautiful and so fun to hike along the edge, beyond the barrier.
After the Cliffs we got to Galway! Galway is totally the opposite of Limerick, a really vibrant fun town with tons of pubs with live music and a beach promenade. We had a lot of fun exploring the town and drinking to the sounds of fantastic musicians. We thought about taking a boat to the Aran islands on our second day, but the weather was bad so we stayed in town. And then we discovered that Galway can also be pretty boring. We had been to all the sights the day before, so there was nothing else to do, and besides the weather was crap. So we drifted from coffee shop to park bench to window shopping in the mall. We bought some olives and dips from a nice grocery store but had nowhere to sit, and then it started raining, so we smuggled our snacks into a mall cafe and hoped we wouldnt get kicked out. Hobos with fancy tastes. Anyway that seems way it is in Ireland, the quality of your day is highly dependent on the weather. We've generally had great weather while traveling though so can't really complain.
Finally, we made it to Dublin! We've been staying with Sarah's lovely friend Emer. Its been sunny and warm and we had a great time. We brought a Canadian flag out to a club for Canada day and made lots of friends.
Whew. And thats it. This post was a little on the dry side, but I had a lot of things to cover, and still a bit hungover so having a hard time recallng the funny anecdotes. Farming for realzies starts tomorrow!!!
First of all, I am happy to note we have had many nights of warm cozy sleeps without having to resort to whiskey blankets. Hostels are generally pretty toasty. Tonight is our last night staying with friends in Dublin, so we are both reallllly hoping the farm with have warm sleeping accomodations.
It was sad times to leave the little cafe in Cork, and on our last day it seemed like Pat was contemplating how he could kidnap us and keep us working in the shop so that he could go off to India. But we did leave in the end, and he sent us on our way with some of our favorite tea and chocolate covered rice cakes.We spent the last night in town so that we could get an early bus to Killarney. Most nights that we were in the city we would go to a pub with live music and have a pint, but we had never experienced real Cork nightlife so we decided to go big for our last night. After the most delicious pizza i've ever eaten (so amazing after 2 weeks of very healthy food) we got dressed up and went out. We soon discovered that our definition of dressed up (clean clothes and a bit of eyeliner) was extremely dressed down for Cork saturday night standards... The girls wear 5 pounds of makeup and everybody looks like they want to be on Jersey Shore. Later we found out that that was actually true, they legit idolize Jersey Shore. Yikes. We met this guy who is moving to Vancouver in a few weeks and he couldn't understand why we couldn't help him find a place to live. Not sure he's ever seen Canada on a map before.
The next day we hopped on a bus to Killarney, which is a tourist town in county Kerry that is on the edge of a beautiful National Park. We had some great walks through the park. On our second day there we took a bus tour of the ring of Kerry, which goes around the Iveragh (?) Penninsula. I've already started thinking about coming back to Ireland to hike or bike that area because it was so amazing.
Next we had a quick stopover in Limerick, which we learned later has the nickname "stab city". Awesome. We walked around looking for dinner around 8 and the city was completely deserted, except for a couple sketchy characters on street corners. The most interesting thing about Limerick is that it has gridded streets... and that was only interesting to me because im such a nerd about little urban planning things. But i honestly felt like i was in Detroit or something.
We only really stopped in Limerick because we couldnt get a direct bus to the Cliffs of Moher. We heard the Cliffs were awesome and they did not disappoint. So beautiful and so fun to hike along the edge, beyond the barrier.
After the Cliffs we got to Galway! Galway is totally the opposite of Limerick, a really vibrant fun town with tons of pubs with live music and a beach promenade. We had a lot of fun exploring the town and drinking to the sounds of fantastic musicians. We thought about taking a boat to the Aran islands on our second day, but the weather was bad so we stayed in town. And then we discovered that Galway can also be pretty boring. We had been to all the sights the day before, so there was nothing else to do, and besides the weather was crap. So we drifted from coffee shop to park bench to window shopping in the mall. We bought some olives and dips from a nice grocery store but had nowhere to sit, and then it started raining, so we smuggled our snacks into a mall cafe and hoped we wouldnt get kicked out. Hobos with fancy tastes. Anyway that seems way it is in Ireland, the quality of your day is highly dependent on the weather. We've generally had great weather while traveling though so can't really complain.
Finally, we made it to Dublin! We've been staying with Sarah's lovely friend Emer. Its been sunny and warm and we had a great time. We brought a Canadian flag out to a club for Canada day and made lots of friends.
Whew. And thats it. This post was a little on the dry side, but I had a lot of things to cover, and still a bit hungover so having a hard time recallng the funny anecdotes. Farming for realzies starts tomorrow!!!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Roaming the West
In Dublin!! Not much time to write now, but thought i'd post some pictures....
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| Bedtime uniform |
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| Blarney castle |
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| Recovering from kissing the damn stone |
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| Tim Ho's in Cork city. Sadly no ice caps. |
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| Cows in Killarney National Park |
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| Killarney national park |
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| Cliffs of Moher |
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| Limerick- the most exciting element was the gridded street layout |
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| Entering Galway |
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| New friends in the coolest pub in Galway, so much sweet stuff all over the walls |
Friday, June 24, 2011
Raw, vegan, organic (crack)
Its our penultimate day of WWOOFing in Cork! And actually we're not even working (yet). Still at the cottage because its a rainy miserable day and according to Pat he looked out the window this morning and said "whats the point?" but neglected to tell us this, so we've been up waiting to go since 9:15 which is when we usually leave for the city.
Its mostly been the same stuff day to day, wake up, go to the shop, make falafel, soup, and salad, drink tea, organize some shelves, clean, drink tea, etc. Pat has given up sprouting and going to markets for a while since he just opened the store so there really isnt enough for the 4 of us wwoofers to do. And also therefore we havent touched a single sprouting apparatus so our dream of becoming sprouting queens has been dashed.
We have had some excitement in the shop, the other day we had a visit from one of the friendly nieghbourhood crackheads. A dodgy dude stormed into the shop and frantically asked to use the bathroom. He was in there for a while, and about 10 minutes later he emerged much calmer, leaving behind a cloud of strange smelling smoke. Not very good for our chi energy thank you very much. The Very Healthy Food shop has quickly become a den of iniquity. Not really. Nothing a little shot of wheatgrass can't fix.
The other day we went to Blarney Castle to kiss the famous blarney stone, which is supposed to bestow the 'gift of the irish gab'. Bunch of crap. It was kind of ridiculous and absolutely terrifying and I am not any more eloquent or even any more talkative than before. And the stone wasn't even special, could have been any stone in the castle but of course it had to be located in a place where you make an utter fool of yourself trying to kiss it (pictures to come). But whatever, supposedly the most visited place in Ireland, so we had to go.
I am looking forward to our next wwoofing placement which is an actual farm. We did not bring nice enough clothes for being in the city every day. We have come to embrace the tourist/hippie bum style though, new look for fall yeah? Also as I have whined about before, we did not bring enough warm stuff. But we have discovered a solution for that. We call it the wiskey blanket. After applying our sleep outfits which consist of 5 shirts, 2 pants, and 2 thick pairs of socks, we make some hot tea and add a generous splash of jameson. After that we are toasty enough to fall asleep. Probs not the best habit to get into...
Anway seems like we're good to go now so we'll post some pics later.
Its mostly been the same stuff day to day, wake up, go to the shop, make falafel, soup, and salad, drink tea, organize some shelves, clean, drink tea, etc. Pat has given up sprouting and going to markets for a while since he just opened the store so there really isnt enough for the 4 of us wwoofers to do. And also therefore we havent touched a single sprouting apparatus so our dream of becoming sprouting queens has been dashed.
We have had some excitement in the shop, the other day we had a visit from one of the friendly nieghbourhood crackheads. A dodgy dude stormed into the shop and frantically asked to use the bathroom. He was in there for a while, and about 10 minutes later he emerged much calmer, leaving behind a cloud of strange smelling smoke. Not very good for our chi energy thank you very much. The Very Healthy Food shop has quickly become a den of iniquity. Not really. Nothing a little shot of wheatgrass can't fix.
The other day we went to Blarney Castle to kiss the famous blarney stone, which is supposed to bestow the 'gift of the irish gab'. Bunch of crap. It was kind of ridiculous and absolutely terrifying and I am not any more eloquent or even any more talkative than before. And the stone wasn't even special, could have been any stone in the castle but of course it had to be located in a place where you make an utter fool of yourself trying to kiss it (pictures to come). But whatever, supposedly the most visited place in Ireland, so we had to go.
I am looking forward to our next wwoofing placement which is an actual farm. We did not bring nice enough clothes for being in the city every day. We have come to embrace the tourist/hippie bum style though, new look for fall yeah? Also as I have whined about before, we did not bring enough warm stuff. But we have discovered a solution for that. We call it the wiskey blanket. After applying our sleep outfits which consist of 5 shirts, 2 pants, and 2 thick pairs of socks, we make some hot tea and add a generous splash of jameson. After that we are toasty enough to fall asleep. Probs not the best habit to get into...
Anway seems like we're good to go now so we'll post some pics later.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Week 1
A beautiful 35 degree day in sunny Ireland! We lounged on the beach and drank margaritas. OH WAIT, no, i was just daydreaming. I'm so cold. Rainy and chilly today, but even more so it seems. Did some cleaning and took a giant load of recycling to the depot. Yesterday, however, was quite beautiful. We had a day off and went down Kinsale, a harbour town about 20 minutes away. We hitchhiked and met some great people. It really was quite sunny, no tan but i have about a million more freckles. Its been just about a week now and i have learned a few things:
1) A summer weight sleeping bag is not sufficient for summer in Ireland
1a) We may have to go south for a bit at the end of our trip in order to have any real summer
2) Irish people are really friendly and Its quite fun to wave or say hi to everyone you meet. If i tried this in Canada people would probably find me a bit nutty.
2) Irish people are really friendly and Its quite fun to wave or say hi to everyone you meet. If i tried this in Canada people would probably find me a bit nutty.
2a) According to Pat, Irish people are only like that because they're all a bit nutty
3) Guiness does taste better in Ireland. But i actually like Irish cider better.
4) I could easily develop OCD. I spent about 2 hours one day in the shop making sure everything on the shelves was perfectly lined up.
5) All houses should be painted bright colours. Its so cheerful.
6) Hitchhiking is fun (Mom i know you will not be too happy about that, dont worry we wont do it too much)
7) When the sun doesnt set until 11, it feels like its constantly dinner time.
8) I am really bad at choosing pubs. They are either empty, packed, or only old people. I guess i should have expected as much since I know i'm bad at choosing restaurants.
9) Baby wipes can make a sastistfactory shower.
10) A hair dryer would not have been a luxury, had i brought it along, it is a necessity. My hair wont fully dry for over 24 hours (because i do actually take real showers as well)
Heading back to the city now for a night or two. Maybe going to Blarney castle tomorrow or the next day.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Wwoofin fo realzies
Sarah already posted today (well i guess technically yesterday) but i thought i would add some pictures before going to bed.
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Buddhafly Deli: Our place of work, where we make yummy soups, salads, and falafels, and drink lots of tea. |
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Sarah working the counter |
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| Kelly selling sprouts and other super foods at the Cork city market |
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| Our first morning - the view from our window |
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Kelly's tacky tourist/fancy farmer outfit |
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The cottage on the hill |
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| camping |
Sup
Hello! Its not Kelly ( surprised?)
We just got back to the cottage after a few days of camping! (...in Pat's Tai Chi studio in Cork City). We pitched a tent in his stuido and created a cozy fort, inducing a warm slumber (very unsual for Ireland). Pat's actual house is about 45 minutes away from the city, so a bit of a commute.
Kelly and I went to go see Bob Dylan on Thurs, which was awesome. It was a really good show followed up by some bar hopping in the city through which we made some interesting friends (mostly 60 plus year old men). On Friday we spent the day at Pat's new vegan/organic restaurant and shop where we have been primarily working so far. We got to make our own soup, salad and falafel to sell. Pat has been leaving the shop completely to us which has been really fun; sprouting queens running the show! Friday night we attempted to hit the town again, this time aided by a baby-wipe shower, some blush and mascara.
So far we love Ireland. The people are so friendly, treating everyone as close friends. Pat is a really great host. He is a crazy, eccentric, intelligent world traveller who is fed up with "this FOCKIN' rat race called life". He settled back down in Cork 4 years ago to start his own sprouting endeavour and now a new shop. He is really fun to be around and we felt comfortable and at ease immediately upon our arrival. The work is very laid back and even though we work most of the day we do get time off to explore the city, and he's kindly offered us 2 days off per week but for us that seems overly generous.
It is almost bed time now and we are about the put on our 12 layers of clothing and wrap 2 sleeping bags around us so that we can get a good night sleep. Tomorrow is our day off and we are going to go to Kinsale, which is supposed to be a nice little coastal town only about 20 mins away from the house. We are going to hitchhike there and hopefully go whale watching....Kelly really wanted me to add a whale pun but I cant think of one.
Miss you all!!!!! <3
We just got back to the cottage after a few days of camping! (...in Pat's Tai Chi studio in Cork City). We pitched a tent in his stuido and created a cozy fort, inducing a warm slumber (very unsual for Ireland). Pat's actual house is about 45 minutes away from the city, so a bit of a commute.
Kelly and I went to go see Bob Dylan on Thurs, which was awesome. It was a really good show followed up by some bar hopping in the city through which we made some interesting friends (mostly 60 plus year old men). On Friday we spent the day at Pat's new vegan/organic restaurant and shop where we have been primarily working so far. We got to make our own soup, salad and falafel to sell. Pat has been leaving the shop completely to us which has been really fun; sprouting queens running the show! Friday night we attempted to hit the town again, this time aided by a baby-wipe shower, some blush and mascara.
So far we love Ireland. The people are so friendly, treating everyone as close friends. Pat is a really great host. He is a crazy, eccentric, intelligent world traveller who is fed up with "this FOCKIN' rat race called life". He settled back down in Cork 4 years ago to start his own sprouting endeavour and now a new shop. He is really fun to be around and we felt comfortable and at ease immediately upon our arrival. The work is very laid back and even though we work most of the day we do get time off to explore the city, and he's kindly offered us 2 days off per week but for us that seems overly generous.
It is almost bed time now and we are about the put on our 12 layers of clothing and wrap 2 sleeping bags around us so that we can get a good night sleep. Tomorrow is our day off and we are going to go to Kinsale, which is supposed to be a nice little coastal town only about 20 mins away from the house. We are going to hitchhike there and hopefully go whale watching....Kelly really wanted me to add a whale pun but I cant think of one.
Miss you all!!!!! <3
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Super Duper Sprouts!
Helloooo Ireland we have arrived. I am writing from a little cottage on a hill overlooking Clonakilty bay in Cork county. Sooo lovely. We had a fairly uneventful journey, flew to dublin then 4 hour bus to Cork City. Met some other wwoofers at the bus station, two american girls, and followed them back to our HQ for the next two weeks, Buddhafly Deli in Cork City. Our host, Pat, has recently opened this little vegan cafe and store, and this is where we will be working most of the time, or else sprouting back at the cottage, which is about 45 minutes outside of Cork city. We are sliding into our hippie alter-egos pretty quickly.
Not much to say because i'm actually really tired (yes i know we're not exactly doing backbreaking labour but come on i'm still jetlagged). Probably won't write anything tomorrow because we are going to see Bob Dylan in Cork (Pat had extra tickets!) and we will spend the night at his tai chi studio but more news and some photos later.
Not much to say because i'm actually really tired (yes i know we're not exactly doing backbreaking labour but come on i'm still jetlagged). Probably won't write anything tomorrow because we are going to see Bob Dylan in Cork (Pat had extra tickets!) and we will spend the night at his tai chi studio but more news and some photos later.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Aloha and Welcome
I am blogging. Wow. Never thought this would happen, but honestly it seems like the best way keep in touch with people while we're away, not to mention a more respectable route to internet celebrité (Sarah's dream in life).
If you are on this blog you probably already know us and know what we're about, but i'll do a little introduction anyway.
In the last semester of our undergraduate degree at McGill University, Sarah and I figured we needed a solid break from the papers and the books and the bags under our eyes and decided to make plans for backpacks and boots and dirt under our fingernails. So, we began planning a trip to Ireland, WWOOFing our way around the country. WWOOF stands for "Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms" and its a great way to travel to less touristy places, meet great people, and learn about sustainable lifestyles.
Now, to some of our friends this was a pretty rogue decision. I mean, I majored in Urban Studies, and Sarah has never been on a farm before. Yeah we supported the farmers market (delicious sweet potato bread) and experimented with sprouting, but we weren't really the green thumb types. Our friends were amused but generally supportive (one person said they could see me doing manual labour, not sure what that's supposed to mean, but I'm sure their intentions were good).
Are we ready for it? I guess we'll find out. Watch this space.
As I have learned from my more hip friends, a respectable blog needs a good concept. Preferably an ironic one. Maybe the whole idea of us going farming is sufficiently ironic, i don't know. But with a title like 'Certified Rogue' I hope to share some farming fun, wayward wanderings, hippie happenings, and overall awesome adventures (and i promise not to many cheesy alliterations).
A preview:
Our first placement: http://www.supersprouts.org
Supposedly selling sprouted goodness at this festival: http://www.bodyandsoul.ie
Our second placement: http://www.moyleabbey.ie
And, much later, wrapping up with the EPIC http://www.creamfields.com/
Thats about all we know for sure right now.
This blog is just for us. And you. And for Sarah to achieve internet fame.
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