We woke up yesterday to a frosty morning and a beautiful sunrise. The weather is temperamental here, even more so than it was in Dublin. Just today we’ve had a chilly, clear morning, light rain, a pouring rainstorm, and now blue skies with a warm sun. The lesson has been to take advantage of any break in the weather to get chores done.
There’s a lot to get our hands around between the greenhouse, polytunnel, chickens, and more. Most things are, thankfully, in excellent shape and were lovingly cared for. I can’t imagine the amount of work the previous owners put in, as when they bought it 8 years ago it was just an empty field. We feel incredibly grateful to steward the land in its next era.
Our first summer project will be to dig out the ground of the chicken coop (it’s a muddy mess). When it’s nice out the chickens wander the field, but they need an enclosure with better drainage. Despite eating 3-4 eggs a day we are losing the battle. Send help. That said, oh my goodness they are delicious eggs. Also, we have named the rooster Clarkson.
In the shorter term, we need to read up on how best to time plantings in the polytunnel. Our hope is to stagger things so that we have a year-round source of fresh vegetables. That’ll pair nicely with our 3 apple trees.
An unexpected surprise was the Field’s SuperValu about 30 minutes away in Skibbereen. The previous owner told us we just had to go there. A bit skeptical, we made the drive yesterday and found, by a wide margin, the best grocery store we’ve been to thus far in Ireland. Huge, with a great selection and reasonable prices. It’s a boon to living out here and not what we expected in the best of ways.1
