Le Guinness

I found this in a book I read recently and thought it appropriate:

we shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time
-T.S. Elliot

I understand now why Ireland is associated with the color green. The whole country is covered in soft, damp layers of moss and clover! I didn't stay long and only ventured into a couple cities, but overall I enjoyed my time there and found the people to be really friendly. And yes, it is also true that the Guiness really does taste better there. I tried a bit of Beamish Irish Stout as well, but not as good as the Guiness. I forgot to have an Irish coffee, so I suppose I'm just going to have to go back sometime.

Traveling was pretty easy, but took a looooong time. What I mean is: all my connections and details worked out well, but every form of transport I took was late. For example: my trains to Basel (Switzerland) from Geneva worked perfectly into my schedule as did finding a place to stay in Basel, getting to the airport, etc. though my flight was an hour late. Not such a problem and when I got to Dublin all the information I needed was readily available, but then the bus took 5 hours to get to Cork instead of 4 and I missed the last bus to Castlemartyr. Hmm, so I went in search of a place to stay in Cork, which turned out to be a bit of a hassle because everyone was booked for St. Patty's Day. I ended up getting the last bed in a cool little (and cheap) hostel called Shiela’s about 5 minutes walk from the bus station. Next morning I took the bus to Castlemartyr and immediately found a ride to Mogeely (town where the farm is). A woman who was headed there to sing in the Sunday morning church service gave me a ride and even invited me to come sing as well, but I politely declined. Anyway, I finally arrived at the farm and was greeted with hot coffee, some gritty bread (I still don't know what she made it out of but was polite and didn’t ask), cheese, and good conversation.

The farm was great. Everything they built on the farm i.e. greenhouses, housing, woofer huts, the teepee, the yurt was made from recycled materials. Astrid is the woman who owns the place and Darius is a guy (American from Seattle actually) who lives there as well. He worked at the local junk yard (skip) and scrounged all the building materials (as well as other finds like music, thermarests, camelbacks and whateverelse). They do produce some garbage of course from things like packaged vegetables and food containers, but for the most part they use everything.

My jobs were mostly helping out in the garden. I sewed seeds and got both the indoor and outdoor garden beds ready. They had a three pile compost system. One for fresh stuff and two others that were “resting”. They also had a huge compost toilet (earth toilet) that they dumped in the compost as well. Some say its not safe to use human waste in the same compost that you use for the garden, but really by the time you use it all the stuff has been broken down enough. They also grow everything organically and use worms and frogs to control pests. To control weeds they put down sawdust which also controls the snails and slugs. Apparently it messes with their slime. Again, I loved being outdoors all the time even though it was wicked cold sometimes. There was no heat anywhere and a couple times my feet felt like they turned into ice chunks, but a few more blankets at night solved that problem. Astrid was a great cook and we ate by the campfire a couple of nights.

Ok, the main reason for going was I had a few days off and wanted to work on a farm again. Why a farm in Ireland you ask? Well...I am in Europe for St. Patty's Day, I got an airline ticket for 9 swiss francs there and 30 euros back. I had the opportunity and everything seemed to just work out. The parade was cool, but I ended up only spending the afternoon in the city. One, because I had an hour to get there and an hour back and two, I just liked being on the farm better, and three I was by myself so it was a bit boring. There weren't the parties that you would think for the celebration. I heard it was a bigger event in Dublin, but honestly I think it's all the English who come over to Ireland to party.

After the farm I flew back on another wicked cheap flight, but into Grenoble instead of Geneva. That’s the thing with cheap flights sometimes. Good deals, but you have to trek to get there. I couch searched one night with a couple who was from there. Took a lazy, snowy Sunday with them walking around the town and playing with their two month old puppy (and getting several holes in my clothes and hands…). I have to say, my travel experiences in France have completely countered the ones in Suisse concerning the hassel factor. I bought a ticket from Grenoble to Geneva, but ended up getting on the wrong train (it said Geneva, but really didn't go all the way and just stopped in Annecy). I thought that the train to Annemass, the French town on the outskirts of Geneva was my best bet home, so I took that one. While I did get much closer to my ultimate destination, I was still a ways away. All I had to do was get to Moillesulaz to take the tram into the city, but of course the buses and trains stopped running then. I was about to take a taxi when I guy saw me reading the bus times and offered me a ride! I was so tired at that point and wasn’t going far, so I took it. He was very nice though he didn’t speak English and after a bit of a hassel at the boarder because the guards were bored, I finally made it back to Geneva. All in all it was a good trip.

Oh, and just a note, I found it very strange to pass through towns with no English on the signs. I didn't expect so much gailic, but there are places that don't speak English still. Some places in Ireland are still really rural!

About the picts above: heads up about the traffic situation in Castlemartyr, the St. Patty's Parade in Cork, one of the two horses on the farm, one of the green houses (made with all used materials), and the wwoofer huts which I stayed in (and the mud I slopped around in the whole week).