Workaway #2: Pig Farming

We headed off to Birr by way of a discount bus service and got picked up by our next workaway host. Margaret and Alfie made us feel right at home from the very beginning: the food, the wine and the company were all fantastic. This was the start of our week as Irish pig farmers!

The farm (known as OldFarm) is a small holding, about 5 acres. They have amazing fruit trees and gardens (plus hens, ducks and pigs) and almost every one of the meals that we ate was made from stuff that was grown on their land.


The lovely old farm house that has been renovated.

Alfie and Margaret both love to cook (they even offer cooking classes!) so for the whole week we were completely spoiled with beautiful meals made from beautiful organically grown ingredients.

Margaret and I spent a ton of time in the kitchen trying to keep up with all of the fruits and veggies we were harvesting. Here are a few of the things we harvested over the week: apples, pears, tomatoes, strange yellow cucumbers, peppers (hot and sweet), quince, squash, string beans and peas! We had our work cut out for us trying to come up with recipes that used up the harvest ingredients, but to add to it, we also had all of the amazing veg that came in on the "magic trailer" (see the next blog post for more details!).

We preserved, we baked, we cooked. Then most importantly we ate!


Just a few of the preserves we made!

At the local pub... I guess all pubs in Ireland are Irish pubs!

Homemade soup with Alfie's delicious homemade bread.

The ladies weren't the only ones working away in the kitchen!

Yum.

Kurtis' fave.

Alfie cutting the pork he cooked up on the Big Green Egg

Yummy Beetroot! Made by Alfie.

Funny mural in Moneygall, where president Obama visited when he came to Ireland... his great-great grandmother was born there. There were American and Irish flags going up and down the streets.