Bacon looks just as tasty when it has legs.

My first true introduction to pig farming began with a jarful of olive oil in hand (natural KY) and an eyeful of Alfie sticking the artificial insemination rod into the unsuspecting swine. A couple of squeezes of the sperm bag later and the deed was done. All work, no romance.

Our workaway hosts Alfie and Margaret managed a herd of 13 pigs (7 adults and 6 babies), 8 chickens, 4 ducks, and 2 dogs on their lovely 5 acre estate.
The pigs were farm razed free-range for the table (mmmmm) and lived a pretty luxurious life. Apart from me wrangling a few of them (see the pics below) to move them from one pasture to another, they spent their days sleeping in their straw lined houses, grazing on the pasture, or eating some of the yummy treats the family provided. Some of the treats included a variety of perfectly edible vegetables that the local produce farmer couldn't sell (because of "defects") as well as some pretty delicious Gouda cheeses that had to be tossed because the rind had split.




Piggies!






These little guys were strong.




The veggies were perfectly fine and we took our pick of them for lunch and dinner.


The cheese was great! Regular and aged Gouda. Amy and I took a chunk of the aged gouda for the road because it was so delicious.


The chickens never laid an egg so the ducks had to fill in. They must have laid a dozen eggs or so while we were there.


The two guard dogs. So ferocious!

Alfie and I went over to the neighbors house to milk the cows one night. We got through 16 of them before we relized the gate wasn't closed. The cows were wondering down tbe road. Luckily we were able to get them back.





The apron kept the cow pee and poop off of my chest but didn't do much for my hands.

We spent the rest of our time around the area visiting some of the old castles, towns, and ruins.













At the end of our stay, and sad to go, we rented a car in Galway to take a few days to drive up the western and northern coasts before departing the island for Scotland.

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.