Hi

Thank-you for your interest in our place. Here is some further information about it.

We are a small farm enterprise.

We produce logs and sell them and similar products from the farmyard. We have a shop and office and a workshop at the yard.

We are ideally situated for getting to know Dublin. The centre is 8km by bus or tram.

We are also an ideal base for trips to other parts of Ireland (being near the Red Cow interchange)and we are a 5 euro coach ride from Dublin airport.

We have places for both part time casual and full time longer term helpers.

Our minimum stay is two months.

Part time:

We ask our helpers to make a commitment to work at least four hours, Monday to Saturday. This minimum commitment is suited to holidaymakers who are not planning to be in Ireland for longer than two months and who want to maximise their free time. We provide self-catering hostel style accommodation for those who choose this option.This is the better option if you want a working holiday and your objective is fun rather than study.

Full time:

We especially welcome those who are interested in wwoofing or stage type posts. This involves being on duty the whole day, (not just four hours).

While the minimum commitment is still just 2 months, we encourage full time helpers to stay longer if the relationship is working well. Full time helpers have full board. The host cooks and the helpers do the washing up. Full time helpers are part of the host’s household. This arrangement is for serious hardworking people who want to develop their practical work skills, to see Irish culture at first hand and – for those whose mother tongue is not English–improve their knowledge of the English language. It is not a holiday. It is a very intensive experience with a steep learning curve. If we have a lot of applicants, preference is given to those who want a full time post. Full time helpers (stagiaires) may have a formal stage agreement if it is needed for their school or university. This is not available to working holiday makers. We will also help full time helpers with their English studies. This is the better option if your objective is to master the English language.

We have a dormitory room with 3 places, and also 2 double and one single room. Bathroom and kitchen facilities are shared. The house is nearly one hundred years old.

In the winter there is central heating provided by a wood fired boiler. Residents are expected to be willing to light the fire and keep it in.

Duties:

While certain routine work always needs to be done, we look at your particular skills and interests and we see if we can facilitate your applying them within the work program. Sometimes this is possible and sometimes it is not. Another factor is that some helpers are very able bodied and others are not. Those who are not can still do housework and tend the garden. So generally everyone finds a place in the team. There is a very wide range of tasks to be done. Sometimes it involves working independently – sometimes under the guidance of the host or experienced paid staff. Work activities at the house and farmyard include cleaning and maintenance of the house and out buildings, grounds, vehicles and equipment.

Handyman and mechanical skills are particularly relevant.

It rains a lot in Ireland and we prefer to work in the house or inside the sheds when it is raining.

When the weather is fine, we might work in the garden, cut timber or mend a roof.

There may be general work to be done in the farm enterprise. This may have to be done irrespective of the weather, for example, making a delivery to a customer.

If the weather looks like being good all day and other factors permit, we will spend a day on the land, making progress with our project on the land in County Kildare.

Work activities on the land include clearing vegetation, building walls, fencing, laying down driveways and paths,dealing with rubbish and brushwood, cleaning out water courses, planting and other general work.
Because we are at such an early stage of our project, we cannot describe the smallholding as a garden as yet. When it is completed, it will be an organic garden, with herbs, fruit and a special section for acid loving plants. We already use organic methods in the garden at the house near Dublin.
We do not have any high tech methods as regards the environment. Our approach is old fashioned, low consumption, keeping things going, reusing and recycling.

We believe in traditional ways of doing things including old fashioned home cooking.

You mention your interest in animals. The only animals we have are three guard dogs. I do not know if you will change your mind because of this. If not, we are interested in you.

Now that I have explained a bit more about it you can judge whether it is what you have in mind. If you are interested in coming to stay with us, the next step is to send your CV.

With kind regards,

C. Lundsgaard (Mrs)