My uncle Brendan on his daily round looking at the cattle. This is essential exercise so he can keep an eye on the cattle and catch any changes, or pick up if they are getting sick

mushroom print number 2

These prints are made by placing the mushrooms, gills down, on paper and leaving for 24 hours.

Mushroom print from mushrooms collected on the farm

map of the trees of the scrub, as this field is known.

online publication of Yak Yak rural art dialogues

Created by Fiona Woods

http://issuu.com/collectionofminds/docs/yak_yak?e=1616593/5208077#

harvesting from the wild and from the garden

This is a big year for mushrooms, a crop every day. We haven't had so many mushrooms for ages. This lot from the Loughfhada field.

lovely autumn day, dry and crisp, perfect for gardening...and harvesting carrots and beetroot

potatoes too...

map of field in trees

A map of the trees in the far field and middle field. Ash is predominant, as is normal on Irish farms, with whitethorn a close second. Found some unusual ones, cramp bark, which, as its name implies, is used in herbal remedies to relieve cramp, and small elm trees, which are mostly non-existent in Ireland due to dutch elm disease. A new disease has come into Ireland affecting called ash die back, potentially disasterous which would cause major changes to the Irish landscape.

me driving the tractor...helping bringing in bales of hay during the hot summer of 2013

The many uses of binder twine part 2

map my uncle, age 84, drew of his journey to school as a child

Map of the farm where I live...each field has it's own name

Installation photos of Yak Yak exhibition, Swanhill Regional Art Gallery, Australia

My uncle on binder twine and haycocks

Making of the ball of binder twine

Binder twine is everywhere on a farm, it's practical and economical to re-cycle it. It used to be made of hession, but now made of plastic. A pile had grown in the barn over the winter from the straw bales used for bedding, so from this I made the big ball. 

As I rolled I was reminded of the fairytale ‘Rumplestilskin,’ where the young girl has been left in a room with a big pile of straw and has been asked by the King to spin it into a pile of gold. If she does, she can marry the King. She, of course, is unable to do it, until Rumplestilskin arrives to say he will do it. He does this three times, and after the third time he demands her first born child in return. She agrees but when he comes to collect the child she begs for mercy. He is insistent unless she can guess his name. On the third time, thanks to a scout sent out, she says, 'Rumplestilskin,' much to his rage and fury. She keeps the child and lives happily ever after with the King.