Old Hill Farms - Ireland

28/06/2025

https://www.oldhillfarms.ie/post/14-jun-2025-late-spring-update

As the Summer Solstice approaches, harvest has begun. Marisa pulled nearly all of the garlic and hung it to dry. Some has been braided, some will be saved for planting in Autumn. The rest is to eat and share.Lots of flowers blooming and the raspberries, gooseberries, and currents are ripeningThe pol...

02/06/2025

https://www.oldhillfarms.ie/post/2-jun-2025-honey-garlic-and-more-wood-chips-pressure-washing

Yummy HoneyThe hive in the veg field is doing especially well, and Marisa had to add another super recently. Over the past two weeks she has removed two frames (out of 12 per super) and we have fresh honey and comb. It's delicious!Garlic, Lettuce, BeansThe scapes came up and Marisa cut them about a....

02/06/2025

https://www.oldhillfarms.ie/post/13-may-2025-more-planting-culvert-pipes-shed-painting-dairy-kitchen

More PlantingMarisa was busy planting all sorts of things - beans, cucumbers, peas, and more. We've been harvesting lettuces, parsley, and take a look at this fennel bulb!Culvert PipesFor a couple years we have wanted to open a path from the veg field into the field just behind where an animal path....

02/06/2025

https://www.oldhillfarms.ie/post/26-apr-2025-bees-planting-and-flowers-milking-parlour-door-cats

BeesMarisa has been tending the bees, and we assembled new hive components to replace some old plywood boxes that a local fellow gave us a couple years ago. I helped glue and nail up a couple supers, and Marisa made the rest of the supers along with loads of frames. Planting and FlowersMarisa did a....

30/05/2025

https://www.oldhillfarms.ie/post/21-mar-2025-planting-potatoes-prepping-beds-spreading-wood-chips

After a light till of a few rows, Marisa planted a few different varieties of potatoes. And bean frames are in position for planting in a few weeks.Marisa also moved the rheubarb plants to a raised bed and covered them in wool. The garlic is looking good with a new layer of straw and a bit of compos...

30/05/2025

https://www.oldhillfarms.ie/post/28-feb-2025-harvester-assembly-late-winter-cleanup

When we purchased the farm in 2020 there was an old Gyro single cut harvester in a corner of the tractor shed which clearly had not see any use in decades. If we were to cut silage in some of our fields it could come in handy since it is about the right size for our Kioti 50HP tractor. However, we d...

29/05/2025

11/01/2025

https://www.oldhillfarms.ie/post/10-jan-2025-record-snow-and-cold

The past week has been challenging for much of Ireland, especially Cork and Kerry where snow levels haven't been seen in nearly 100 years. At our farm we were fortunate to only have about 20cm (8 inches) of snowfall over a few days, but friends in Rockchapel had over 45cm (18 inches) and were withou...

17/12/2024

https://www.oldhillrailworks.ie/post/12-dec-2024-7-25-gauge-wagon-part-2

More Bracket Drilling and Adjusting...After drilling holes in the first two frame angle brackets I was not happy with position accuracy and spent a couple days experimenting with various setups until achieving a solid, accurate, and repeatable configuration with drill vice plus clamps and 123 blocks...

10/12/2024

https://www.oldhillrailworks.ie/post/4-nov-2024-new-loco-wheels-and-axles

New (to us) LocomotiveWe recently acquired a second hand battery-electric 'Tug' made by Phoenix Locomotives in order to test our new rolling stock products. It was originally purchased by the Croxteth Park Miniature Railway in Liverpool for their grand reopening earlier in 2024, but they do not have...

10/12/2024

https://www.oldhillrailworks.ie/post/28-nov-2024-starting-work-on-a-7-25-gauge-wagon

A shipment of steel - channel, angle, and flat bar - arrived a couple days ago as well as the new hydraulic press. So it's time to start on the first 7.25" gauge wagon based on 3 foot gauge MR NCC wagon number 4318 which is now owned by and has been restored at the Cavan and Leitrim Railway in Dromo...

21/11/2024

https://www.oldhillfarms.ie/post/21-nov-2024-dingle-wool-straw-road-pipes-mow

We've had remarkably dry weather for several days and were able to do a lot more cleanup, and then the rains started and temperatures dropped near freezing...Straw and WoolLast year the artichokes struggled through winter so Marisa planned ahead and this year packed straw around them as insulation.....