A loaded Month

July was an incredible and action packed month for me on my journey of discovery in Ireland. The first Amazing thing was the Willie Clancy festival in Miltown Malbay Co. Claire. After a nervous audition, during which hundreds of children less than half my age played tunes at a standard and speed I can only dream of, I was fortunate to be placed in a class with two spectacular fiddlers of my own generation. Caoimhin ni Reiligh, and Oisin Mac Dermot. Caoimhin is from Dublin and has what I would describe as a very rhythmic and creative fiddle style. Oisin plays great tunes with very clear crisp notes and plenty of variation. Both fiddlers were great teachers and I think their styles were suited to the Claire fiddle tradition which seems to encourage variation and technique. I made plenty of friends at the festival from Ireland, America and even Japan. It feels great to be part of such an important and fun cultural movement that is popular all over the world. Here is a picture of myself with the great fiddlers themselves.

After the festival sadly ended (I wish festivals like these never did), I got a lift from my friend Jim to my next volunteer farm in the Slieve Aughty mountains of County Galway. Sadly, on the way my camera was stolen and I have to resort to the camera on my phone now. The farm I arrived at was in one of the most pristine and remote places in Ireland. It was a magnificent location for a terrific farm that was both comfortable and sustainable. There were plenty of other volunteers there for me to talk to and the women who ran the farm was remarkable. Eileen Thomas came from Scotland. Her father was a Welsh Coal miner and she is a speaker of the Gaelic that is spoken in the North West of Scotland. She has a wealth of information about traditional herbs and edible plants, and in three years she had transformed an empty run down stone house into a beautiful natural home complete with donkeys, ducks and fun projects for travelers like myself. My jobs were a little garden work, caring for the animals, picking berries, building recycled cement structures and re-constructing an old caravan into a habitation for other volunteers. Here is the restoration I did:

And inside:

And, here are my friends:

Here is a picture of the house itself:

A friend from Willie Clancy Week, Bridget, lived close to the farm in a town called Burr in Co. Offaly. We spent a weekend walking around the beautiful Slieve Bloom mountains and then after my two weeks at the farm were up we went to Achill Island County Mayo together for the Scoil Acla festival of music and traditional arts. I had a great time with Bridget. She is a three week old learner of the tin whistle, and a near fluent speaker of Irish. At school Acla I took fiddle classes from another young great fiddler named Liam O'Connor. Liam is doing a masters degree on folk tradition in Ireland through trinity college Dublin, and he is a powerful fiddler from a family of traditional musicians. In the afternoons Bridget and I went to Irish language classes together where we read Sean Fhocails (century's old Irish sayings) from the Achil Islands. A week with Bridget was both a lovely and rewarding time with a very intelligent and compassionate person. That's her second from the left:

Bridget went to Spain to walk the Camino Santiago de Compastela, and I have been here in my new favorite haunt, Glenn Cholm Cille, for the past week at a music school featuring the Donegal Fiddle traditions. My classes this time were with a local musician named Derek McGinly. The classes were much smaller and Derek is a great teacher both patient and good tempered. He plays great with other musicians, and he is very good at giving people individual attention. It feels great to be back in the Glenn. After being here in May and coming back, this place is beginning to feel like home. It is quiet and peaceful here, but there is always plenty to do and plenty of artists around to soak up the natural beauty of this special area. This weekend begins my first of three weeks of Irish Language classes at Oideas Gael. I am sure that my time here will be priceless as I make the most out of each special day here. There is so much to experience, create and learn here in this small little town. Finally, a picture of a double-rainbow I saw on Achil Island while I was sitting on a bench watching Bridget swim in the ocean. Rainbows always seem to catch me by surprise.

My apologies for the blandness of this latest blog post. Allot of great things have been going great for me, but one unfortunate setback is that I lost my camera in a book store in Ennis -- so no pictures. Allot has happened since I left the farm in County Claire. Willie Clancy Week was quite an experience. I made some great connections with other players and took fiddle classes from two great fiddlers of my own generation: Oisin Mac Dermot and Caoimhin ni Reiligh. Both of my teachers had great style and teaching methods. Oisin is from West Claire, Clancy's territory, but currently resides in Sligo. Caoimhin is from County Dublin. There were far too many people in that small town, few of whom were actual musicians, to be able to hear the pub sessions but I was able to learn so many great things about trad music and my style of playing. the concerts were amazing! I can't believe the level of playing some of these musicians are at. The fiddle concert in particular blew my mind. I was a bit melancholy when I had to leave at the end of the week, because I had gotten used to the routine and the friends I made. Fortunately I didn't have to say goodbye to everyone. I am currently on the Aran Island of Inis Oirr with my lovely new friend Bridget Mac Ateer. Bridget is a brilliant and beautiful person with a heart of gold. Anyway, back to the story. After the Willie Clancy Week my friend Jim gaev me a ride to the town of Loughrae where I met my next organic farm host. As soon as I met her Eileen Thomas gave me a hug and took me to her home. The first thing I thought was this place is amazing. Talk about living close to the earth! everything on the farm was made from recycled materials. There were native species of all sorts of plants and animals, and they were all part of the ecosystem Eileen was working to preserve. Eileen comes from Scotland. Her father was a welsh coal miner and she is a Scots Gaelic and Irish speaker. She works in Loughrae as a geologist. She is really a fantastic and interesting person, also very kind. There are three other volunteers on the farm, one from Canada, one from Basque country and one from France. we all get on very well. My job at the farm is restoring an old caravan. I have been replacing a rotten wall inside with materials I salvaged from around the farm. It is a great job that involves creativity and ingenuity. That's where I have been for the past week, and this weekend for my time off Bridget invited me to come to this island, Inis Oir with her. On Monday I go back to work. That's the brief synapses. Hopefully I can find a way to send pictures soon!

The Kerry Farm Recruit

Volunteering at the Gibson O'Connor Farm was a great experience. I learned all types of new things about dairy farming. From the everyday tasks involved with working on a farm to the workings of the machinery that enables everything to happen, I have come out with a wealth of practical skills. The farm taught me new things about life as well. If there is one thing I am sure working on a farm can teach anyone it is patience. Farm work is never done. There is always something that happens that changes the plans you make during the day: a piece of machinery brakes down or the power goes out. It is therefore important to have the priorities of the farm in order. The farm is a system itself and each part is dependent on another part. In this case the dairy milking takes the highest priority since it is the primary source of income. Farming can also be really fun. After the work is done each day, it feels great to relax with a few of my favorite pastimes.

A farm is a good model for society. Society is hierarchical in nature just like a farm. It can be hard to accept that coming from a seemingly unimportant nitch. Within most societies, premier importance is given to a small percentage of "highly skilled" people, usually CEOs, bankers or surgeons. The hierarchy of most societies is financially based. Nitchs which are no less important in the long run but seemingly less important in the immediate future such as small farmers, naturalists, teachers, are often underpaid and under-appreciated. Volunteering the last few weeks has rewarded me with an appreciation of all the parts and how they fit together. A farm needs the money which dairy cows provide, but without the vegetable gardens, the chickens, the lovely flowers and trees a farm seems colorless and empty. The plant life connects the farm to nature. Unless one wants to live a monotonous farm life, milking the land for all the money it can provide without putting anything back, all parts of the farm are equally important. The same can be said of society. All the parts are important in the long run. The social hierarchy is based on fear and misunderstanding. It seems that humans are destined to live in a state of panic that prevents them from thinking long-term.

I love how farming gives me time to reflect on myself and my life. Nature's rhythms are therapeutic to me. I find connect to these rhythms readily when I spend the day outside working in the elements with one of the most basic essential human needs, food. Farming is, after all, the basis of civilization. If I remember my history books correctly, the techniques of rural farming spread west out of the area that is today Iraq. While I work, I have been contemplating my future in an American society that is far from ideal. My instinct to travel and the connection to my ancestral and spiritual homes are new found strengths. One question I have been pondering is how to incorporate this strength into my future, and do so harmoniously with the planet? Thinking about the future can be a scary prospect. There are not allot of options out there that satisfy my needs. I need to be able to see my family; I need to be able to travel; I need to support myself; I need to live harmoniously with the planet; I need to have time for myself, and I need to have time with others. The best thing I can do for now is too keep an open mind.

Next my journey takes me to one of the centers of Irish traditional music, Ennis, County Claire. I will stay there a few nights before heading to the Willie Clancy Festival of Traditional Music, the biggest traditional music festival in Ireland! I am very excited to immerse myself in this fascinating festival that brings people from all over the world to Ireland for the noble cause of Irish music. I am sure I will try to play the fiddle with a bunch of other musicians I have never met. Am I nervous, oh yes.

Country Living In County Claire

Of all the traveling I have ever done, nothing is more rewarding and satisfying than the working on organic farms in other countries. This is the fourth time I have farmed in Ireland, and each time I want to say this is definitely the best farm I have ever worked on. The truth is that each farm and its family is unique in its own way and has its own lessons and things to experience. This time I am working on a beautiful dairy farm in County Kerry (chiarraí). This is my first time on a dairy farm, and there are big differences involved. For one thing the pace of work on a diary farm seems to be much quicker. This farm also has a sizable garden with six poly-tunnels and six raised beds for vegetables. My daily chores have usually been: cleaning the milking parlor in the morning; collecting, cleaning and sorting eggs; and then garden work involving weeding, transplanting, and harvesting. Whenever possible I try to help around the house too since Claire O'Connor has her hands full with a brand new 16 month old adopted baby from Vietnam and her two other adorable adopted children. I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to share my afternoons with such beautiful children.


There are plenty of other fun and educational activities to do after the daily chores are done. The weather has been very good to us the past four days. On Sunday Claire took me to a beech called Inch (Inis) where I had a great time trying to surf and got a heavy dose of rare Irish Sunshine. There is always plenty of cooking to do, bicycles to ride, towns and villages to explore and socializing with the family. There is even a second worker here to keep me company. His name is Martin. Martin is also from the U.S. He has been traveling for two years, and has a pleasant, outgoing personality. There is so much to learn around the farm with all the various personalities and backgrounds. Here is a picture of Martin sorting Gooseberries for market.




Both Claire and Gerard have the kind of warm and practical personality that can only come from having lived on a farm in Ireland for a prolonged period of time. I hope it rubs off on me! They also have the beautiful, county Claire accents that remind me of birds singing in a peaceful forest clearing. The accent also comes with a lovely Irish sense of humor and gentle, laid back attitude towards work and life.



Today is my weekend, and I have taken the opportunity to take a trip to nearby Killarney (Cill Airne). Today and tomorrow will be my opportunity for exploring one of Ireland's greatest national parks. There are great bike rides everywhere, and plenty of exploring. There is also great ice-cream. Plenty to do her until I head back to the farm tomorrow afternoon.

June 16, 1978

Happy Birthday to me!

When I arrived in Ireland this afternoon, I learned that British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has professed a deep apology for the Bloody Sunday Massacre in 1972. Many thousands of people in Northern Ireland have waited too long for this day. It comes thirty-eight years after the murders, but such an event does go to show that truth cannot be silenced forever. When I was in Northern Ireland a few months ago, I met a man who was there at Bloody Sunday. The horrible stories he told me were both traumatic and unresolved. There are stories of families still seeking justice for loved ones lost decades ago. There were stories of corruption in the police force, and people being framed. I would guess that, from his point of view, this is still just a tiny step toward what needs to happen before many people of Northern Ireland can move on with their lives, but it is an important step none the less.

This is my sixth time traveling out of the United States. It will be my third time in Ireland and my second time in Wales. I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to travel abroad. Every time I go on a trip I try to new discover things about myself. I usually come back with more questions than when I started, and that's a good thing. This time I want to improve my relationship with myself and the planet in a way that doesn't shut out other people and their ideas. I intend to learn about permaculture, communal living, friendship and I want to learn as much as I can about the Irish and Welsh languages and cultures. This blog will be my thought collector as ponder and work my way to these goals. I hope to come back educated, refreshed, inspired, motivated and ready to make a new mark on the world I live.

Traveling is a positive and enriching experience to me. That is because it is challenging. At times it can be downright scary. Given the generally less than positive reputation of independent travelers and the lack of understanding between settled and nomadic lifestyles, I often receive less than cordial greeting at the immigration offices and scornful looks from people who seem to view traveling as an anti-social, or rebellious activity. I believe I have an important responsibility to make a good impression when I travel. In the back of my mind wherever I go is the burning question: what kind of legacy am I leaving behind? Traveling alone can be tiring. It can create a feeling of alienation inside me, but the rewards are absolutely worth it.

The rewards of traveling are profound and personal. A positive relationship with myself develops when I travel, and this is a great asset to anything life throws my way. I have found that having a good sense of where I am going and what I will be doing before I go helps me consciously and intentionally control my own development. I can set travel-goals and match these with my life-goals and destinations. This makes my journey an engaging and transformative experience. Keeping lots of goals, while on the road, can of course difficult, but it really pays off. Traveling puts me in the here and now. It makes me keenly aware of my surroundings, which makes everything I do much more meaningful to me.

Despite the increases and trappings of globalization, you still don't have to be rich to travel in Europe. There are some great tools to help a person plan a meaningful adventure for a reasonable cost. Things such as: hostels, Willing Workers on Organic Farms and Couch Surfers, give travelers opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach. I find it best to mix and match to get the most out of all of these opportunities. I put allot of thought and intention into my trip planning and the results are life experiences that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. I can't travel for ever, so each trip is the chance of a life time, and the things are invaluable experiences which I take home with me and keep using the rest of my life.