Latest
News March 2006
It
has been a long time since our last update. The past 12 months
have seen big changes at The Hollies. Rob, Emma and their children
have left. They are now living in Totnes, Devon, UK. Rob is
doing a PhD on Energy Descent at Plymouth University. You can
check out his latest activities on www.transitionculture.org
Good luck to all of them.
A new resident has moved in: Paul O’Flynn, organic gardener
and educator. He has been involved in great educational work in Kinsale,
Mallow and Cork.
We sold the farmhouse with a few acres and Thomas, Ulrike and our
3 boys are in the process of moving into our new cob house. Check
out the Natural Building section under ‘solutions’ for
details. We haven’t been able to do anything about the burnt
house yet. The cob walls are still fine and it could be rebuilt.
There is an opportunity for someone who would like to get involved.
Settling into the new house and managing the changes here has been
and is still taking a lot of our time. Thomas has started working
together with 8 local primary schools. We managed to get funding
from West Cork Leader for a module on sustainability which takes
two of us (Thomas Riedmuller and Louise Rooney) into the schools
for two half day visits and brings the schools to The Hollies for
an action packed full school day – until the end of June. We’ll
be looking for more funding after completing the pilot phase of this
module. It is going very well so far.
Another novelty is a gardening project which several former sustainability
students have taken on at The Hollies under Paul’s guidance.
It is going to be a market garden for food production as well as
for demonstration and educational purposes – for running courses
in the future.
Like last year, we decided to run only a small number of courses
in order to make the transition to a new phase of our work more manageable.
The highlight will be another 10-day Cob Course with Ianto Evans
and Linda Smiley in September. Click here to find out more.
Latest
News February 2005
Greetings
once again. After a lull we are back, with our new program
of courses and some exciting new plans. It has taken us a while
to land on our feet after the fire. We decided not to rebuild
the damaged house this year, but to concentrate on completing
Thomas and Ulrike’s cob house, so there will be lots
of opportunities for volunteers to get involved in helping
to finish the house. Please get in touch if you would like
to help out.
To find out about more about this year’s courses programme
and the very special 2 day conference we are organising called ‘Fuelling
the Future’, click here.
In 2002 we were granted planning permission for a study centre as
part of our larger permission. Since the fire, our plan for this
building has been evolving. We are now hoping to develop it into
a centre for community based services and education focussing mainly
on what is needed locally. We are hoping to find local people who
would want to be part of a committee developing the Study Centre
as a resource for the local community. The range of services and
training courses will cover areas such as community development,
care for the elderly, youth work etc. starting with a thorough needs
assessment and a feasibility study.
The sustainability aspect we have been concentrating on so far (such
as natural building, permaculture, woodland management) would be
one of several areas. This new orientation is based on the belief
that sustainability is mainly about strengthening the local community.
We are hoping to secure funding and create jobs that will benefit
the people living in this rural area.
Latest
News January 2005
Local
poet and dear friend of The Hollies, Ian Wild, asked us after
the fire
(as so many people did) what he could do to help us. We asked him
if he
might write a poem about it, and he did. Here it is;
Phoenix
What burns the edge of night?
Flames claw darkness down
talons ladder moonlight.
Did we not circle
that cold nest of ashes yesterday?
How can it be kindled once more
sparks beaten aloft
by orange wings
coruscating upwards.
The heavens roar -
rage spits
in phosphorescent plumage,
shadows run nameless to their beds.
Night withers like a match
as the land is illumined.
A smouldering tailfeather
swingboats down.
Catch it
one of you children,
keep it as a charm.
Latest
News December 2004
Prestigious
award for The Hollies
On Wednesday December 8th at the Firkin Crane Theatre in Cork, Rob
Hopkins and The Hollies Centre for Practical Sustainability were
awarded the prestigious Cork Environmental Forum Roll of Honour award.
The award was presented by Batt O'Keefe TD, Minister of State, in
recognition of 'an outstanding contribution to sustainability in
Cork City and County through partnership and participation in the
promotion of environmental care'. The award is a great honour for
The Hollies, and is a recognition of all our work here over the last
5 years. Rob was introduced by Quentin Gargan of Friends of The Hollies,
who spoke very positivly about what The Hollies has achieved thus
far.
Also receiving awards on the night were Claire Osbourne of the Mandala
Gardens Project, Michael Geary, Cork Chamber of Commerce, Ian Wright
of Manch Woodland Estate, Enda Kiernan, Cork County Council, Macroom,
Mary O’Leary, Zero Waste & CHASE, and John O'Callaghan,
Midleton CBS.
We have been deeply touched by the extent of the fundraising taking
place around the country, from pub quizzes and raffles to benefit
concerts and comedy nights. It has been amazing for us to see the
depth of feeling towards our work, and the genuine grief felt by
so many at the destruction of our home. The Gardai are still investigating
the fire. We would like to wish you all a happy festive season and
a peaceful 2005. Thank you so much for all the support, emails, letters,
calls, donations, everything. We have really appreciated every one
of them.
FRIENDS
OF THE HOLLIES
To
demonstrate their concern at this difficult time, friends
and supporters have set up a special bank account to receive
financial donations. Proceeds will be given directly to The
Hollies to be used as they see fit. Contributions,
however large or small are very welcome.
You
can now make a donation by credit card by clicking on the
link below:
The account name is “Friends of the Hollies”
at AIB, Bantry, sort code 93-60-14
The account number is 04780077
We
would also encourage people to send cards or notes to Rob,
Emma, Thomas, Ulrike and their families at The Hollies,
Castletown, Enniskeane,
Co. Cork.
You can email them at thehollies@eircom.net
Latest
News October 2004
Greetings
one and all. Apologies that we haven’t updated for
a while, we had a huge infection from spyware nasties
which knocked us out of cyberspace for a while, anyway
we’re back now. Our main latest news is sad news of
almost the worst kind. Rob and Emma’s cob house,
which has been featured in our Building Diary section
for the last year and a half, was attacked by an unknown
arsonist on the evening of Monday 25th October. The house
has been completely gutted (as have we) and all that
remains are the walls, the chimneys and the masonry
stove. All else lies around in a heartbreaking mess
of charcoal, glass and other unrecognisable debris.
We had been making good progress on the house, and were about 6 months
(of part-time work) away from completion. The inside was looking
so beautiful, the plasterwork done recently was looking amazing.
Also set alight was our storage tent full of all our 3 year
old seasoned Western Red Cedar that we were using in the buildings.
That appears to have been lit first at around 9pm. By the time
we noticed the fire, around 11pm, the house was too far gone,
and the arrival of the Bandon Fire Brigade could do nothing to save the
house. All we could do was sit on the grass and watch our work, love and
dreams go up in smoke. Ballineen Gardai are investigating, if you
know of anyone who has seen or heard anything that may be of
use to their investigation, please call Sergeant Ryan on 023
47111.
Thomas and Ulrike’s house wasn’t touched, thank heaven.
We are all in the deepest mouring, and shock. Not only have
we spent almost 2 years actually building the house, but also
a great deal of time prior to that securing the planning approval
and getting the project up to a stage where we could even think
of actually building. What happens now is all very uncertain. We
are living day to day and hoping some light will illuminate
a way through this darkness. We struggle to see how the work
we have done over the past 5 years at The Hollies, all done
with a motivation of helping out and trying to model a sustainable
way forward for us all, could have so enraged someone that they
felt they had to act this way. While we feel sure that in time we will
be able to see the bigger picture, for now we just grieve.
We would like to thank everyone who has sent such kind words of support
and affirmation. It has meant so much to us to hear how the
house touched so many people, far more than we were, and will
ever, be aware of.
Latest
News August 2004
Since
the last update we have had The Course Everyone Thinking
About Building A Natural House Should Do First, which
went very well, and was enjoyed by all. You can see some photos
of the course, which Hollies course veteran Philip
Beck took and posted on his website. You will find a collection
of
pictures from the course, as well as some bits and
bobs of daily life around The Hollies. It is always interesting
to
see ourselves as others see us... You can find those
at here.
Thanks to Philip for that.
Then, the following weekend, we hosted a four-day Masonry Stove building course,
with Flemming Abrahamsson and his assistant Torben from Fornyetenergi in Denmark.
We had 21 people from all over the country who came to do the course (many more
who wanted to do it were unable to get on the course), and it was a fascinating
4 days. We learnt how to build mass ovens from start to finish, and in the process
built one for each house here. They are beautiful and are the real focal point
of each house. Flemming and Torben were amazing, working flat out to ensure that
everyone got to see every stage of the construction, answering questions
all day long, and not even in their first language. Flemming regaled the
course participants
with many hilarious stories in his unique fashion ("very fine, very fine!"..).
They told us repeatedly that they would get the stoves finished in the time,
by the last night we had our doubts, but we kept going until 9pm. on the
last day, and finished them. It had been a real marathon but it was great,
thanks
to everyone who came and to Flemming and Torben for their humour and professionalism.
Work has been going well with the houses, check out the newly updated Building
Diary section for more details. We have been helped by some great WWOOFERs who
have been really helpful and hardworking. If you would like to give a hand then
do get in touch. The next course here will be the Teaching Permaculture Creatively
course the last weekend of August. Places
are still available. We have also begun planning our courses programme for 2005,
and have some VERY EXCITING visiting
teachers lined up for you. Watch this space!
Finally, our recent planning application for permission to use our office (a
renovated cow shed) as an office was approved at the start of the month. You
wouldn't believe the amount of time and effort it takes to prepare a planning
application to be allowed to use your office as an office...oh well.
Latest
News July 2004
A
busy couple of months have seen good progress on the houses.
Rob and Emma's is now slated with the solar panels in place,
and slating is going apace on Thomas and Ulrike's. We had
a very enjoyable Natural Building course here at the end
of June, we worked more on the pizza hut, as it is becoming
known (hopefully no copyright issues will arise!), which
is now nearly complete. Needs a small bit more cob and then
we can plaster it. Course participants got to experience
cob mixing and building, earth plasters and clay straw, as
well as building a very attractive new cob wall, all of which
they took towith great enthusiasm.
Most of our time is now spent either working on the houses or preparing
for courses. The Masonry Stove course is completely full, we have
been amazed by the response. We just heard that Rob's 'Permaculture
- Designing for Sustainability' evening class at UCC has got the go-ahead
for October, this very popular course is an excellent crash-course
in permaculture and covers a huge range of subjects in a short period
of time. We expect a lot of interest for places, so book sooner rather
than later. Contact Donal Counihan on 021 490 4717.
Latest
News May 2004
We
had a fantastic week with Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley during
their 'Hand Sculpted House' course here. They are a great inspiration
to us all and the work that they do around the world is amazing.
They arrived here on Friday 23rd April, and on the Saturday night
delivered the final lecture in the Walnut Books Spring Lecture
Series at Tigh Fili in Cork, to over 50 people. We are still
(3 weeks later) having people emailing to say how much they enjoyed
it.
Their course at The Hollies started the following day with around 18
people from as far afield as Estonia. The project for the course was
to build an outdoor social space, complete with a clay pizza oven and
a Rumford fireplace (an outdoor stove, enabling many people to site
around a fire without being constantly attacked by smoke fumes) and
cob benches. The roof and the foundation were already in place before
the course and so the bulk of the 6 days focussed on cob wall building.
Linda and Ianto's approach to mixing cob included an hour's silent
foot mixing every morning, very meditative and a completely new experience
for many.
They also taught earth plasters, a new technique they have devised
called 'bale-cob', corbelling, stove building and how to find clay
in the landscape, as well as sessions on foundations, roofs and much
more. For those doing the course it was an inspirational and transformative
week, many were visibly moved in the end-of-course go-round. It radically
challenged peoples' ideas about what a house can be and how the shelter-making
process can empower people. For us at The Hollies it was very touching
to spend time with people who have been such an inspiration to us over
the years, and to find, much to our surprise, that they found what
we are doing here to be an inspiration to them. After a tour of our
houses, Ianto said that the tour had made the whole trip worthwhile,
and he had learnt a great deal. After the course was over and the participants
returned home, we were very lucky to be able to spend some time with
them looking at the houses we are building, getting their advice and
input. Linda also showed us a fantastic recipe for clay plasters which
we are looking forward to getting stuck into in a month or so. We'd
like to thank Linda and Ianto, and also their assistant, Gail, for
their time here, and for their enthusiastic support of our work here.
One of the course students, Philip Beck, has collected the photos he
took during the course and has posted them on the web, click
here to view them.
There are pictures of the course, as well as of bits and bobs around
The Hollies, which you might find of interest.
Linda and Ianto have also agreed, in principle, to returning next Autumn,
to teach a 10 day cob building intensive. More details to follow.
Other Hollies news...Rob's students in Kinsale have begun work on a
cob/cordwood amphitheatre building which is a very exciting project
(the course for Sept 04 is completely full now with a long waiting
list).
Our next course at The Hollies is the Hands-on Natural Building Intensive.
A once-a-year opportunity to get your hands dirty while learning a
variety of natural building techniques. To find out more, click
here.
If you are interested in doing July's masonry stove building course
you would be well advised to book a place as places are limited to
10 and over half of them are already gone.
Latest
News April 2004
The countdown to Ianto Evans
and Linda Smiley has begun! We have now made the stone base for the
pizza making/social place that will be built on their (completely
full) course at the end of this month. We are still getting loads
of enquiries about the course, we could have run it twice. For those
of you who are curious and would have liked to have met them, on
the last day of the course, Friday 30th April, they will be having
an Open Afternoon, so if you would like to come along after lunch
(after 2.30pm), you can meet them and see what was produced by the
course. They will also be doing the final lecture in the Walnut Books
Spring Lecture Series (see www.walnutbooks.com).
Ianto, Linda and Rob Hopkins will be running a workshop at the Convergence
Festival at the Cultivate Centre in Temple Bar on Saturday May 1st,
entitled 'Beyond Natural Building'.
The other course that seems to be filling quickly is the Masonry
Stove course, with Flemming Abrahamsson, which is limited to 10 places
(the highest number who can stand around a stove being built and
still see...). If you are interested in this course (more details
on the website), do book early. We recently had to cancel Steve Allin's
hemp course because we only had one booking, and then 2 days before
the course about 5 people got in touch to say they wanted to come!
By that point we had had to make a decision about it, so the course
didn't run. If you are interested in doing on a course please do
book in advance.
We are also starting to come into the time of year for volunteers,
so if you would like to spend some time in a beautiful corner of
West Cork, and try your hand at cob building, earth plasters and
the like, then do get in touch, thehollies@eircom.net
We are also still looking for new residents to live and work at The
Hollies, more details are on the website. Finally, you can find more
details on the full programme of courses by clicking here.
Latest
News - 2nd February 2004
As
the days grow longer, we are back working on the houses, and planning
our programme of courses for 2004. We have a very exciting programme
lined up for you, probably our most pulse-racing offering is a 6 day
cob building workshop with Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley of the Cob
Cottage Company at the end of April. We are delighted and honoured
to be hosts to the only course that Ianto and Linda are doing in Ireland
this year, and they promise us that after completing their course,
every participant will know all that they need to be able to go off
and build their own cob cottage. One not to be missed.
The rest of the courses programme is a mixture of some perennial favourites
and some new courses, all designed to give you a fun and inspiring
experience of sustainable living. To see the full programme of courses
for 2004 click here.
The Walnut Books bookshop has now moved from its home at The Hollies
to 50 Cornmarket Street in Cork. The move was very successful and the
shop is going well. We are also planning a Walnut Books Spring lecture
series in Cork, more details to follow. Despite no longer being based
at The Hollies, Walnut Books is still a wonderful easy-to-use, information-packed
friendly presence on the web at www.walnutbooks.com.
We also plan to have a Tree Planting Weekend, Saturday
21st and Sunday 22nd February, where we will be planting one of the
fields here with
a mixture of red alder, hazel and possibly ash (we are still working
on the design). The plan is to plant all the trees over the two days,
so please do come along and give us a hand, we’ll give you lunch
and a refreshing and welcoming day in the West Cork countryside. Please
ring 023 47001 or email thehollies@eircom.net to let us know
if you are coming.
Other news? Well Rob recently appeared on the Pat Kenny Radio Show
talking about the cob houses here, and was also the subject of a big
piece in the Southern Star recently, which you can read by clicking
here. Thanks to the Southern Star for allowing us to reproduce it.
Also, Rob’s
course in Practical Sustainability at Kinsale Further Education Centre
is
already taking bookings, to
find out more about this groundbreaking and highly popular course,
click here.
Latest
News - 31st October 2003
We have been hard at work on the houses
here, Rob and Emma's house nearly has the first stage of its roof on.
You can see up-to-date pictures of the house by clicking here. The
picture here shows the view from one house to the other. We have also
begun the process of meeting with potential residents. We hope to have
a short list by the end of the year. To find out more click the 'Become
a Resident or Become an Investor' button above. We have postponed our
hemp lime course until the end of November, as there is not much point
in plastering a wall if the house has no roof! The new date for the
course will be posted on the website nearer the time. All the best!
Latest
News - 27th September 2003
As the summer draws to a close, we are all delighted at the progress
on the houses this summer. Emma and Rob's house is being roofed now,
and Thomas and Ulrike's isn't far behind. To find out more about
the houses visit our updated Building
Diary section.
On
Sunday 21st September we had a visit from a group of 20 people
organised by Natural
Home magazine in the USA. They were on a natural home tour of Ireland
and they dropped in for the day for a workshop on natural building.
Despite some atrocious weather we still managed to give them some
hands-on cobbing experience, as well as a talk and a homemade lunch.
They all enjoyed the day, many thanks to the organisers.
We
are still looking for new residents to take up the 2 remaining
plots here at The Hollies. We have just posted more detailed
information as to what we are looking for and what
we are able to offer to people,
click here. We are also beginning to look for a purchaser for
the farmhouse here, a beautiful 150 year old stone
farmhouse, recently
reroofed and repointed with lime plaster. We would like to
sell it to help us to develop the rest of the project and
would ideally like
to find someone who would also like to part of the bigger project
unfolding here. More information can be found here.
Rob's course in Practical Sustainability has restarted in Kinsale,
this year with 35 students! The new modules in organic growing
taught by Paul O'Flynn are also proving to be very successful.
The site
at the college is starting to look lovely now, as herbs and
shrubs begin to get established.
Latest
News August 27th 2003
Work is continuing on the cob houses, which has taken most of the
summer. We have had a great stream of volunteers helping out, which
has been great. You can follow the progress of the houses in our
Building Diary section. The courses this year have been very well
attended, particularly the two Natural Building course. The Course
Everyone Thinking of Building a Natural House Should Do First had
nearly 20 people on it, who all went away with many ideas for building
their own places.
Following our successful planning application, we are looking for
an individual or family who would like to become involved with The
Hollies and buy the 4th plot which is available here. It comes with
outline planning permission for an eco-house, and is fully serviced.
We are looking for someone with a commitment to sustainable living,
and who is open to the idea of deriving at least 50% of their income
from The Hollies within 5 years. The plot is around 1/4 of an acre
but also includes joint ownership of the remaining 30 acres of The
Hollies. Plots are sold freehold but with burdens on the contract
relating to the bylaws of The Hollies. If you are interested in finding
out more, do get in touch - thehollies@eircom.net.
Rob Hopkins' permaculture course at Kinsale Further Education Centre
is now full, with a large waiting list. If you are interested in
doing the course you would be advised to book early for 2004, as
the popularity of the course far exceeded expectations (it is now
the first full-time permaculture course in the world!).
Latest
News - April 27th 2003
After 2 weeks work, the foundations for the first house at The Hollies
are nearly completed. You can keep up with the progress on the foundations
by checking out our 'Building Diary',
which will be updated regularly as we progress. Work will now begin
on the foundations of the second house, the plans of which will be
added to the site soon. The next major step will be the start of the
cob work, due to begin on June 7th with Kevin McCabe's cob building
course (to find out more click here).
On
April 14th we launched walnutbooks.com,
which is proving to be a great success and has attracted a lot of
interest. If you haven't seen it yet, it is a cutting edge e-commerce
site specialising in books and videos on all aspects of practical
sustainability. It also features links and reviews, as well as a selection
of articles. It is updated with new books every week, so keep an eye
on it!
Rob
Hopkins taught a 2 day introduction to permaculture at Tipperary Institute,
to 4th year Sustainable Rural Development students (www.TippInst.ie),
which was very well received and will hopefully lead to the development
of a courtyard area at the Institute as a permaculture garden.
Rob Hopkins (centre, back row) with students at Tipperary Institute,
April 25th
Latest News
— April 2003
Catch
up on the latest building work @ the hollies with our building
diary.
We
are delighted to tell you that WalnutBooks.com has arrived and is
open for business. Visit www.walnutbooks.com
now and you will find our complete catalogue of books, available to
you at the click of a mouse. For the first month of the site you will
be able to avail of our fabulous 10% off everything launch offer.
Take advantage of this opportunity to buy those books you've been
wanting to buy for ages!
The wait is over... WalnutBooks.com, you'll wonder how you ever
lived without it...
Latest News
— March 2003
Our planning permission is now cast in
stone following An Bord Pleanala’s decision to refuse an application
for leave to appeal it. This means we have now created a very exciting
planning precedent in Ireland for a ‘third way’ in Irish
rural planning. The argument about rural planning is usually divided
into 2 camps, the ‘one-off housing is fine and necessary in order
to preserve a dynamic rural society’ camp and the ‘all new
housing should be in existing towns’ camp. We have now created
a third option, clustered low energy, low impact buildings, designed
in sympathy with the landscape, and designed in such a way as to create
livelihoods for the residents and the surrounding community. We hope
that The Hollies will prove to be the first of many such developments
around the country.
Work is to begin at Easter on the first
house. The building itself is a cob/timber frame hybrid building,
which is designed to be completely concrete-free (around 10% of global
warming is generated by the cement industry and it is a very ecologically
damaging material). It will have stone/lime foundations with an earth/lime
floor, cob walls, local timber and the roof will be done using slates
made from recycled car tyres (which look exactly the same as natural
slate but are much lighter). A lot of work has been put into the layout
of the building, it integrates many of the ideas of Christopher Alexander’s
‘Pattern Language’ approach, and was developed over time
using clay models. The well-known architect Christopher Day did some
work on the preliminary sketches, which were then turned into construction
plans by local house designer Jeremy Baines. You can see the construction
drawings of the house by clicking here.
Our programme of courses has been designed
around the building process, although some of our regular favourites,
such as the Conflict Resolution course and the Introduction to Permaculture
weekend will still be included. We have also invited many of the leading
people in the whole area of practical natural building to lead workshops.
We are particularly fortunate to have Neil May of Natural Buildilng
Technologies in the UK to lead a 1 day workshop on stone/lime foundations.
Neil is one of the UK’s leading experts in natural building,
and this is a very rare opportunity to study with him. We are fortunate
also to have lined up Kevin McCabe from Devon in the UK, who has built
the first new cob house built for over 100 years in Devon and who
does lots of large cob building projects. We also have Steve Allin,
who is pioneering the use of hemp in construction in Ireland. To see
2003’s course programme please click
here. This is going to be the best place to find out about natural
building in Ireland this year, make sure you put some time aside to
get involved. There are also many opportunities for volunteers to
help with the construction process, contact us for details. For those
of you at the beginning of thinking about building a natural home,
we have a course lined up on 5th — 6th
July called "The Course Everyone Thinking About Building A Natural
House Should Do First — design, materials, process, community",
which will be your ideal place to start.
•
Rob Hopkins will be appearing on RTE’s Open House programme on
Friday March 28th, to talk about permaculture and related
topics. You might want to take a look at that.
•
We have been hard at work developing
walnutbooks.com,
which will be an amazing on-line green bookshop, packed with reviews
and news and much more. It will be launched on April 4th,
updates will be posted here nearer the time. If you aren’t receiving
Walnut Books’ very popular monthly email update of new books
and reviews and so on, or if you would like to receive our full catalogue
then please contact info@walnutbooks.com.
All in all it promises to be a very busy
year for us, beginning at long last to put into physical form the
ideas and dreams we have been formulating for the last 5 years. We
hope to see you at some point during the year, bring your wellies!
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