Down on the Farm

After we left the Hill of Tara (and yes, I know that I didn’t do Part One and Part Two like I normally do, but I couldn’t think of a good title for both) we made our way to Causey Farm. Causey Farm is a “fun based venue for a variety of entertainment, tourism, and educational programs,” according to their website. They are, obviously, a farm and they allow groups to do a variety of farm and Irish based activities. I knew from the beginning that it was going to be a bit touristy based on the information that we had received from UCD in an email. We were going to be doing/seeing: a sheepdog demonstration, hurling (a traditional Irish sport), baking, milking a cow, meeting farm animals, bog jumping (more on that later), and playing a bodhran (an Irish drum). We arrived about noon, and we were immediately herded us into our first activity. It was not terrible structured as there were dozens of things we could do, so they let us pick throughout the day.

Causey Farm

We were given a sheepdog demonstration, which was not quite as impressive as it was as Russborough, but it was still pretty cool. We stood in a circle around the sheep while Matt (the owner of Causey) talked to us. Being that close to the sheep was a bit intimidating actually.

There are tons of animals on the farm: pigs, chickens, donkeys, horses, dogs, sheep, geese.

Before lunch (and we were starving at this point) we were taught how to make soda bread. It was very simple, only six ingredients (flour, cornmeal, soda, salt, one egg, milk). We let it cook and we had it with our lunch of vegetable soup. I have to say, Alyssa and I made a pretty delicious bread. Lunch was followed by tea, coffee, and scones with jam and cream. Everything they serve they make themselves by hand, delicious.

An adorable lamb. We were allowed to hold it, but it went to the bathroom on my friend Julie, so no one tried to hold it after that.

We were taught how to milk a cow and allowed to try one by one. This took a while, so everyone wandered around the farm as they finished and checked out the various animals. At the end, after everyone who wanted to had milked the cow; I had elected not too because I did not want to touch the farm animals), Kevin--our guide--asked us if we wanted to try the cow's milk. My friends and I decided to try. So, we stood very close to the cow, and Kevin squirted us into our mouth. It is something I cannot believe that I did. It was warm, which is apparently what everyone says, but it tasted like milk.

After lunch we learned how to play a bodhran, which is a traditional Irish drum. It was not too hard to play and we had fun doing it. Then they taught us a ceili, which is Irish dancing. I hate dancing, I really do, but we were all forced to do it. It is line dancing, and involved spinning and keeping time with a rhythm. I did awful, and stepped on quite a few feet. It was really bad; quite embarrassing, and hard since the music got faster and faster as we went.

One of the things that they had promised we could do, is bog jumping. A bog is basically like a swamp, except less watery. If we wanted to do it, we had to bring a towel and extra clothes because you are basically swimming in mud and get absolutely filthy. I elected not to, but my friends Julie and Alyssa did, and they got really dirty. The bog is very cement-like and hard to get out of, almost like quick sand. This bog was designed for people to swim in, but it is very dangerous to walk in a bog area as you can get sucked into a bog that might be several metres deep and not able to get out.

While the bog jumpers were getting cleaned up, we explored the farm and looked at the farm animals. Then they showed us how to play hurling. Hurling is one of Ireland's two national sports (along with Gaelic football) and is a lot like lacrosse and baseball. After this we were given a lovely dinner of cabbage, carrots, mashed potatoes (and ham, though I obviously did not partake ), with apple crumble for dessert. It was quite a long and exhausting day.