The Unlikely Farmer – Extract from ‘Till the Cows Come Home

Till the Cows Come Home

Writing a memoir was a slightly daunting task. I intended to share stories from over three generations of family farming, mainly recounting stories from our childhoods: my dad’s from when they moved to Garrendenny in 1945 when he was 7 years old, my childhood of the 1970s and also to provide stories from when we took over the farm in 2002 showing how why many things have changed, some elements remain very similar for children, no matter what era they [...]

Launching ‘Till the Cows Come Home’

Book launch: Till the Cows Come Home

The launch of my book Till the Cows Come Home has been and gone. I have to admit that in the run up to it, I was thinking to myself that never ever again will I be crazy enough to launch a book in the spring. Let’s just say that most farmers were at silage rather than thinking about attending book launches!

Book launch: Till the Cows Come Home[...]

Book Update: All About The Book

Till the Cows Come Home - book design

I was chatting to a friend recently, I hadn’t seen her in months and she commented that I had kept my book quiet. Had I really? Surely I had told everyone. But then I realised that between finishing the boarding school book, writing the memoir, editing it and then into calving and the long winter, that I’ve been living the life of a hermit really. I’ve talked about it on social media but I haven’t been out much nor have [...]

Good News

Joe and Lorna on tractor 1970

Things usually happen in threes don’t they? Back in October / November, I had a number of good news things happen in a row but one had to be kept top secret:

  1. Book Deal with Black and White Publishing

First up, I got a book deal. As you probably know, I have three self-published books out now but I never really did anything about getting an agent or a publisher unless you count four emails to agents/ publishers which is a pretty [...]

3 Farm Reads Reviewed

Bobbi Mothersdale

In Sight of Yellow Mountain: A Year in the Irish Countryside by Philip Judge

Philip JudgeI read a review of this in the Irish Independent recently, Judge was compared to James Herriot and as I love Herriot’s book and enjoy writing by smallholders and farmers, I was really looking forward to this.

Philip Judge moved to Wicklow with his family, to a cottage on an acre. [...]