Peace ☮ Love ♥ Dublin ♣: Milkin it.

Cheers!

One of the best days here was a day trip with the school to the historical site of Newgrange and then a family owned farm called Causey Farms. I honestly had no idea what to expect, but it was a bonding experience that we all decided was a must. So we woke up pretty early to be on campus around 9 for departure.. that was rough. We made it though and started our journey to Newgrange.

Newgrange is one of the most prominent historical sites in Ireland. Many people know of it as a passage tomb, and once a year during the winter solstice people gather here to see the sun illuminate the tomb passage and chamber. What's even more fascinating is that it's a lottery to get picked to be one of nearly 20 (thousands of applicants all over the world apply), and the event only lasts 17 minutes...but wait for it... the illumination isn't always guaranteed. So basically one could get picked, travel to the tomb, wait in this cold, dark, secluded spot for 17 minutes and NOT SEE A SINGLE THING. I couldn't do that, so good thing I went when I did!

When we arrived, we had an awesome tour guide, and the passage is nothing like you would expect. Basically it's a one acre mound surrounded with giant rocks, and inside leads to the chamber. Once inside, there was a demonstration of what the light would be like during the winter solstice, which was also cool to see (but don't count on me being an applicant).

There is is.. Newgrange


Standing outside of the entrance...it's a windy one!

Next it was time to go to Causey Farms. On the itinerary it said we were going to bake some Irish soda bread, learn traditional Irish music, and just engage with the farm life. We all know how much of a city girl I am, so ideally I was definitely not prepared. As soon as I stepped off of the bus, I was gagging-- the smell was not helping me (at least I had a scarf).

Into the house we went; we grabbed an apron and headed to the kitchen to start cooking. Allese and I were bread partners, shocking I know, and went right to work. Surprisingly it was super easy to make Irish bread and ours turned out great (I mean it was edible...).

We were done with the kitchen and on to a barn house where we were taught some authentic Irish dancing. It was great craic, as the Irish would say, and engaged everyone there. The dance we learned was traditional at Irish weddings, and honestly you don't need to have any sort of rhythm to be good. We really danced, as in I was sweating by the end, but it was truly all laughs and smiles from the whole crew.

The last major thing at the farm was Bessy, their main cow. We walked into another barn and there she was, taking a nice, long, stinky poo-- hot too. Our guide was not hesitant to ask who wanted to milk her, but after that load I was not even thinking about it. He told us to not be afraid... you just walk up bend over (no crouching), squeeze the teat, and tada the milk will come out. He also drank the warm milk straight from his hand. Fun Fact: even though it's not pasteurized, the milk is so fresh that it doesn't have time accumulate germs and such so it is the freshest milk possible. One by one people went up for their chance (primarily use Duquesne kids). I decided I had to seize the moment and go... so I did. It was pretty cool-- now I can say I milked a cow.