After three marvelous days exploring Dublin, getting my fill of graffiti, street scapes and urban attitude, it was time to join the tour group. We met in a beautiful property on the outskirts of Dublin, a country estate built in 1750, now St. Helen’s Hotel. A well preserved Georgian Manor House with elegant formal gardens, it is now a part of the Irish National Monuments.
This was a tour of archeology, Neolithic history, Stone, Iron, Bronze ages, discovering Ireland’s first farmers, walking on the stunning Wild Atlantic coast, and food! It could not have happened without the company of the ESFL founders Bill and Christina’s generous Irish friends, specialists in their fields, each one full of stories and brimming with spirit.
“Passages” is the name my journal. So I was delighted that my first stop on this ESFL tour would be at Odaios, the ancient Greek word for journey or pathway, close enough to “passages” for me. Owner Jason O’brien named his business Odaios and it is fitting. Jason is a trailblazer in his field, creating a network for farmers, cheese makers, food creators, hunters and gatherers, suppliers and outlets to follow, grow and thrive with Odaios as the supporting umbrella.
Odaios is also a food lab where culinary magic takes place. The bakery creates loaves, using ancient grains, and a delicious one with seaweed, each loaf marked with an identifying symbol. Even delicious ice cream made with the finest ingredients, ice cream like you’ve never tasted before, and chocolate delights made with Valrhona chocolate from France by an in-house chocolatier. On this food journey, amazing taste was the main ingredient.
Ballinglen Art Gallery was on our route so one day after breakfast we had a visit.
After a long day on the bog in Belderrig More, dinner at Jason’s: surf and turf with fresh caught lobster and crab claws cracked open with a stone, grilled lamb, Odaios breads, butter and cheese, pastel de nata . . . truly a feast. The Irish weather was on best behavior with sunny clear skies and no rain.
We slept very well after that feast. Our “glamping” pod cozy, perched on the hill at the edge of the sea. Sunrise came quietly, the sea was calm.
Three generations of the discoveries, research and passions of the Caulfield family of their historic land, as educators and archeologists, are well documented. And they shared this world with archeologist Bill and Christina Schindler, ESFL founders, and with us!
In the first generation, Patrick Caulfield made a serendipitous discovery in the 1930’s while cutting the peat on his property for fuel. It ultimately lead to the graphic representation seen on the commemorative stamp honoring the accomplishment: the outline of first farmers’ fields, stone walls buried under thousands of years of bog growth. By using a tool to “find” the stone walls, archeologists did not have to excavate that land. A long piece of re-bar with a T top gets pushed through the bog (which means ‘”soft” and it is) until it meets the sound and hardness of stone. Second generation archeologist, Seamas Caulfield, passed the tool to Carla and she hit rock, the top of a wall buried under those thousand years of bog growth. It’s a thrilling sound.
Over our days together Seamas demonstrated a great respect for those who came so long before us. Yes, today we can answer any question that comes up in seconds (as long as our batteries are not spent). But we have lost some of the power of our built-in tools. He wanted to show us by example how important our 5 senses are still, and were to the survival of our Neolithic ancestors. All five senses were constantly in use for survival, to safely navigate this life’s journey. We had ample opportunities to use our lazy senses. Or at least to imagine it on this ancient site.
On our journey together in the Céide Fields, Downpatrick Head and the Seastack, all our senses were heightened. The sights, spectacular with ever changing skies, the scents, of heavy air as the rain readied its daily appearance, the feel, of the soft mosses blanketing the fields of spongy wet peat, yielding underfoot, the sounds, of bleating sheep, crashing waves and Irish stories, the taste of Ireland every day, and not just Guinness! Declan Caulfield prepared a grilled feast at the edge of the harbor, with the best Irish potatoes ever eaten!
The threatening sky over the harbor never materialized. A man of many talents, Declan built this Curragh, a traditional 5 person Irish fishing boat. Stretched animal skins once were used to cover the wooden frame but for this boat Declan’s mother sewed canvas for the hull.
Master of the 3rd generation, Declan knew his land. We could see and question plant species. Declan would identify the heather, mosses, grasses and the tiniest flowers tucked into the grasses. But the carnivorous plants were harder to see – Declan’s keen eye knew right where to look, pulled up a sticky handful of the spatulate leaf sundew to show and tell about it. Then carefully returned the clump to the bog to grow and contribute nutrients for another season.
Declan demonstrated the labor in the bog for us, cutting through the top firm but soft layer with a special tool that slices and tosses. Easy, if you watched him carefully! He took time with “training” each of us! There is an expression in Irish: “A heavy weight, a hen carried a long distance” – I understood. Cutting once, cutting twice, ok. But cutting all day for fuel is really hard labor.
Ireland’s great poet and Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney, wrote a poem to Patrick Caulfield after a visit, with these lines that resonated: “Before I turned to go, He talked about persistence, a congruence of lives, How stubbed and cleared of stones, His home accrued growth rings of iron, flint and bronze”…Seamus Heaney. Following his father, Seamus Caulfield’s lifetime of study of this land is exactly that.
A massive pine tree, its twisted roots now at my feet, was blown down more than 4000 years ago. Buried by the bog and so preserved until Patrick Caulfield began to clear blocked drainage on his land, the massive tree now stands tall in the Céide Fields Center. Seamus Heany’s poem about Patrick Caulfield and the land, is carved into stone and now placed in the field. Patrick’s progeny, Seamus and Declan are worthy stewards of the land.
Out in the Country
The Monastery. Glendalough
Slán le Contae Mhaigh Eo iontach
Passages 