Week 1 of 3 in Ireland: July 25th – 31st, 2025
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go on my second International Exchange with Junior Farmers, this time to the Republic of Ireland. My first week was jam packed with adventure and so many new friends; ones which I’m happy to say we reconnect with later on this journey with Macra. I had a perfect mix of agriculture and tourism and so much delicious food! Having seen tillage farms, dairy, sheep, cattle, turkey and chickens, Macra events, dancing, and beaches; who thought there could be even more to see in the 2 weeks to follow! Please follow along with me on my journey and consider going on an exchange yourself. I know I will treasure my travelling opportunities for years to come, don’t let fear hold you back!
“There are no strangers here, only friends we have yet to meet” from a street sign in Dublin. This trip couldn’t have been phrased any better, even though I flew out of Canada alone, I landed in Ireland and met people who welcomed me in with arms wide open and made me feel like family and best friends.
Day 1: July 25th, 2025
Host Geraldine Hoey, Castlebellingham, Stabannon Macra, County Louth, tillage farmers
Wow what a first day in Ireland. My travels began on July 24th with a long layover in Toronto, and landing in Ireland around 5am where I learned my luggage didn’t make the flight with me! I met my new travel buddy Linda from Switzerland at 9am when she landed. Geraldine collected us from the airport in Dublin and escorted us back to her family farm and proceeded to show us so much of her area in a day! I was running on very little sleep but it was worth it to power through a full day to get the most out of the trip!
- Williams town for tea and apple tart with her parents Carolyn and John
- George’s yard, brother, outside Dunleer, Athclare castle, built in 1550s, attached to home with sheep
- Rode in combine and tractor harvesting winter oats used for porridge and had a traditional roast beef dinner picnic for lunch in the field
- Drumcar at a cousin, rotary parlour, 500+ Freisen/jersey cows
- Annagassan, lobster pot pier
- Magic hill Jenkinstown on the Cooley Peninsula
- Gravity hills, where cars appear to roll uphill due to optical illusion caused by the surrounding landscape
- Long woman grave in Corrakit
- Carlingford castle/harbour
- Carlingford Lough Ferry in Greenore to Greencastle Northern Ireland
- Blue Anchor, best fish, Bellurgan Point
Day 2: July 26th, 2025
Host transition from Geraldine to John Duffy at the Games Event. The Games in a Field was tough but a lot of fun! And we met people we would see again later on the trip!
- Castlebellingham, breakfast at The Mill, short walk from Geraldine’s house
- The Mill Roll: Black & white pudding, sausage, rasher, egg, roll, brown sauce
- Smyth Farm, cow statue, view into the barn, milk vending machine, Wholey Cow Milk
- Cousin Laura Hannon, Derrypatrick in County Meath – Dairy farm
- Bective Abbey
- Castletown Kilberry to see brother John and Tara, assisted in cow crossing
- Aughnamullen for “Games in a Field” hosted by Monaghan Macra
- Bale stack (I had best time in my group), fencing, bale pull, milk run, obstacle course, relay – wheel barrow, 3 legged (Linda and I did well), sprint and eat a boiled egg
- Our team placed 3rd, there was a tie for 1st broke by who could hang the longest
- A dance followed which was a blast, tried some new beverages
Day 3: July 27th, 2025
Host John Duffy, Rossolluss, County Monaghan, Intensive Agriculture, Sheep, Managing Turkeys from day olds to butcher, laying hens on serval farms
- Calvery lunch at The Old Coach Inn in Castleblayney – amazing lamb shank, served with potato made two ways, mashed and fried (surprised), plus roasted veg
- John showed us around his farm
- Manages many turkey barns and laying hens, today we saw the turkeys almost ready for the butcher
- Sheep 4/acre vs usual 6/acre, 100, Blue faced Lester and Texel
- Gaelic Football in a pub – All-Ireland SFC Final, Kerry vs Donegal
Day 4: July 28th, 2025
Spent the day with John’s wife Ashlyn touring Monaghan
- Rossmore Forest Park, Lost Castle Trail (Linda almost lost her phone)
- Grahams of Monaghan for lunch
- Linda and I watched Happy Gilmore 2 on Netflix
- Ashlyn made us homemade lasagna – so good!
- My luggage arrived!
- Gavin (from Macra club) showed us some dairy cows with 2 robot milkers for 85 Friesen cows
- Castleblayney for ice-cream
- Caught a massive house spider before bed
Day 5: July 29th, 2025
John brought us with him on his work route checking some farms
- 5-day old turkeys, 15,000 in the barn, transfer in 5-6 weeks to finishing barns, Carnowen
- Laying hens, 10,000, Road Island Red
- Linda and I walked around Monaghan town after lunch at Westenra Arms Hotel where John’s mom works and found a cheap thrift store (finally some pricing that was less expensive than Canada!)
- John picked us up and we went to a 2-week-old turkey barn, 20,000 turkeys, ½ tom, ½ female, had some bronze turkeys in preparation for Christmas (roughly 16-18 weeks before slaughter)
- Meet up with Kelsey, our next host, and we jived the night away
Day 6: July 30th, 2025
Host Kelsey Daly, Carrowloughan, County Roscommon
- Made homemade scones – yum!
- Toured her farm, cow calf sucklers, 20 down from 40 due to TB, Limousin & Charolais
- 250 sheep, Suffolk, Charollais cross texel
- Fed the lambs
- Met Lauren from Meat Factory, Irish Country Meats, from sheep flock competition Kelsey won, Lauren is also an Organic buyer for the factory
- Assisted with sorting and dosing: deworm/mineral/fly strife prevention
- Harvested fresh potatoes from garden for dinner and watched Love Island
Day 7: July 31, 2025
Beach day, travelled the coast with Kelsey and had the best weather!
- Salthill Promenade / beach
- An Spideal – beach
- Food Truck Edo on the road, contemporary Italian food
- Spiddal Craft Village & Café
- Silverstrand Beach
- Galway City – The Spanish Arch, The Latin Quarter, Eyre Square, Dinner at Huntsman Inn (first experience with small portion)
- We stumbled upon an oasis within the city, The Circle of Life Commemorative Garden which had wonderful flowers and statues in it and sayings
- He who binds himself to a joy does the winged life destroy, but he who kisses the joy as it flies, lives in eternity’s sunrise – William Blake (We truly lived in the moment on this trip!)
- We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves – Galileo Galilei (self-discovery which this trip also evokes)
- Ballygar Carnival for Ride
- We stumbled upon an oasis within the city, The Circle of Life Commemorative Garden which had wonderful flowers and statues in it and sayings
That is a wrap on my first week in Ireland. I had a whirlwind of a week, having 3 amazing and generous hosts. We had the luck of the Irish and had beautiful weather. I can’t wait to share with you how the rest of the trip unfolds. Youd would think there can’t possibly be more, but there is! No regrets, only lifelong memories and friends. Consider applying for your JFAO International Exchange for 2026!
