Thread by @IrelandsFarmers

Good morning everyone, today I'm just going to introduce myself, give a general sense of who I am, the type of farming I do, and other related stuff that may be of interest.

So, first things first: my name is Eoghan Daltun, and my regular twitter handle is @IrishRainforest

I'm what people in places like West Cork call a Dublin 'jackeen', and in 2009 sold my house there (Kilmainham) to buy a long-abandoned 73-acre farm in Beara, West Cork.

The place came with 33 acres, plus a 40-acre share of mountain commonage, all *extremely* rough ground.

The farm is in a visually stunning location, with views out over the Atlantic, Skelligs, Deenish/Scarrif, and other islands like Inisfarnard.

To the east Carrauntoohill (the highest mountain in Ireland) and the MacGillycuddy Reeks range are visible.

I just love it here.

When we bought the place in 2009, there was just a ruined cottage, so for a few years we rented nearby while applying for planning permission and (self-)building a new house alongside the old ruin.

Seems a long time ago now.

(Pic is of another ruin, but it's all I have handy.)

The main attraction of the place for me was that, over the course of about 100 years of very little being done with the land, it had largely reverted back to wild native rainforest; hence @IrishRainforest

(Though I didn't know it was rainforest when we arrived).

I have a business restoring sculpture all over Ireland, and that's my main bread and butter: eoghandaltun.com

However about 6-7 years ago I decided to start farming on the side to bring in a little extra income, & to get some use of our shares in the mountain commonage.

I started out with sheep, but now have a very small herd of Dexter cattle instead. I FAR prefer them to the sheep, for a range of reasons.

Amber, Maggie, Gertrude, Nelly and Minnie are all great characters, and for 6 weeks up to last Monday we had the loan of a Dexter bull too.

I won't lie: the type of farming I'm practicing is at one end of the spectrum in terms of the balance between food production and finding space for nature.

In fact, the chances are many/most of you probably won't even consider me a 'proper' farmer at all.

That's totally ok.

Last year I was nominated one of the @farmfornature Ambassadors of the year, which was a great honour.

As well as High Nature Value farming, I've also been rewilding much of the land, ecologically restoring the native rainforest.

The results, I must say, have been mind-blowing.

Otherwise, I have two sons: Liam (16) and Seánie (14). They're pretty typical teenagers, and in fairness are a great help around the land whenever there's work to be done, like doing stuff with the cows, repairing fencing or (second pic) removing an old fence in the wrong place.

During the course of the week I'm hosting @IrelandsFarmers, I'll be looking at a different general topic each day. I won't say now what they'll be - that'll be a surprise!

Hopefully people will find my posts interesting, informative, or maybe even both.

And fun too.

All I'd ask is that, even if you disagree with, or don't like what I'm doing, or some of my views, please try to keep an open mind.

Like most of you, I genuinely want what's best for nature, farmers, rural communities, and society at large, now and into the future.

Many thanks!