#in the background of the video you can see my greenhouse's skeleton!

[hedgehog-moss]

My second pasture down near the torrent is too overgrown to be used as a pasture, and I've been cutting some trees in order to rehabilitate at least half of it, so I can use the grass to make my winter's supply of hay at some point in the future. Some of the logs I cut were really heavy and I could only carry them two at a time at most (and it's uphill) so I finally decided to ask Pirlouit to contribute.

I say “finally” because my donkey is afraid of everything so it was a very long journey to get to this point! When I got him he was almost a feral donkey and at first I could barely approach him, he’d just run away and hide. After a few months of hanging out in his pasture, looking harmless and not bothering him, I was allowed to stroke his nose but only if I was simultaneously offering him treats (progress! he used to stretch out his neck and lips as much as he could to catch my treats while maintaining a prudent distance.) After maybe a year he started consistently walking up to say hi of his own free will when I went into the pasture, but if I had a rope or a halter with me he’d run and hide. It took nearly three years for him to come to me willingly even when he could see I meant to catch him. I kept our outings pleasant, like taking him to a nice spot in the woods to eat brambles while I sat nearby and read and didn’t ask anything of him (beyond basic landscaping services.)

But I have a lot of heavy logs to carry up a steep slope all the way to my woodshed, and the time has finally come for Pirlouit to get a job.

Pirlouit: "Oh no"

There were a lot of preliminary steps here as well, like showing him the bag I meant to use to carry the logs and waiting patiently for Pirlouit and the bag to get acquainted. (Initial reaction: “AAAAAaaaahhhhh a big red bag” evolving into mere distrust then extremely wary nose-poking, then, when bag failed to attack, serene indifference.)

Pirlouit: "I've always loved this bag. Don't know what you're talking about"

I don’t have a girth to keep the bag in place on Pirlouit’s back but with a balanced weight of logs on each side it was quite stable. Pirou grudgingly tolerated having the bag on his back while standing still, but started freaking out when asked to walk with it. Maybe he felt that the logs were heavy cylindrical children who had been entrusted to him and he feared that they would fall down—he refused to walk if I didn’t keep my hand on the bag to stabilise it. The problem is, he also refuses to walk (in general) if I’m walking next to him rather than ahead of him. And I can’t hold on to the bag if I’m not next to him.

Dilemma.

(“He refuses to walk if I do [X] but he also refuses to walk if I do [opposite of X]” is a very donkey-owner problem to have.)

So, I walked ahead of him but at first we literally moved one small step at a time. Eventually when he realised the bag was solidly weighed down and didn’t wobble from side to side or slide off his back, he started walking more trustingly. (We went up the hill in a wide zigzag rather than straight ahead so the bag wouldn’t slide backwards.) At times he seemed to forget about the bag, then suddenly remembered its existence and stopped dead and became anxious again. It was a slow progress across the pasture, but then we crossed the road and reached Pirlouit’s own pasture, and he relaxed a bit.

The llama children were intensely curious as always and I think Pirlouit felt quite flattered. He didn’t stop walking and didn’t freak out once as we walked up to the house; the llamas followed us admiringly and Pirlouit walked confidently as if to say “Look what I can do.”

Since this experiment proved successful I will try to find some sort of girth to attach the bag (would love to have a proper pack saddle but they’re expensive...!) We made a couple more trips the next day—I was wondering how Pirlouit would greet me, because when he doesn’t like something we’ve done he straight-up sulks for a few days and refuses to let me come near. He did that a lot when I was starting to get him used to the halter. But the day after his first log-carrying mission he came to greet me as usual and let me halter him without a fuss, so he didn’t mind being hired to do this.

A round of applause for Sir Pirlouit, a donkey with a job!

#crawling along #in the background of the video you can see my greenhouse's skeleton! #it should have been completed by now but one of the two people who were supposed to help build it got covid #i am a bit cursed with this greenhouse #but there will be a greenhouse post in the future! :)

[celtfather]

St Patrick's Day #451

Happy St Patrick’s Day! Two Hours of St Patrick’s Day music and a free Celtic album that you can download today on the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast.

Xavier Boderiou, Stringer's Ridge, The Selkie Girls, Kennedy's Kitchen, Gillian Boucher & Bob McNeill, Beyond the Field from Single, Lissa Schneckenburger, Kinnfolk, Jesse Ferguson, Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer, Catherine Koehler, The Kissers, Stephanie Claussen, KALOS (McKasson & McDonald), W Ed Harris, The Rowan Tree, Fir Arda, Celtic Conundrum, Avourneen, Tami Curtis, Pauline Scanlon, The Flailing Shilaleighs, The Wild Irish Roses, Kilmaine Saints, Ockham's Razor, Onde, Skeleton McKee, Battlelegs, Hugh Morrison, Eileen Ivers, Jiggy, Wolf Loescher

I hope you enjoyed this week's show. If you did, please share the show with ONE friend.

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast is here to build our community and help the incredible artists who so generously share their music with you. If you hear music you love, buy the albums, shirts, and songbooks, follow the artists on Spotify, see their shows, and drop them an email to let them know you heard them on the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast.

Remember also to Subscribe to the Celtic Music Magazine. Every week, you will get a few cool bits of Celtic music news. It's a quick and easy way to plug yourself into more great Celtic culture. Plus, you'll get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free, just for signing up today.

VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20 This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. Just list the show number, and the name of as many bands in the episode as you like. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2020 episode.  Vote Now!

THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:08 - "Wedding Reels" by Xavier Boderiou from Laimm

2:58 - WELCOME

4:45 - "Pikeman's March / Who'll Be King but Charlie? / Cliffs of Moher" by Stringer's Ridge from Handmade

10:57 - "Smeorach Chlann Domhnaill" by The Selkie Girls from Running with the Morrigan Pronunciation: Smear-Rock Clan Dow-ohl

15:32 - "Tootsie's Flowers, Money In Both Pockets, The Whiskey Of Truth" by Kennedy's Kitchen from The Whiskey of Truth

20:20 - "Race for the Sun" by Gillian Boucher & Bob McNeill from Race for the Sun

25:35 - "Three Hugs for Luca" by Beyond the Field from Single

30:22 - CELTIC FEEDBACK

34:35 - "The Fair Maid By the Sea Shore" by Lissa Schneckenburger from Song

37:49 - "New Rigged Ship / Lady's Cup of Tea / Drag Her Round the Road" by Kinnfolk from Kinnfolk

41:01 - "The Sally Gardens" by Jesse Ferguson from The Sally Gardens

43:45 - "Jiggle the Old Bones" by Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer from Sleep Deprivation

48:30 - “May Morning Dew” by Catherine Koehler from Stone Upon Stone

52:07 - "Foggy Dew (feat. Monica Martin)" by The Kissers from Three Sails

56:38 - "Ae Fond Kiss / Rory Dall's Port" by Stephanie Claussen from The Road Home from Skye: Scottish and Irish Tunes

1:07:07 - THANKS TO PATRONS

1:04:18 - "Geordie" by KALOS (McKasson & McDonald) from Harbour

1:07:36 - "Crowley's/Johnny D's" by W Ed Harris from Turas Ceilteach Pronunciation: Tour-ahs Kell-tuk kell-tach

1:11:40 - "One And All" by The Rowan Tree from Kolar's Gold

1:13:59 - "O'Carolans Welcome" by Fir Arda from Greenhouse Sessions Part 2

1:18:26 - "A Chance" by Celtic Conundrum from The Promise

1:22:17 - "Sparrow" by Avourneen from Sparrow

1:25:55 - CELTIC PODCAST NEWS

1:28:55 - "Hills of Connemara" by Tami Curtis from Caird Cavort

1:31:04 - "The Eighteenth of June" by Pauline Scanlon from Gossamer

1:35:13 - "Old Man Colm" by The Flailing Shilaleighs from Yours to Discover

1:38:37 - "The Adventures of a Young Rose" by The Wild Irish Roses from Full Bloom

1:40:23 - "Off the Wagon" by Kilmaine Saints from Off the Wagon (Acoustic Sessions)

1:42:47 - FREE MUSIC

1:44:01 - "The Moving On Song" by Ockham's Razor from Songs from Potter's Field

1:48:22 - "Le Metamorphose" by Onde from Maelstrom

1:53:42 - "Streams of Whiskey" by Skeleton McKee from Edinburgh Underground

1:56:25 - "Ability Scores" by Battlelegs from Save the Humans

1:59:40 - "Ballad of Thomas Higgins" by Hugh Morrison from The Other Side

2:04:09 - "Shine" by Eileen Ivers from Scatter the Light

2:08:35 - “Man of Aran” by Jiggy from Hypernova

2:12:59 - CLOSING

2:13:52 - "Legacy" by Wolf Loescher from Sheep's Clothing

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was edited by Marc Gunn with Graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs. The show was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather. To subscribe, go to Apple Podcasts or to our website where you can become a Patron of the Podcast for as little as $1 per episode. Promote Celtic culture through music at http://celticmusicpodcast.com/.

  CELTIC PODCAST  NEWS

WELCOME Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. My name is Marc Gunn. I am a Celtic musician and podcaster. This show is dedicated to the indie Celtic musicians. Please support these artists. Share the show with your friends. And find more episodes at celticmusicpodcast.com. You can also support this podcast on Patreon.

Marc Gunn St Patrick's Day Music Shows

FRI, MAR 13: Interstellar Ginger Beer & Exploration Co, Alabaster, AL @ 7:00 PM

SAT, MAR 14: St Patrick's Day at 5 Points, Birmingham, AL @ 2:30-5 PM

SAT, MAR 14: The Camp, Huntsville, AL @ 7:30 PM

If you haven't done so yet, Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. It is free. Yes. All 450 episodes are FREE to listen to. So go listen and download the show right now. And if you want a free podcast app, you can find a link to it in the shownotes as well.

THANK YOU PATRONS OF THE PODCAST! Because of Your kind and generous support, this show comes out every week. Your generosity funds the creation, promotion and production of the show. It allows us to attract new listeners and to help our community grow.

As a patron, you get to hear episodes before regular listeners. When we hit a milestone, you get an extra-long episode. You can pledge a dollar or more per episode and cap how much you want to spend each month over on Patreon.

A super special thanks to our Celtic Legends. These amazingly generous folks pledge $25 or more per month. Thanks to Shawn Cali, Hank Woodward, Annie Lorkowski, Tiffany Knight, robert michael kane, Lynda MacNeil, Kevin Long, Nancie Barnett, Miranda Nelson, Carol Baril, Scott Benson, Marianne Ludwig, Patricia Conner

You can become a generous Patron of the Podcast on Patreon at SongHenge.com.

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast is a for-profit endeavor that is funded by you. I cannot pay royalties to artists because of the nature of podcast. It’s cost-prohibitive. You can read about that on my website.

So I found a different way to give back. A portion of the money raised from compilation CD sales and from your Patreon donations is donated to Celtic Non-Profits. We already donated money to the Savannah Irish Festival to help some of the artists featured on this podcast. We are also sponsoring the Texas Scottish Festival in May. And now in September, we’re also sponsoring Middle Tennessee Highland Games & Celtic Festival. We have donated over $35,000 to Celtic Non-Profits.

But I want to stress, that’s not me. That’s all of us. Everyone who supports this podcast is supporting Celtic culture through music. These festivals bring our musical heritage alive. So thank you for being a part of that.

CELTIC PODCAST NEWS While you’re there, I want to ask you to post a review on Apple Podcasts. Right now, we are 37 reviews away from 1000. That’s incredible to think about especially considering I haven’t asked anyone to post a review in a long time.

If you listen to podcasts, I want to recommend a couple that I enjoy and are Celtic in nature. Irish Music Stories is put out by Irish musician Shannon Heaton. She looks at the bigger stories behind traditional Irish music. It’s extremely well-produced and well worth subscribing

Erin’s Isle is a short travel podcast. Erin brings you the delightful parts of Ireland in intriguing stories that’ll make you want to learn more. Her show is even syndicated on Aer Lingus and British Airways. It’s that good. And a lot of fun!

If you want more St Patrick’s Day music, check out the St Patrick’s Day podcast. It’s a 7-part series I released years ago. It’s music with minimal chatting. It’s perfect for playing in the background of your own Paddy’s Day party.

I’d be negligent if I didn’t tell you about my own personal podcast. The Pub Songs Podcast is the virtual public house for Celtic Geek culture. I put together several St Patrick’s Day episodes including the latest which is a Sci Fi St Patrick’s Day. Because, well, I’m a geek.

You can find more podcasts by me and others in my Mage Podcast Network or when you subscribe to the Celtic Music Magazine. Because I tell you what’s new in the Celtic podcast world in every issue. And it’s still free!

TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We don't see everything. Instead, we stay in one area. We get to know the region through its culture, history, and legends. You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos. Learn more about the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com/

LEARN IRISH DANCE Irish music, dance, and culture have global appeal, but not everyone has the opportunity to access lessons in their neighborhood.

Online Irish Dance offers courses for people who want to learn the basics of Irish dance for fun—no matter where they are in the world!

The course called Irish Dance Basics for Ceili Dancing is specifically designed to teach students the basic movements required in ceili, or group, dancing. The moves are taught with music of varying speeds, and modules are included that introduce stretches and strengthening exercises to keep students’ bodies safe while they practice.

Sign up today at online-Irish-dance.teachable.com and use the code SPD2020 for 25% off any course in the school through March 31, 2020.

I should point out. They are not a sponsor of the podcast. And I have no affiliation. They asked if I’d share. It sounded like something I thought you might be interested in.

FREE MUSIC How would you like a free album of Celtic music? Every year, I compile the 17 Free Celtic MP3s for St Patrick’s Day. In fact, if you listened to and enjoyed show #250, then you can now download every single one of those songs for free. Follow the link in the shownotes.

There are NO STRINGS ATTACHED. The download page is on our Patreon. It’s open to the public. So you can just click and download the free MP3s. You don’t need to sign up for a single thing.

Now if you want MORE FREE MP3s, you can also subscribe to the Celtic Music Magazine. Every week, you will get a few cool bits of Celtic music news. It's a quick and easy way to plug yourself into more great Celtic culture. Plus, you'll get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free, just for signing up today.

And if that’s not enough… I want you to have a Free CD of mine. It’s an album of Irish songs called Happy Songs of Death. I actually featured it on episode #83 of the podcast. But you can have the physical CD. I will swallow the cost of the disc. You just have to pay for the shipping. Follow the link in the shownotes. I don’t know how long this offer will last. So get it soon!

#celticmusic #irishmusic #celticpodcast

I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? You can send a written comment along with a picture of what you're doing while listening. Email a voicemail message to [email protected]

David (Daithi) O'Brien emailed: "Hi Marc. I live in Mn, and have always enjoyed the St. Patrick's day performances at the Landmark Center in St. Paul. I remembered that your birthday is on the 17th, and thought you might enjoy our Minnesota Nice celebrations. 2 of my old Step Dance groups will be performing along with I don't know how many Indie musicians. Sorry I didn't think about reaching out to you until the end of February, but if you have the chance, give the frozen north a try."

Bernard Nieuwendijk emailed: "Dear Marc, I just found out about this band, does it fit your show? http://www.auli.lv/en Love your show btw, promoting it whenever I see a chance!"

Jeff Peterson wrote on our blog: "Thank you again, Marc. Nice music to listen to while at work. :)"

Stacia Ahlfeld wrote: "My son and I listened to this while we worked on his schoolwork. He really liked it! I did too, of course. It's fun to have a kiddo who enjoys Celtic music like me. Hope you have a great day!"

Amy Hineline sent a photo: "Recovering from total knee replacement surgery. Waiting to go home."

Barb Spears emailed: "Hi Marc!  I'm a newbie to podcasts and just downloaded an APP. I searched music and found your podcast - my first!  I love Celtic music having green blood in my veins and am a Ceili dancer who enjoys our Irish culture and community here in St. Paul MN.   As I listen to this great music, I am digging out of a very cluttered home office. The upbeat music is keeping me going as I tackle this rather daunting task.  No pics - nobody should see the mess I have!"

Helen Withers emailed: "Hi from Helen Withers in Falcon, Colorado. We attended the Larkspur, Colorado Renaissance Festival in the last two years. We have repeatedly sat in the audience to see, sing with(from the audience) and enjoy a musical trio called "Music the Gathering Band" They have at least one CD, & recently finished at the Brevard RenFaire. You may like them for one of your podcasts."

She sent another email: "Also, there's a band from one of the Carolina states, called Syr. We saw them live in Estes Park, Colorado & really enjoyed their music too. Thank you, Helen Withers in Falcon Colorado."

  Check out this episode!