The Way Home by Mark Boyle

Sue Cartwright • 9 July 2023

The story of life lived close to the land in the absence of technology

The Way Home by Mark Boyle - Book Review by Sue Cartwright, Spiral Leaf

There is no better way to bond with the land and Nature than to build a cabin and live on a homestead in Ireland without any modern conveniences. This book talks about doing just that and comes with an invitation to immerse yourself in your own landscape, to foster an intimate relationship with it, to come to depend on it; to find your own place within your own place.

The Way Home is full of hope and promise. It pays tribute to the skills and tenacity of traditional master crafters and to our ancestors who knew how to live with the land and work in harmony with Nature for all its benefits. Thanks to them, and authors like these, their knowledge continues to be passed on to anyone wishing to know it, learn it, preserve it and put it to good use.

Over the course of a year, Mark summises that: an unsophisticated, half-wild three-acre smallholding in the middle of somewhere unimportant, became the most beautiful place on Earth. A masterful feat having mustered incredible discipline and strength to not only convert the land into an orchard, vegetable garden, hen coop, nuttery, wildlife pond and herb garden (among other things), but also to build a wooden cabin to live in by entirely natural means. This requiring: the removal of twenty tonnes of hillside, shifted with a spade.

It shows what can be done with strong timber, lime-render, straw, spruce boards, spruce rafters and topsoil. Handcrafted into a cosy home described as: rough round the edges and full of warmth. And, how lovely that this style of build does indeed take its lead from the Swallows: the original cob builder who makes a nest out of mud and straw with broken twigs, soil, grasses, leaves and straw, insulated with soft green mosses and liverworts.

It is true that the more we have to 'do without' technological gizmo's, the more resourceful we become. It leads to appreciating the simple things in life and feeling the joy of being creative and doing things for ourselves. It isn't easy but it's incredibly rewarding. The Way Home shows how it all gets easier and even more fulfilling over time.

Living close to the land in the past, meant learning the seasons, planetary movements and Solstices by rote and following them closely. It's wonderful that this precious knowledge has been preserved and can be referenced in books such as the Almanacs which are updated every year and have stood the test of time.

In The Way Home, such knowledge is increasingly appreciated and understood: Our ancestors who didn't have light at the flick of a switch, celebrated [Winter Solstice Eve] wildly, and for good reason.

I stripped away the layers of over-civilisation like the skin of an onion, I would, in all likelihood, find out things about myself I hadn't known.

This treasure of a book generously shares helpful information about living in Nature and without any technology whatsoever. It shows the way and proves that the rewards are limitless. Once established, the land and all who live there become intertwined, and Mark has gone on to build a sibin known as The Happy Pig - a traditionally illicit pub serving home-brew in the spirit of a bothy*.

I have taken endless notes - to name a few - herbs and vegetables grown and when; food to forage for and where; recipes for delicious food and for medicinal herbal teas; how to make Gorse flower wine; how to make beeswax candles; the joy of whittling; how to build a pond; hand-washing clothes using home-made soapwort liquid; how to design an outdoor hot tub (heated with a real fire) and how to drain and plant a potato field. (See also how to plough and plant a wheat field).

The Way Home paints a compelling picture of living organically against the dark (yet fast-fading) backdrop of the modern world. The onslaught of unfettered AI technology, anti-human transhumanism, insidious political agendas, relentless fear-mongering and so on are very well noted in the book together with stories of the author's childhood in Ireland, the home to which he has returned.

A pilgrimage to Great Basket Island in County Kerry is woven into each chapter providing an interesting insight into the history of life lived there before it was evacuated in 1953.

I can imagine the feeling of satisfaction when the hard work has been done: The wood has been gathered, sawn, chopped and stacked; the venison smoked; the blackberries fermented; the skins tanned; the winter vegetables planted - now only to be enjoyed.

I salute the author for his tenacity and for sharing his story. Especially having written the entire book first with a pencil and again following the one-off loan of a manual typewriter.

It's a great achievement to live without technology until it is no longer missed and no longer required. It's an incredible feat for everything to be made at home, with your own resourcefulness and with your own bare hands. In this story there was only one thing that hadn't yet made its mark - the hand-made mushroom paper and the hand-made mushroom ink.

Sue Cartwright

Spiral Leaf

*In Scotland, a small hut or cottage, especially one for housing farm labourers or for use as a mountain refuge.

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The Way Home by Mark Boyle

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