Turning a House-Sit into a Home

September 5, 2024|Rick Juliusson

House-sit home-making in Cork County Ireland

We come through the door timidly, respectfully. The host family welcomes us into Their Space, introduces us to Their Dogs, informs us of how to find and use Their Stuff. They are entrusting Their Precious Home (and animals) to us, their Trusted Housesitters, and in exchange for a free place to stay, our job at this moment is to reassure them that their world is in good hands.

Once they leave, our job is to quickly make their house into Our Home. This is our lifestyle, not a short-term adventure, and we need to establish as much rhythm and regularity as possible in each stop. Here’s how our routine played out today at our 2-week house-sit in County Cork, Ireland:

1. Settle the pets (and owners)

We give some good loving to the pets until they feel safe and reassured (usually much faster than their owners think it will take). Then send a photo of said happy animals to the owners (who take much longer to feel safe and reassured). In this case, what’s not to love about a 120-pound Irish Wolfhound, her older and calmer sister, and a cat who only comes inside when hungry?

2. Unpack

Nothing says “Home” like pulling everything out of the suitcase and onto shelves and hangers. Sometimes that takes the form of organized piles on the guest bed. This time, our considerate hosts cleared out one column of their cupboard - 4 drawers and a 16” hanging rod (plus the baby’s cot for odds & sods) is plenty for what little we lug around in one carry-on bag each.

3. Unload the Groceries

After a few days of glorious and expensive restaurant dining to get here, it’s time to get back to our own food routine. This is key to maintaining our health, budget, and feeling of control and regularity in our culinary bailiwick. A quick 218 Euro ($242 USD) shopping trip should mostly get us through these two weeks, supplemented by the random spices and condiments the hosts share, and fresh produce from the weekend farmers markets in Skibbereen and Ballydehob (these are real towns, I swear!)

4. Start cooking

Our food security and Joy revolve around some key home-made yumminess I try to recreate everywhere I go. This afternoon I have started new batches of: yogurt, kombucha (we sadly can’t carry our Scobie on airplanes, but this host happily shared hers), bread (also can’t carry my sourdough starter, but an Irish soda bread recipe should be fun), and granola. Keeping me company is the family photo magnet we put up on every fridge.

5. Start Living

As soon as the granola comes out of the oven (and is left to cool somewhere out of reach of a 120-pound dog), this retiree will retire for a nap. Sarah is catching up on some neglected work (getting the wifi password is the real step #1 of this list) while I bring this blog up to date (it’s always a challenge to be writing about the last place while also trying to fully live in the new place - full disclosure, I truly am writing this right now on day one, but it might already be in Italy by the time this gets published).

Now that we’re here I’m excited to research all the hikes, sights, pubs, beaches, live music, blackberry bushes, winding roads to get lost on, etc that will be the meat of this sojourn. We move so much (Minnesota, Chicago, Iceland, a medieval French town, Paris, Cork, Bantry and now Schull just in the last 20 days), we can’t do much prep. We need to fully live in the present, then quickly adapt to the new present. So post-nap I’ll read our hosts’ welcome guide, browse through the brochures we picked up at tourist info, and of course dive deep into google to create an impossibly long list of adventures (ranging from ancient stone circles to an Irish Famine Museum).

Two weeks already doesn’t feel like enough to fully experience this new world of rural Ireland, while at the same time feeling the relaxation of just Living Here. It’s easy to tip over into adventure tourism instead of our goal of sustainably living here there and everywhere. That’s why our routines are so important: the impending nap calls me like an old lover, and the granola is smelling like Home.

PS - Just as I typed that last word, "Home”, Sarah looked up from her laptop and asked, “What’s smelling so good?!”

PPS - Here’s a few photos from our nights in Cork and Bantry on the way here, to start giving you a picture of how stunningly gorgeous County Cork, Ireland is.