What do you think about all this?

by Kenneth Keavey

What do you think? We believe food production should be about respect for the land and the celebration of the produce it gives us. Of course, behind the scenes there is stress and weather and people and broken machines and all the other things that can be challenging but fundamentally the initial thought in our food growing should be one of love, love for our land and ourselves.

This may seem like a stretch in today’s world. I certainly have no love on certain days especially when we cannot compete with the big supermarkets and their juggernaut of food devaluation and a food system that is inherently broken and never more than one step away from falling apart. The supermarkets have the power to drive farmers out of business and where will we all be then?

Our mission in connecting people with the food they eat has been burning now for 18 years. After such a long time of talking about how important sustainable food production is, you can get tired and disillusioned, because what changes? Well, the reality of our farm walk last Saturday and of the fact that so many of you take the time to read this, is that a lot changes.

I learned something amazing from the people who attended our farm walk last and it was: that there definitely is an intense appetite to understand and connect with how our food is produced.

I was inspired and uplifted and felt reenergised to see so many people come out and visit us. But it was the energy, the interest and the amazing questions from you our readers, visitors and customers that showed me we are on the right path.

My favourite quote from Margaret Meade, sums up our farm walk and our growing community right here.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

The stars of the show, and there is no doubt in my mind about this, were the children. They demonstrated such an abundance of interest and fun. There lies the essence of what our lives and indeed our relationship with food should be: fun and happiness.

But delve a little deeper in our modern food supply chain and you find exploitation, biodiversity destruction, food that has literally been poisoned with chemicals and wrapped in a myriad of plastic. This I am afraid is what props up our modern-day food system. But we are all so busy it is hard to spare a thought for what, where or how our food has been produced.

But last Saturday on our farm walk plenty of thought was given. And you who follow us and interact with us and read our e mails or in the ultimate show of support buy from us, you care, and you represent the energy of change. We may not change the world today,

but we will change something, something that may be the small stone that starts the avalanche.

So, as always, thank you for your support.

Kenneth

Something that really annoys me…

by Kenneth Keavey

Something that really upsets me is the fact that supermarkets not only sell fresh produce for next to nothing, but they also reject perfectly good produce, leading to increased food waste.

Have you ever seen a head of broccoli like the one in this video that weighs close to a kilogram and looks a bit wonky on a supermarket shelf? You will not, I think. They will never allow something like that for sale. More than likely the broccoli you get in supermarkets will be imported, will always be 400g, probably won’t be that fresh and will be wrapped in plastic and will usually be sprayed with chemicals and be very cheap. Did you know that a broccoli plant is quite big and will produce just one head in its lifespan? It takes quite a bit to bring a broccoli plant to harvest.  

During the week I had a conversation with our potato grower, Cameron from Battlemountain Organic Farm. We needed to discuss potato pricing, we had a frank discussion and came to a fair agreement for him and for us, one we were both happy with. 

If that conversation had went differently and it could have, then that would have been the end of our relationship and would have caused hardship for his farm.  It would not have been fair, and it is certainly not our way. We are growers and we know a little about the costs and the challenges involved in producing and selling fresh organic produce and believe in paying fairly.

Supermarket buyers take a different approach to paying for their produce and this has led to the decimation of the Irish horticultural industry. Only 2% of farms in Ireland now grow vegetables.

The most recent national field vegetable census showed that the number of field vegetable growers fell from 377 in 1999 to 165 in 2014. That is a contraction of 56%.

But supermarkets want it all their own way, there is few countries where fresh produce is as devalued as it is here in Ireland. It really bothers me, obviously it bothers me because it makes it so difficult to stay in business with this backdrop, but it also bothers me because it undermines our food security and has caused untold damage to our indigenous vegetable industry.

Supermarkets demand the cheapest possible price and the most rigorous specifications leading to hardship for growers. 

It is a broken food system. The funny thing is it would take very little to fix it, what if for example the specification on broccoli was relaxed to be above a certain weight, and if there was a slight increase in the price of the product and that went back to the grower and not to the supermarket, then that would fix a lot.  

Your support keeps us in business and supports not only our own organic farm but many other Irish organic producers too.

Kenneth

National Organic Award, and rain…

by Kenneth Keavey

This week we got the news that our business and farm has been shortlisted for a national
organic award, and we are grateful and humbled by the acknowledgment.


I’m afraid Jenny my wife will stop talking to me if I don’t stop going on about the weather.
But I just can’t help it, maybe I have a condition, but it has been so bad. And to be fair to
me, I need to talk about the weather, I really do. I feel traumatised by the relentless
darkness and rain, I am sure I must not be alone, and somehow getting the knowing nods
that you are right and, in a group, (and for farmers there is nothing more conversation
worthy than the weather) that feel the same way is comforting, it changes nothing though.
True enough, I suppose there is little we can do about it, as the weather will be the weather,
the same cannot be said for what we mankind are doing to our climate…


The last time we had a summer this bad was last year! Two in a row. And before that I
remember 2012 being a summer where we saw virtually no sun, temperatures were low,
and it rained nearly every single day. We should be lucky I guess there are many that have
no water and here we are in the West of Ireland with enough for half of Europe. But luck
will not help our already late harvest of tomatoes ripen.


It has been 13 months now, in my slightly twisted view, it started raining last June and
hasn’t really stopped, has it? We have struggled recently and certain crops that love the sun
are not loving Galway weather at moment.


There is muck stuck to everything, the land is wet, saturated, we could give the “Tough
Mudder” race a good run for its money. Now, it is not all bad news, the leeks, celeriac,
parsnips, swede and brassicas are doing quite well, and we are certainly grateful for that. In
fact, Emmanuel is harvesting the very first of our parsnip crop this week, which is quite
frankly amazing! But the increasing unpredictability of our weather is another challenge in
an already challenging industry.


So it is with this backdrop that it is lovely to be acknowledged that we are doing some things right. To have external validation, that it is worth persevering, despite being a very small cog in a massive and unforgiving food machine.


To that end Simone and Lilly will both be in Dublin this weekend at Merrion square
for the national organic food festival, and I will be there for a few hours from about 12 on
Saturday if you would like to come along.


Not only that but we are having our first and only farm walk next Saturday the 7 th of
September starting at 11am, and all are welcome, you can book a free ticket here.
Hopefully see you over the next couple of weeks!
Thanks as always for your support.
Kenneth

OMG two very exciting announcements!

by Kenneth Keavey

I distinctly remember being encouraged to use Roundup as we embarked on our fledgling enterprise 18 years ago, “a touch of roundup” to use the exact phrase. Well, I nodded my head and went about my business, there was little point in trying to explain that in my view this was madness. Certainly, never in my lifetime will it be used on our little 20-acre patch of land in the west of Ireland. We are never going to apply a toxic weedkiller, no matter how easy that might make our lives.

This year and last year the weeds have got the upper hand, and the reason is straight forward: the rain. We have been challenged at ever turn, we have not been able to get the machines out into the fields to do our usual work as it has not stopped raining. There will be some casualties as a result, but I have to say if you look at the broccoli we are harvesting from our farm now, the weeds are certainly making no difference to the yield and quality, it is some of the best we have ever grown. You will be able to come and see for yourself on the 7th of September….. but you can meet us earlier too in Dublin, we’ll be at the National Organic Food Fair in Merrion Square on August 31st/Sept 1st!

Roundup provides a “Clean field” or an “Empty field” but in my view using it creates a landscape devoid of life, a landscape that could not be dirtier in terms of actual chemical contaminants.  I believe the organic approach to producing food is certainly more difficult, more challenging, but it gives you imperfect perfection, which may seem a little ironic, but it is true. Perfect vegetables, but maybe to the naked eye the scene in the field does not look perfect. Maybe the vegetables do not always meet the exacting criteria of supermarkets, but maybe the produce is perfect just as it is and what is missing is the chemical contaminates, this is what makes our produce and the produce of all the other amazing Irish organic farmers that supply us perfect.

You have to ask the question with the overwhelming wave of chronic and serious illnesses that are sweeping society today, could the increased use of chemicals in growing our food and in producing our food have a role to play (and there certainly is no one reason for sure). As a medicinal chemist I would have to say these chemicals are not improving the situation, and the cocktail effect of consuming hidden chemicals in our food is for sure having a negative impact on our health.  Just think if you saw a bottle with the description: irritant, toxic, harmful to aquatic life, carcinogenic, would you even consume a tiny bit of that. I certainly would not, would you? Chemicals that kill bugs and plants are toxic, they destroy life.

I digress, roundup and all modern herbicides are used to destroy life. They destroy any vestige of plant life that all other biodiversity relies on for their homes. What then? Where will the insects live? Where will the birds find their food when there are no insects? And how indeed will whole ecosystems survive when we remove all the critical natural environmental pieces of life they rely on? The answer is simple, they won’t.

We need to urgently look at how we are growing our food, I am not saying that organic is perfect, it certainly is not, but it does at least put environmental considerations at the centre of the food production journey.  That was and is and has not changed in 18 years our central mission, to protect our beautiful biodiversity, and protect the environment whilst producing clean healthy imperfectly perfect food.

Thanks you for your support,

Kenneth

PS We are harvesting amazing broccoli amongst many other things, click to see them all here: IRISH SECTION HERE.  

PPS: VERY EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENTS!   

Announcement 1: We are going to be in Dublin for the national organic fair on the 31st of August and the 1st of September, please come by and visit our stall in Merrion square, more info here.  

Announcement 2: We are having our first and only farm walk to mark the essence of the Irish harvest season on Saturday the 7th of September, put the date in your diary, details to be announced closer to the day! 

No Chemicals. Ever.

by Kenneth Keavey

‘No chemicals ever in our food chain’  It was a pretty simple idea, and before the thought of having to get certified or go down that regulation route (which you must do if you are to use the word “organic”)  that was the cornerstone of our belief. No chemicals because chemicals, (and as somebody once said on Instagram all things are chemicals, and that is true enough), so let me clarify no synthetic manmade, toxic chemicals that kill living beings, kill plants, kills insects and bees, and damage our health, none of those chemicals will ever be used on our farm because they hurt us and they hurt the environment, they hurt the living things we share this planet with and it turns out they even damage our microbiome.

During the last few weeks as we were waiting patiently for our field of wild clovers and phacelia (For the bees) to come into its own there was a distinct absence of insect life. But in one particular part of our farm where we have our brassicas planted there was an abundance of bees and flies and butterflies. In this particular patch of ground (about 3 acres) the previous year we had sown the same mix of wildflowers we were waiting for in another field this year. These flowers had reseeded themselves and came up with the crops of broccoli, and cabbage and kale. They were earlier to mature and to flower as the seed was already in the ground and now, they were providing food and homes to 1000s of insects and bees.

If we had started our year as many conventional farmers do, then the first step would have been to treat this field with Roundup to kill all the plant life that resided there. There then would have been applications of more herbicides to supress any plants that survived the Roundup, followed by multiple rounds of pesticides and fungicides applications. You certainly would have had broccoli and cabbage and kale, but nothing else, no bees no flies, no wildflowers, no weeds here and there that provide homes to all these amazing pieces of our biodiverse puzzle.

So, it is with chemicals they remove parts of our ecosystem, and they are exceptionally good at being nonselective. From my days studying pharmaceuticals, the silver bullet was the holy grail, a highly selective therapeutic that would only target the disease and not healthy cells. An impossible panacea with traditional chemistry, and here farmers are being Advised to go out into fields with bucket loads of toxic chemicals and unload them on our food and nature indiscriminately. And I don’t care one bit for MRLs (maximum residue limits, which are generally set in conjunction with the manufacturer) they don’t protect us. Current predictions estimate the market for these crop chemicals to be nearly $330 billion by 2030! When there is that much money involved lets me clear it is not the planet that these companies want to take care of, it is the same as the petrochemical industry or the tobacco industry.   

So here is to food and a food system minus all these toxic destructive chemicals.

Kenneth

Where have all the insects gone?

by Kenneth Keavey

It was on a very rare occasion that we used to make a trip to Dublin from Galway. Back in the 80s it was a long journey, there were no motorways back then and the all too familiar bottle neck in Athlone could often cause long delays, but it was always exciting. Stopping along the side of the road to eat homemade sandwiches also gave us a chance to clean the windscreen of the mass of insect debris, that would at times stop my dad from seeing ahead. Cleaning of the windscreen was expected and was an inconvenience, how things have changed in 30 years.


If the level of insect splatters is a measure of the health of this very important ecosystem, then by all accounts today it is only one step from total annihilation. Test it for yourself, next time you drive down the motorway, how many insects splatter on your windscreen? Virtually none you will find. So, what has happened and where have they gone?


This year on our farm up until relatively recently there has been a noticeable absence of butterflies and bees. The decline in butterfly populations and diversity is well documented.  Not only that but Experts estimate that flying insects across Europe have declined 80 percent on average, causing bird populations to drop by more than 400 million in three decades, these are astounding figures. Insects are also the world’s top pollinators — 75 percent of 115 top global food crops depend on animal pollination, including cocoa, coffee, almonds and cherries.


In his 2022 book titled ‘The Insect Crisis’, journalist Oliver Milman set out the grim scenario of how our actions as humans are causing catastrophic destruction of this critical world.  Milman describes the insect kingdom as “the tiny empires that run the world”, they are the starting point for all other higher life forms, without whose existence entire ecosystems would collapse.


Did you know that it is now relatively standard practice to eliminate all competing plants from grasslands for dairy production, leaving vast monocultures. The use of herbicides to clear plant diversity followed by pesticides to destroy insect diversity leaves very little for these amazing small creatures to flourish on. If the insects disappear what do the birds eat? What about all our pollinators? What happens to the food crops that rely on these? This typical short-term approach to intensification of global food production will hurt us all in the long run.


The good news is that reestablishing these insect populations before it is too late is easy, it requires some effort, but it is easy. Leave diversity in our fields, don’t spray everything in sight to within an inch of its life. Let’s be clear we don’t need to anyway, all this chemical spraying is quite frankly ridiculous and unnecessary.  Plant hedgerows, plant an acre of phacelia and clovers to enrich the fertility of the ground but also the fertility of the local ecosystems and biodiversity. 


It was when we started planting wildflower strips that we noticed an astounding level of bee life return to our farm. There were honeybees and several different types of bumble bee, and all sorts of other flying insects. We had created a floral reef for insects! On a sunny evening there are hundreds of thousands of bees and insects humming away, and if you stop and listen, it is then that you truly appreciate the magnificent of these little flying creatures and the amount of life a relatively small piece of land can sustain if it is given a chance.


As always thanks for your support
Kenneth

Gardening, smoking a pipe, a penknife and our food……….

by Kenneth Keavey

I doubt my grandad spent any great deal of time thinking about food provenance. But eating fresh healthy food was part of his life. It was excruciatingly hard work producing food back in the 50s, backbreaking, without the aid of machines or modern technology, but the food they grew was healthy and free from chemicals.

If you would like to listen to my little story this week from one of our fields CLICK HERE!

He worked as the head gardener in Cregg castle, and he most definitely as did my dad had a flare for growing vegetables. Now although I am sure food wasn’t something for the after mass discussion on a Sunday it would have been on their minds. Certainly, though there was no need to discuss what was sprayed on the food, was it wrapped in plastic or not, where it came from, was it sustainable, was it healthy, was it ultra processed, as none of that was relevant back then.

I do remember his garden as a child, I distinctly remember certain things such as the little seat he had, where he used to smoke his pipe, and the penknife he always had with him (incidentally an indispensable tool to even the modern organic farmer). He used to make raised beds behind the hayshed and sow all sorts of things, from potatoes to carrots, but he also sowed sweet peas on a trellis and had apples.

Another memory and not altogether a pleasant one I have is of having jam jars from the trees in the summer with water and residual jam to trap the hoards of wasps, and stop them from eating the gorgeous sweet apples.

My other grandad used to come out from town for a bucket or two of potatoes and this was part of the sometimes-weekly trip to the country side. Either that or he would visit the farmers market on Saturday in Galway, back then it truly was a farmers’ market, rough and ready though it was.

Food too was celebrated such as the first new potatoes, this we still do today and we have just started with our own amazing organic new season potatoes from Cameron in Battlemountain organic farm. A point to note here is that the prices we are paying for these potatoes is up 50% on last year.

But what has happened over the last 70 years, how has such a large chasm opened up between the person eating the food and the food itself. Giant retail businesses have grown and made it their business to create this great divide it serves a purpose of control and it drives enormous profits into the hands of investors. The shiny plastic wrappers deflect from the reality, the faces of the smiling farmers, the special offers, it all hides secrets of our food system that we are never privy to. The big mechanics behind the scenes that move vast quantities of food around the world, the hidden corners that are cut, the environmental atrocities that are committed, this is all brushed under the shiny carpet.

It does seem strange to think that the food we put into our bodies, probably one of the most important things we buy, we probably know least about and is frequently relegated to the bottom of the priority list. The connection between what we eat, our health and the health of the planet is clear, and rekindling the connection with our food could be one of the most important steps we take to improve our own health and protect our world from further environmental devastation. It is also the one thing we absolutely have control over and can change.

Thank YOU for making that change.


Kenneth

PS We are right in the middle of full harvest season and having your support during the summer is more important than ever as we always see a marked drop in orders, leaving us with a surplus of our own and other Irish organic farmers produce, please support us for the month of August if you can, click to see our IRISH SECTION HERE.

Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think….?

by Kenneth Keavey

“Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think? Alanis Morissette, to add our line to this great song “We have tonnes of fresh Irish organic produce and all our customers go on holidays, isn’t it ironic don’t you think?” We asked last week if you could help, and you certainly did, we were bowled over. Can you help again next week and continue to support us during the summer when we need it most?

It is Thursday the 25th of July as I write this. I have spent the morning in the farmyard grappling with one frustration after another, it is a fact of farming life when you have machines you are given near daily opportunities to practice patience. Today has been a great day for that practice. Our net machine that unrolls the nets to cover the crops and conversely rolls it back in when we need to harvest decided to stop working and after visiting a couple of places it was the kind help of a neighbour that hopefully eventually has set us on the right track.

Our planting machine decided it was time to break a drive chain, and again after visiting 2 fixer type shops it was the kind help of the individual in the second shop that set us straight and fixed the chain, enabling us to get on with the final tranche of brassica plantings.

Then there is the weeding machines. Maybe, it is just that July is so insanely busy or maybe it is that these machines pick their moments and they all go caput together, is it a planned assault on a farmers sanity? Our trusty and old intrarotovator came apart in the field, again it was the timely and very kind help of a metal working neighbour that put it back together and dropped it back to us all in the space of a day.

The final machine to play truant this week was our usually very reliable brush weeder, it hasn’t exactly broke, but because the conditions for weeding have been so exceptionally poor, wet and sticky, the brushes have worn away to nothing and we need to replace them, this we are still working on.

That is just this week! But I realised if it wasn’t for the connections we have with people and other businesses in the area and their willingness to help us in our time of need and get us the fixes that we urgently required everything would have ground to a halt.

I tell you this because you are one of those people, you helped us out in our plea last week. Your amazing support and help this week just gone kept our wheels turning so to speak, we saw over 300 extra orders and that has made an enormous difference to us. All the sharing, comments, orders, good wishes, it all matters, it saved the day.

Our weeks keep going, our harvest keeps coming in, our machines keep breaking and we keep going and whilst I was messing around with all these bits of machinery the farm team were busy harvesting all sorts of fresh lovely produce from our fields.

But next week is a new week, with new challenges and opportunities, we will still be here harvesting and working away on our farm, and if you can continue to support us over the week and weeks ahead it keeps us going especially for the ironic (loads of produce, not loads of customers) months of July and August.

You can watch my weekly Instagram update by clicking here.

Thank you as always for your support
Kenneth

PS I have just eaten our very first freshly harvested cherry tomatoes, over 1 month late this year, and I am not promising there will be very many next week, but we certainly have loads of other freshly harvested Irish organic produce, to see it all click here.

This is a summer plea…

by Kenneth Keavey

In our 18 years of growing food, the last 12 months have presented some of the biggest challenges we have ever faced. We have experienced the most difficult growing period in our history with relentless wet and dark weather.   

Our harvest this year has been delayed, and whilst last year at this stage we were harvesting nearly a quarter of a tonne of cherry tomatoes a week, this year we have plenty of fruits on the plants but no red ones, and we are now heading for a month behind schedule. There is little doubt that the changing climate is making it more and more difficult to produce good quality food consistently in the relatively short season we have.    Adding to the challenges (and this one was of our own creation) was the launch of our new website IT system that brought us to our knees nearly 3 months ago now. We have worked through most of the issues and the experience you as a customer will have now, compared to three months ago, will be much improved.

If you would like to listen to my little story this week from one of our fields CLICK HERE!

The initial start of the growing season costs on our organic farm: seeds, plants, fertiliser (organic), compost, contractors and labour are high, before you harvest even one bean. All of this is necessary to make the food in the fields happen.   All of this can generally keep going once the music doesn’t stop and there is enough money in the pot to pay for all the costs and increases in wages and all the other general business costs we face. In most years our farm spends 6 months accruing debt and the next 6 months paying that debt off through harvest. This harvest although somewhat delayed for certain crops this year begins in July, and this then, becomes our critical month for starting to make some inroads for paying bills and getting our house in order.   It should not be a surprise to us that our sales drop in July as everybody takes a much-needed break from routines and goes on holidays (but for some reason we always think this year will be different!). Unfortunately, this coincides with our farm’s and our other Irish farmers bumper harvests too.    So, we find ourselves with our harvest rolling in from the fields, with gorgeous kales, cabbage, cucumber and courgettes, salad, lettuce and the first broccoli starting next week from our own farm.  Scallions, spinach, fennel (from Enda Hoban), beetroot, and leeks from Beechlawn Organic Farm, ruby chard, parsley and spinach from Millhouse Farm, cucumbers and courgettes from Joe Kelly, the first new season Irish potatoes are arriving from John Larkin this week too and much more.   It is a double downturn for us, as our costs go up and our sales go down. Anybody will tell you this is not a good way to run a business.   So, as we head into the season, I would ask you to please if you have not restarted ordering with us again if you can at all to please do so. Or if there is any way you could tell a friend, or maybe set up a repeat subscription for the weeks you are here, or order a charity box, or bring your order with you if you are holidaying in Ireland then that would and does make a massive difference. 
It keeps us viable; Instead of buying your produce in the supermarket, can you support us instead? It keeps the very best healthiest food on your table. Our team in customer service are on hand to answer all your questions 9am – 3.30pm, 5 days per week and they are more than happy to help in any way they can.   So, this is a plea, a plea to ask you to order next week if you can, if you haven’t come back to us yet and you can now it would make a massive difference.
As always thank you for your support. Kenneth   PS  Check out our IRISH SECTION HERE

And a Garda knocked on our door…

by Kenneth Keavey

Imagine it was less than 20 years ago when somebody erecting a polytunnel in the west of Ireland was looked upon with mild suspicion.

Or so it seemed as we were eating our dinner one night and we had a visit from the local Garda: “what are you growing out there?” “Do you mind if I take a look around?” he was of course referring to the polytunnel. I am sure the pepper and aubergine plants and even the tomatoes would have looked foreign to him, and of course they would have. Where else would you see these plants growing, certainly not in the West of Ireland, not since the supermarkets stepped in and went on a rampage of destroying our industry. Anyway, we showed him around and alleviated whatever concerns he may have had…. If you would like to listen to my little story this week from one of our fields CLICK HERE!
The second interesting occurrence, well to be fair there were many on this journey, but on this instance again it was a recommendation by a well-meaning neighbour. He could not believe, just could not get his head around, why we were not using Roundup and his advice was “just a touch of Roundup, here and there will sort you out”. Well, that was never going to happen, there is little doubt though considering we were fighting with a field covered in “scutch grass” that it would have made our lives so much easier. 
It is hard to fathom how the discovery of Roundup revolutionised farming, it found its way into every aspect of farming, from grass reseeding to tillage to horticulture and to many older farmers it must have seemed like a miracle.   All that hard work of weed control was suddenly controlled out of a can, it was easy and it was safe they were told.  It was like the iphone of weed control, it really did change everything. Or maybe a more likely analogy would be the heroin of the drug world. Because once farmers started using it, there was no going back, and whole systems were established around its use. You had to keep using. And of course, people then forgot that there were once other ways and we were not always reliant on an armoury of chemicals to mark our stamp of control on the natural world to grow our food.
Never mind the bees, or the insects, or the myriads of plants that support life, all of that was cleared away in the name of a new efficient chemical controlled system. So that is where we are today, that is our food system, and the precarious nature of this production is never really revealed. It doesn’t take much to mess up our food supply. Roundup for all its perceived benefits has bred even here in Ireland super weeds that cannot be controlled and are more rampant, they have evolved to not be susceptible to the chemical anymore. 
Anyway, I think of that Garda sometimes, and I think of all the good things, and all the positive change that has occurred and all of the support, and all of the awareness that you good people have and I feel in earnest that things have improved. Nobody looks with suspicion anymore, I think in fact more and more people understand that relationship between our food, our planet and our health. They are all interlinked. Afterall, we have only one life, one body, one planet, one shot at doing things right, and don’t we owe it to our selves to take care of it all, and if we do one thing isn’t it worth leaving the world just a little better each day by the actions we take.
Not saying it’s easy, or we get it right all the time, but that is what we try and put into action every day.
Thank you for your support.
Kenneth PS We are seeing our orders drop as the summer kicks in, if you can at all don’t forget about us, now we are getting right into the the very best Irish product of the season, we will be harvesting broccoli at the end of next week, and hopefully the first of our own tomatoes. Check out our IRISH SECTION HERE