Hot Cross Cookies

by Lou Robbie

I honesty don’t remember any special Easter baking recipes from my childhood in Tipperary. As kids we were too consumed with the thoughts of getting an easter egg to think about what was being baked. My mother would usually bake her famous apple tart and a giant pavlova to have on Easter Sunday after dinner.

I was much older when I learned about hot cross buns at Easter time. They have been baked for centuries across Europe to symbolise the Christianity and Jesus on the cross.

This is a twist on the cinnamon and yeast bun. It’s a lot quicker to make and like the bun uses spice, dried fruit, orange zest and of course the signature cross too.

Pick up most of what you need in our groceries.

Let us know if you make these.

Lou 🙂

Ingredients: makes 10

For the icing:

  • 50g icing sugar
  • 2 teaspoons boiling water

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven 180ºc. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
  2. To a mixing bowl add the butter and beat for a minute to soften it, use an electric beater or wooden spoon.
  3. Add in the sugar and beat for a further few minutes and then beat in the eggs.
  4. Pour in the oats next and sieve in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, mixed spice stir in the chopped date and orange zest.
  5. Stir and mix all the ingredients together until a large dough forms.
  6. Scoop or spoon onto the baking tray, push down to form round cookie shapes.
  7. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until nice and golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
  8. To make the icing mix the icing sugar with 2 teaspoons of boiling water until you have a thick paste. Transfer to a piping bag or a zip lock bag leave to cool for 5 minutes then snip off the corner and pipe a cross onto the cooled cookies.
  9. Enjoy with big glasses of milk and mugs of tea.

Loss leaders and multitasking

by Kenneth Keavey

I am sitting here on our tractor at the bottom of the farm as I write. The tractor ironically being the noisy beast it is, is a great place to find peace. There is something highly satisfying about tilling the land.

As much as there is a business to be managed, the luxury of being in the field at least on occasion is something that really grounds and reconnects a person to nature. Whilst margins and spreadsheets and efficiency ratios are all important all of these things can sometimes cloud the real reason of why it is we do what we do.

Don’t pay enough attention to those variables of course and the tiling of the land is nothing but an idle dream. Pay too much attention and you run the risk of getting lost and losing track of “The why”. It was brought to our attention last week by ‘the traveling stoic’ on Instagram that ‘the restrictive practices order 1987 prohibits the sale of grocery products at below net invoice price’ but this law does not include fresh produce! It is deemed permissible to allow loss leading on all things fresh, and that includes you may be surprised to learn not only fruit and vegetables, but also milk, meat, and fish.

All our primary producers are essentially being told: ‘We don’t value what you do and we will sell your produce for less than the price of production.’ This is upsetting on a number of levels, but especially when you consider the time, energy and care each producer puts into their produce. It is demoralising and financially unsustainable. We know we cannot possibly compete with supermarkets.

As I was writing this on my phone, for some mad reason spell check but in ‘cartels’! maybe that is a more apt description of these institutions!Supermarkets can afford to squeeze the producers, they have all the power, they can dictate terms. This approach has led to more and more growers saying enough is enough, and sometimes over the seemingly paltry sum of 5c per piece.

That is a sad situation. Those skills especially when it comes to vegetables as there are fewer and fewer of us are gone for ever. Many moons ago we decided that we would quit supplying supermarkets for good. It was a decision taken in the heat of the moment, which usually are very poor decisions indeed. We were told one Monday morning that unless we reduced our pricing and became responsible for the waste in their stores we should look elsewhere for custom.

I can’t say here what I said then, but we never supplied those supermarkets again. It was rash, but it meant we doubled our efforts at making a successful business of growing our own food and supporting other Irish growers and delivering direct to you, our customers.

We, only with your help are still here today 18 years later and we are thankful for that. I think Emmanuel (our farm manager) may be getting a little concerned now, not having seen our tractor move for some time. Writing and tiling are very difficult endeavours to multitask at! So, I think it’s time to put the phone down and get back to it.

Until next week thanks for your support.

Kenneth

Fabulous bakes recipe roundup

by Simone Kelly

This one is for all you bakers out there. And for not-yet bakers that want to give it a try because, honestly, these recipes are super easy and delicious, anyone can make them! Go on, go on, go on…

From baked oats for breakfast to flapjack snacks to afternoon cakes to dessert, we’ve got it all.

What are you going to bake first?

Enjoy x

2 Ingredient Chocolate Mousse (Chocolate & Butternut Squash)

by Lou Robbie

Chocolate mousse with hidden butternut squash, we couldn’t wait to try this one!! An indulgent chocolate mousse that is made mostly of healthy stuff sounds too good to be true.

This one pass the test with my kids and the butternut squash went undetected! The mouse is delicious on its own but if you want to give it a lighter texture try folding whipped cream through it, this is how I served it to my kids.

TIP: For a really tasty mousse its important to use a good quality chocolate.

Will you try it?

Lou 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 700g raw butternut squash – peeled and cubed
  • 400g good quality chocolate, chopped (you can use your favourite milk or dark chocolate)
  • Serve with a dusting of cacoa powder, whipped cream or cremé fraichê and toasted hazelnuts or almonds, banana or raspberries would be delicious too

Method:

  1. Peel, deseed and cube the butternut squash. Put it in a medium sized pot cover with cold water. Put on the hob, bring to a simmer and cook until completely soft, 20-30 mins.
  2. Melt the chocolate in a microwave or on a double boiler on the hob.
  3. When the butternut squash is cooked, strain and add to a blender along with the melted chocolate.
  4. Blend until silky smooth.
  5. Pour into a large bowl or individual bowls. Leave to cool on the worktop then transfer to the fridge to set for at least 4 hours, overnight if possible.
  6. Dust with cocoa powder and serve!

A funny story about a lorry and a field

by Kenneth Keavey

Four Guinness Barrels and some scaffolding planks, that was our first makeshift packing table. My dad myself and Jenny used to pack all the boxes and then load them into the back of our small Peugeot partner van. I would head out do the deliveries and the packing week would end with a bottle of wine at about 12am on a Wednesday night, all deliveries done.

Life seemed Simpler then, but our mind often plays tricks on us, remembering the sunshine and forgetting the rain: who remembers summers that were hotter drier and longer when we were kids? (Or were they?).  There was little money for anything, we made do with whatever we had. Jenny was working full time and that was our income.

Our packing week may have finished on Wednesday, but the working week never actually finished. We didn’t have the luxury of somebody to look after quality or packing or the farm, it was all done by us. Now we have great people doing amazing work, the care that goes into the packing each one of your orders certainly puts my early days of packing to shame.

I remember those days of not having a cold room to store our produce and of going out to the local pub carpark to meet the trucks to hand ball and unload some of our bought in produce.

There was one very funny, (well funny now, not funny then) incident where an artic truck came onto our farm, despite insistent communication that there was no way to turn a truck of that size. As I was eating my dinner one evening there was this giant truck parked right outside our house and the delivery driver waving in at me!

The driver decided on his own initiative to turn in our front field, needless to say this monstrous truck got stuck in the muck. Luckily through the kindness and help of two neighbours with very big tractors did we manage to get the truck out of that field.

These were the trials and tribulations of starting out in farming and business and making it up as we went along. But when all was said and done, we did what we did because we wanted to produce and sell sustainable food grown without chemicals, we wanted to do it whilst respecting nature and biodiversity and doing what we could for our planet in our own little corner of the world.

We did that and planted trees and hedgerows and food and got through those first few tough years. It struck me as the bean counters were totting up the figures for last year that although we are bigger now, we are back to the point of having to make difficult decisions to ensure we keep the farm and business afloat.

As Teagasc published another report detailing the pressures facing primary vegetable producers this week, with some farms closing their doors for good, and the amount of land area being farmed for vegetables decreasing due to the financial strain, it makes me wonder when will the value in good healthy fresh food be realised. When will the devaluation of fresh food by supermarkets end, when will they see the “value” rather than the “cost” in healthy fresh food.

As we look to the year ahead there is uncertainty. We are not sure what is to come, nobody is. This is our first ‘normal’ year in three years and for a business and farm it is hard to know what will be thrown at us, but whatever happens we will never compromise on our values.

Thank you for your support.

Kenneth

Cauliflower recipe roundup

by Simone Kelly

Cauliflower doesn’t just taste great, it’s also really good for you. It’s high in vitamins C and K, and is also a good source of folate, which supports cell growth and is essential during pregnancy. On top of that, it’s high in fiber, calcium and potassium.

Here are a few ideas if you’re unsure what to cook with cauliflower. Click on the bold part to go straight to the recipe.

enjoy x

Solidarity

by Kenneth Keavey

We all like to feel that we belong to something. At the very least we are all members of the human race, we have a nationality, we are from this county or that. There is of course much more to it than that, and on this day of all days, it seems relevant and right to speak about it.

The great Irish green wave can be seen far and wide on St Patrick’s day, a day when we celebrate being Irish and there are many things to celebrate, and food is certainly one of them.

Ireland is a nation of food producers; you would be forgiven then for asking the question why is it we import more than 70% of our vegetables. There are some pragmatic reasons for this. Next week we will come to the end of our Irish carrots, and we must import to fill the gap, the season is over. Seasonality is a major factor in supply. But when in season there should be no reason not to source Irish vegetables.

The Irish organic vegetable sector is a small niche within the overall Irish vegetable sector, which in itself is small. But there is something that makes the Irish organic sector special.

In my experience the Irish organic vegetable growers that I know are doing what they are doing because they believe in a better food system. They have no interest in putting chemicals on our food, they are interested and actively looking to improve conditions that help biodiversity thrive.  They plant trees, they manage and look after their soil, they are interested in protecting our planet and ensuring that they are doing what they can to mitigate climate change and finally they all want to produce healthy happy food. This I think is a shared and common belief.

Because when it comes down to it, why on earth would anybody start growing vegetables on a small scale in Ireland? Why, when it is impossible to compete with supermarket prices, when it is hard work for little return, there must be a bigger guiding principle.

These growers are opting to take the path less travelled because they believe it is the right thing to do.

The same could be said for you, you may be sitting at home or in your car or wherever you are reading this, you too are choosing a different path. We know it is more convenient to pick up your produce in the supermarket, we know you take the time and make the effort to read our little posts and order from us, some weeks, every week or once in a while.  This makes you part of a community of people that are taking action and making positive changes for our planet, because you value biodiversity and you value eating healthy food.

Earlier this year we planned out our farm, and I wrote about how we have cut back on growing certain crops.  We have passed on the responsibility for producing these crops to others organic growers here in Ireland, we know too that they share our values. At the time this was a difficult decision but now as I look at this in a new light I realise that in essence we are stronger together and that hopefully this small step will lead to a better stronger more resilient Irish organic vegetable sector.

So for the day that is in it, I would like to raise a glass to you for your continued and appreciated support, and to all the other Irish organic vegetables farmers out there, grappling with exactly the same challenges as us, we are all in it together!

Here’s to a greener future!

Kenneth

Swede recipe roundup

by Simone Kelly

A beautiful winter root vegetable, yet often overlooked – the humble Swede! Swedes are an excellent source of potassium, calcium, magnesium, and vitamins E and C. They also contain a moderate amount of folate, a B vitamin that’s important for metabolism, protein synthesis, and DNA replication. So they’re not just versatile and tasty, but really good for you! We grow swede each year right here on our farm, from seed. It’s beautiful to see them grow.

Here’s our Swede recipes – klick on the bold parts to get directly to the recipe page.

Enjoy x

Spinach and Banana Pancakes

by Lou Robbie

St Patricks day is around the corner and we are very excited to cook and bake with all things green to celebrate! Spinach is a super food in so many ways. Great for fibre, vitamins K, C, A, iron and lots lots more. The flavour of baby spinach is subtle enough that it can be used in sweet recipes too and its perfect partner is the dominant flavour of a banana!

Tip: Use a powerful blender to mix the spinach along with the wet ingredients and you’ll get this lovely vibrant green colour through the pancakes.

We stock all the fresh and dry ingredients you need to make these fun green pancakes!

Lou 🙂

Ingredients:

Method:

  1. Tip the cup of spinach into a blender along with the banana, egg, plain yoghurt, milk and blend until really smooth and bright green.
  2. Sieve the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and sugar into a mixing bowl. Mix really well with a spoon.
  3. Pour in the green liquid mix and gently stir the batter until no flour remains.
  4. Warm a frying pan on a medium heat and lightly oil.
  5. Add 2 dessert spoons of batter per pancake to the frying pan and use the back of the spoon to make them round. Cook 3-4 pancakes at a time if they fit on the pan.
  6. Cook until little bubbles appear then flip and cook for a further minute or two until cooked through.
  7. Serve warm with your favourite toppings .

Air Fryer Croutons 3 ways

by Lou Robbie

Bread is Irelands most wasted food with 40% of households saying old bread makes it way to the bin. There are a few nifty thrifty ways to use up old bread and give it a new lease of life. There is “Less Waste and More Taste” with these homemade croutons in 3 different flavours (herb, chilli and curry) that go deliciously well with soup in winter and salads in the summer.

I joined the air fryer community a few months ago and I have to say making a batch of croutons in the air fryer with old cubed bread is a cinch and very satisfying. Raid the spice rack and add some exciting flavours while you’re at it. If you don’t have an air fryer just toast the bread in the oven.

Tip: Old bread works best for croutons. Cut the pieces of bread into roughly the same sized cubes for even cooking.

My young kids adore these with their soup…and we munch and crunch on them chat about which flavour we like best.

Lou 🙂

Ingredients: makes 3 different flavours and 3 small bowls

  • 6 slices old bread – white slice pan/ sour dough/ batch loaf/ GF whatever you have
  • 1-2 tsp dried mixed herbs
  • 1 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1-2 tsp curry powder
  • cooking oil
  • salt and pepper optional

Method:

  1. For the herby croutons: Slice and cube 2 slices of bread and add them to a mixing bowl.
  2. Sprinkle in the dried mixed herbs and mix, add a drizzle of oil to coat season with a small pinch of salt and pepper if you wish. Toss the croutons to coat in the oil.
  3. Pour the cubed bread into the air fryer basket.
  4. Air fry at 180ºC for 8-10 minutes shaking half way through.
  5. You can toast the croutons in the oven -Preheat your oven 180ºC, put the bread cubes on a baking tray and bake them in the oven for 20 minutes, check and shake half way through.
  6. The croutons should be evenly toasted and brown all over.

For chilli croutons: Repeat the method above but for step 2 instead of dried mixed herbs add paprika and chilli flakes.

For curry croutons: Repeat the method above but for step 2 instead of dried mixed herbs add curry powder.