Homemade pickles are lovely to make. This is a great one if your a beginner. It doesn’t make a massive amount just enough to get you started on your pickling journey. Pickles are sweet and sour and go great with sharp cheese or deep rich tomato sauces or slow cooked bean stews. It adds a pop of zing and excitement!
Pickling is a great way to preserve vegetables for the winter, this pickle will keep for up to 1 month in the fridge. It’s also a nice gift for a friend.
Step 1: Using a peeler, peel lengthways to make ribbons with the courgette and the carrots. When you get to the point where the vegetable is tricky to peel you can stop and use these bits for soup. Put all the courgette and carrot ribbons into a sterilised jar.
Step 2: Make the pickle liquid. Add the vinegar, sugar, turmeric, mustard seeds, bay leaf to a small pot. Warm on the hob until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool. Once cool pour into the jar. If the liquid does not cover the vegetables add some water. Seal the jar and store in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.
Warm baked oats on an autumn morning are a real treat. We’ve added chocolate for extra indulgence and they are just lovely with baked bananas and sticky dates.
Porridge oats are a great start to the day, they are a great source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. We love to add chopped dates to add fibre and natural sweetness.
My kids just love these baked oat pot and top them with yoghurt for an extra serving of protein.
Step 1: Preheat the oven. Put 3 ceramic pots on a baking tray. Or use a lined and greased loaf tin.
Step 2: To a blender add the oats, cocoa powder, dates, 1 banana, milk, egg, baking powder. Blend until smooth.
Step 3: Add a spoon of the mix to each pot, then top with half the chopped chocolate. Spoon the rest on top and sprinkle the remaining chocolate and a slice of banana to each pot. Bake for 20 minutes.
First prize in the Galway honey competition, what a fantastic result and testament to the amazing work of Gerry who looks after the bees who have been residents on our farm for close to 10 years now.
Gerry has a deep understanding and respect for the bees and is constantly checking in to make sure they are alright and by all accounts they are certainly that! In fact, they are a level of magnitude above alright.
A couple of weeks back while having a chat with Gerry he mentioned that out of the 6 apiaries under his supervision the hives on our farm are producing 3 times the amount of honey compared with the others!
We all know we need to look after our pollinators without them the world would be a very different place, our apple trees, the courgettes, tomatoes, cucumbers and many other flowering plants rely on our flying friends to produce food. So, it’s only right we keep an eye on their welfare too.
It seems that the wildflowers and the weeds and the general high level of biodiversity on our farm has had a very positive impact on bees and the honey they make. A great example of a healthy environment leading to healthy food. The honey was judged on colour, texture and flavour.
This year though the impact of a changing climate has had a negative effect on the bees and the professional judges all said the same thing, in show after show there was a lack of honey due to the wettest July ever recorded.
Gerry and the bees did extremely well, but we won’t be handing out little mini trophies to all the queen bees on our farm just yet though, as it seems there was one rogue amongst all the hard workers.
One of the queen bees turned rogue. Apparently, it does happen and when it does it is not at all pleasant. For some reason one of the queens became extremely aggressive and as a result the whole hive followed suit. It really wasn’t nice, these bees were chasing people out of the fields, and Emmanuel and his farm team were stung on multiple occasions and as a result the harvest had to start before the bees came out!
Gerry stepped in and removed the rogue queen and rehoused her to a far way bog where hopefully she will live out a long angry life away from human beings!
The amazing thing is once the belligerent queen was removed everything settled down almost immediately, seems all groups are the same…..
I am delighted that the judges held Gerry’s honey in such high regard and I am also delighted to have nice calm bees back buzzing around again and that our nearly always happy bees are happy again.
Kenneth
PS We are seeing the change now in the weather and are moving more heartily into the autumnal crops, you will see our first harvest of parsnips fresh from the fields, and we are excited about the first main crop floury potatoes coming soon, lots of cauliflower and broccoli too, as always thank you for your support.
We love these fritters! In fact I made them twice at the Farm Walk and I was asked for the full recipe so here it is. This is especially for Kenneths mother Maureen, who I promised I would share this, so she can make them at home herself.
This September we are making a conscious decision to eat more Irish produce, the carrots and courgettes are from the farm. While the other ingredients are from further afield we are happy knowing that these came from Irish soil. And I tell my kids that when we eat these fritters. Oh and my daughter had these in her lunchbox for school and loved them.
Step 1: Using a machine or box grater, grate the courgette, carrot, sweet potato and red onion, mix well.
Step 2: In a separate bowl add the chickpea flour, curry powder, chilli flakes, salt and pepper, mix well.
Step 3: Pour the seasoned chickpea flour all over the grated veggies and using you hands mix really well, this will take a few minutes. Really give it a good squeeze and work it almost like a dough. The liquid from the veg will help to form a batter with the flour.
Step 4: Warm a frying pan on a medium heat, add tablespoon of oil. Shape the mix into small patties fry for a couple of minutes, flip and fry again until cooked through. Transfer to a wire rack and repeat.
We love baking with sweet organic Irish eating apples. And this simple tart is just fabulous and easy and incredibly tasty and it will feed a crowd just add cream or ice cream. Ready rolled puff pastry is very handy to use and gives a crispy base that goes so well with the almond frangipane layer with thinly sliced apples on top.
This tart gives a thin layer of frangipane if you like lots, then double the ingredients below.
We’d love to hear from you, will you try it? Let us know in the comments below.
Lou
Ingredients: makes 15 slices
1 sheet of fresh ready rolled puff pastry, 375g approx
Step 1: Preheat the oven 180ºC. Then start by making the frangipane. Beat the soft butter with the caster sugar, then beat in the egg. Use an electric hand mixer if you have one or a wooden spoon will do. Then fold in the ground almonds, plain flour and vanilla extract. Put the bowl in the fridge to chill.
Step 2: Meanwhile, peel, core and finely slice the apples into a half moon shape.
Step 3: Unroll the pastry and lay it on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Lightly score a 1.5 cm frame around the pastry. The spread the frangipane mix evenly inside the frame. Lay the apple pieces in lines on top. Brush with the melted butter and scatter the brown sugar on top.
Step 4: Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden. Cool then dust with icing sugar and serve.
This is a super economical dish that is nutritious, tasty and so easy to make. A great tip, I learned from a great chef, is to cook the lentils in a separate pot, strain and add them to the cooked curried sauce. This way the lentils cook quickly and evenly. More details in the recipe below.
We’d love you to try our easy basic dahl recipe and roast up some seasonal veg to add to it. You could add roasted carrots, parsnips, celeriac, beetroot, chard, spinach basically anything you fancy. We’ve used gorgeous iron rich broccoli and kale fresh from our farm.
Step 1: Begin by cooking the lentils. Add them to a pot, rinse with cold water a few times to remove and dirt, discard the water. Then cover with fresh water add the turmeric and salt. Bring to a simmer on the hob and cook for about 20 minutes or until the lentils are completely soft. Stir a few times while they cook. Then strain and set aside.
Step 2: While the lentils cook start the sauce. Add the oil to a wide pot along with the onions, garlic and ginger, cook on low for 5-10 minutes until the onions are soft, put a lid on if you have one. Then tip in the spices, the curry powder, garam masala, chilli flakes, salt, bay leaf and brown sugar. Stir to coat and toast for a few minutes.
Step 3: Pour in the tinned tomatoes, add some water to the tin and swirl it into the pot and let the sauce cook on low for 10 minutes. Then add the cooked lentils stir and cook for a further 10 minutes.
Step 4: While the sauce cooks make chop the broccoli and roast it in the oven at 170ºc for 15 minutes or air fry 170ºc for 15 minutes. Finely chop the kale.
Step 5: When the dahl is cooked taste it, add more salt and pepper if needed. Stir in the roasted broccoli and chopped kale.
We had the final farm walk of the season last Saturday. Thank you to all who came, we were blown away by the turn out. The day smiled on us too it was dry and warm and even George and Florence played their part well!
This year has been as all years are when it comes to growing and selling food in the current climate: a challenging one. Saturday helped me remember why it is we do what we do. I heard first hand, some honest and deep levels of appreciation, stories of customers that have been ordering from us for over 10 years of others who value the ethos of the business, others who were delighted to discover our farm shop tucked away here in the Galway countryside and others who just truly enjoyed the lovely organic tomatoes they got to pick in our tunnels.
I heard too an appreciation for how our planet, our environment and how we produce our food are interlinked, and how now more than ever our food system needs to change for the sake of our planet. We don’t have the deep pockets of the supermarkets and it is hard to compete in a landscape dominated by these corporations that control the gates to our food system.
As gatekeepers they control how much producers are paid, and they continue to devalue and ‘loss lead’ with fresh produce. We do the best we can, but growing, packing, and delivering food (all done as sustainably as is possible) to people’s doors is an expensive business. We cannot compete with celery for 49c. But critically as consumers we need to have the option to choose food that is grown sustainably, now more than ever before, and we as growers and sellers need the breathing space to be able to survive and dare I say it, thrive, to develop truly sustainable farms and food businesses. Here are 5 reasons why:
Preserving our planet: Organic farming practices are a breath of fresh air for our planet. By avoiding synthetic chemicals, we protect soil health, promote biodiversity, and reduce water pollution.
Tasting the difference: Take one bite of a local organic carrot, and you’ll understand.
Supporting local communities: Organic farming often prioritizes small-scale, family-owned operations, which helps create jobs and strengthens local economies. By choosing organic, we’re investing in a greener, fairer future for everyone.
Protecting future generations: Organic farming practices help preserve fertile soil and protect biodiversity, ensuring that future generations can continue to enjoy our planet.
Indeed as Gandhi said ‘To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves’
The feedback from you our customers brought me back to my roots and reminded me that maybe we are on the right track and that we must continue to fight for our health and the health of the planet. Thank you so much to those of you who said thank you, it is appreciated and makes a difference. It also reaffirmed my belief that we are not alone and there are many out there who care about how our food is grown and the affect it has on our planet.
You are the very ones that are changing the world.
Thank you.
Kenneth
PS A big thank you to the two ladies from St Vincent De Paul who came to the farm walk to say thank you for all the food donations. They told me how the fresh food that we deliver to them each week is making a massive difference to families who otherwise would not be able to afford fresh local food. So a massive thank you to all our customers who have chosen a “Charity box” you can rest assured that it is being put to very good use.
Need an incredible tomato sauce? Just 4 ingredients needed for this deep, sweet, intense sauce. We grow the sweetest cherry tomatoes in the summertime. During peak season the vines are heaving with juicy fruit just waiting to be picked, packed and delivered to homes all over Ireland. And while we can’t grow them in the colder Irish months we can find ways to preserve them just like this simple recipe that only requires a few ingredients.
The joy of pulling your own organic tomato sauce from the freezer is truly satisfying. And the sweetness remains to add to your stews, soups and sauces all through the winter.
This recipe could not be easier, we hope you try it.
Lou 🙂
Ingredients: makes 1kg of sauce (1 big jar or 4 small jars)
Step 1: Preheat the oven 200ºC. Have 2 large baking trays ready to go.
Step 2: Wash the cherry tomatoes and discard the green stems. cut in half, place them on the trays cut side up.
Step 3: Drizzle with a small bit of oil, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes, until they are soft and char around the edges.
Step 4: Scoop into a blender and blend until the desired consistency. Keep it chunky or smooth if you prefer.
Step 5: While warm pour into freezer safe jars or containers. Date and label for the freezer.
Defrost your preserved homemade organic roast tomato sauce in the winter months, when fresh ones are not available. Use it for soups, sauces, stews and more.
I remember as a child picking peas in my grandad’s garden. He had apple trees, he grew his own veg. I remember sitting on his lap drinking a mug of turnip juice, (I can’t imagine trying to get my kids to do that today!) most of the food was grown on his farm. (Photo: backfired, me trying to feed my daughter broccoli many moons ago!)
Things have changed so much in a generation.
When was the last time you tasted a freshly harvested carrot, can you remember what it should taste like? There can be such pleasure in the simple foods, and there are of course remarkable ways to cook these amazing seasonal gems.
September is a month of local seasonal plenty. The tomato season is still in full swing still, and there is a myriad of great Irish vegetables available, courgettes, leeks, swedes, cabbage, scallions, kales, beetroot, broccoli and so much more.
As an organic farmer, the arrival of September allows a sigh of relief. The relentless pressure of the summer is finally winding down and we are settling into a routine of harvest.
The trees are starting to turn, the wild-flowers have gone to seed, the hedgerows are full of berries, the bees are slowing down too, even the birds are relaxing a little, everything seems to slow down. Something we could all do a little bit more of.
September too can be a time for reflection. As a farmer the simple things like tree planting, growing hedgerows and leaving wild patches can give immense pleasure. This is easy stuff that pays the most amazing dividends for the person and the planet, but in modern food systems it is often dismissed as non sensical and left to one side in favour of production. The irony of course is that food production is facilitated and improved by all these positive things.
Cheap food has a price and a story. The real stories are hidden behind the glitzy shiny wrappers, there is always a story, a story of environmental or human exploitation.
The truth ironically can be hard to swallow, but it doesn’t have to be like this.
There are amazing and positive alternatives. Our parents chose well, they ate seasonally and locally, they ate less meat. Who doesn’t remember cabbage and turnip and the endless ways to cook potatoes!
We have more power than we realise.
We choose our phones, our clothes, our cars, our jobs, and yet our food and our planet can be relegated to the bottom of the decision pile if they are thought about at all. Time is short we are all busy but maybe just maybe they deserve a little more consideration because our choices matter a lot and when it comes to our food positive choices will improve our health and the health of our planet.
What we eat and how our food is produced can literally change the world.
