Unsustainable Supermarkets

by Liz Child

The word ‘sustainable’ doesn’t just refer to environmental issues, it can refer to anything and means ‘something that is able to be maintained at a certain level’, like matters of economy and food security. So when we say ‘supermarkets are unsustainable’ we are not just talking about their over-use of plastic or their mountains of food waste, we are also talking about the way they source their products and pay their suppliers.

It has recently come to light here in Ireland, (read this article for the facts and figures) that local vegetable growers are being squeezed from all sides, so much so that many vegetable farmers in Ireland are forced to quit. Supermarkets demand lower and lower prices and present vegetables as ‘low value’ with ridiculous discounted prices (which, understandably, customers then begin to see as the norm which perpetuates the problem), and yet farming costs go up and up. It is unsustainable. Where will this leave us in the long term? Will there be no more Irish vegetables soon?

You know something is not right when it is cheaper to put potatoes, cabbages, onions, tomatoes, lettuce etc, all things that grow very well here, on a ship or an aeroplane and bring it over to Ireland than to just grow it here and pay Irish farmers enough to cover their costs. Now, just 1% of all farms in Ireland grow vegetables.

This is not to say importing is wrong. We love to trade with the world, who doesn’t love exotic fruit, tea, coffee, chocolate, olive oil, wine…? In fact, even here in Galway, our small business imports plenty of products and fresh produce ourselves to fill the gaps in your boxes (by the way, we never use airfreight). But when there is an Irish, organic option, even if it is more expensive, we always choose that. We grow as much as we possibly can ourselves, then source from other Irish organic farms, then import the rest. We would love to see more organic vegetable growers here in Ireland.

So what’s the solution? Do we just give up trying to produce vegetables here in Ireland? Do we rely solely on imports? Well, with food security issues being what they are at the moment, we believe that would be a very unwise decision. Not to mention missing out on the many benefits of buying local. One way to help is to buy Irish as much as possible. If you must go to a supermarket, spend a few extra cents getting the Irish option, otherwise we urge you to skip unsustainable supermarkets altogether and buy directly from farmers, farmers markets and veg box delivery schemes like ours. The future of food here in Ireland depends on it.

Have a look at our all-Irish selection here.

Fluffy Broccoli ‘Omelette’

by Liz Child

Another recipe inspired by Ukrainian chef Olia Hercules, is this delicious, veg-forward breakfast. I LOVE having lots of vegetables for breakfast. Sautéed mushrooms, kale, and tomatoes on toast is probably my favourite. So when I re-visited ‘Summer Kitchens’, one of Olia’s brilliant books, and saw this puffed broccoli omelette I knew I had to make a plant based twist.

We have just added chickpea flour to our grocery section. It’s one of my favourite pantry ingredients, so useful for making fritters, socca bread, bhajis, vegan tortillas or quiches and egg free omelettes. To make it puffy, I just used bread soda activated with some apple cider vinegar. The results were delicious and I’ll be recreating this veggie breakfast over and over again using different seasonal vegetables. Of course it would be wonderful with our purple sprouting broccoli and I’m going to use leeks next time for sure! Don’t forget to tag us in your re-creations, we love to see the spin you put on our recipes.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 1/2 mug of gram flour
  • 1/2 mug of water
  • 1 tsp vinegar
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • black pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • sliced broccoli to cover frying pan
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Start with the batter. The longer the chickpea flour has to re-hydrate, the better texture – you could even make the batter the night before and leave it covered overnight at room temperature to lightly ferment. Whisk together the flour, water, vinegar, salt and pepper. Wait to add the baking soda just before frying.
  2. In a frying pan which has a lid, fry the broccoli with the olive oil, salt and pepper until just starting to take on some colour. Then spread the broccoli evenly over the base of the pan and turn the heat down to medium.
  3. Add the baking soda to the chickpea flour batter and whisk it in – the batter should immediately start to fluff up. Quickly pour it over the broccoli and put the lid on the frying pan. This will ensure a crispy bottom and a fluffy, steamed top to your omelette.
  4. After 3-5 minutes or so, the batter should be cooked through. You can test it by touching the top of the omelette, your finger should come off dry without batter.
  5. Slice it into wedges and serve warm. It’s delicious with some juicy sliced tomatoes alongside too.

Beetroot & Tofu-Ricotta Ravioli

by Liz Child

Wouldn’t this pretty pasta be perfect for Mother’s Day? It takes a little more effort than our usual recipes but the ingredients are few, simple and affordable (using our ingredients at the time of writing this blog, this cost €5.64 to make 30 pieces).

Liz x

Ingredients (makes around 30)


~ pasta
• 300g fine flour
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 150ml water
• parsley leaves

~ beetroot tofu-ricotta
• 200g extra firm tofu
• 1 small cooked beetroot
• 1 clove of garlic
• the juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 tbsp olive oil

~ 1/2 jar of pesto to serve

Method

  1. Mix the pasta ingredients (except the parsley) into a shaggy, quite dry dough then knead it very well into a firm, smooth dough. This should take around 10 minutes of kneading. If your dough is too dry, wet your hands occasionally whilst kneading to incorporate just a little extra water. Rest the ball of dough in a bowl covered tightly with a damp tea towel.
  2. Blend all the beetroot ricotta ingredients until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed with more salt or lemon.
  3. Roll your pasta dough out on a lightly floured surface. Once you have a large oval/rectangle, arrange some parsley leaves on one half and fold the pasta over. Now roll again into a very long strip, just over double the width of the size you want your ravioli. Get it as thin as you can – you should be able to read a paper through it.
  4. Space teaspoons of the pink ricotta along one side, wet the other side to help it stick, then carefully fold the pasta over the ricotta blobs and use your fingers to seal around each one. Use a knife or pasta wheel to cut the ravioli and save any off-cuts, they are just as delicious!
  5. Drop the fresh ravioli and off-cuts into boiling water, cook until soft but still with bite (around 3 minutes or so – test an off-cut) then scoop out with a slotted spoon, dress with pesto and serve!

New Beginnings

by Kenneth Keavey

A sense of possibility and new beginnings is naturally in the air in Spring. On the farm, maybe it is the start of the new plant and seed arrivals that kindles this feeling, there is a sense that we can do things better this year, that we will try a little harder to get things right, that all will be well in the end.

Nature is waking up, the birds are singing, the daffodils are blooming, the new leaves are beginning to unfurl on the trees. The extra daylight means that life cycles are changing and growth increasing, it is a natural rhythm, and it resonates on a subconscious level if you let it.

Even our lovely new season salad is responding well to the extra light, and we will be harvesting our first crop of the new season next week.

The sun is higher in the sky and on clear days you can feel the first tendrils of warmth, there is more power too in its rays, the plants respond to it, we respond to it and the solar panels on our shed respond to it!

Frequently now we can see plants growing, hear the birds singing and the insects buzzing well before it is time. This can be symbolic of a world out of sync and it has ramifications for all living systems.

Planning a season of vegetable growing on the farm becomes more of a gamble as the natural order we rely on can change unpredictably and dramatically.

The change in our weather is a complex global problem, and the solutions too will necessitate change on a global level. But maybe the solutions are also simpler that we think, down at the level of you and I there is much that can be done.

Sometimes it seems to me that simple, traditional solutions can be overlooked. Planting trees is one of the simplest ways to help redress the balance, something we have done quite a bit of over the last number of years.

By supporting local food growers like us and the range of other growers we source from, you too are doing your bit to tackle the climate crisis.

The prediction of the weather for the year ahead was often associated with a saying closely tied to trees:

“Ash before oak you are in for a soak, oak before ash you are in for a splash”.

We are watching this closely, as yet there is no news… Nevertheless, if living and farming in the west of Ireland has taught me one thing it is that the weather is unpredictable it changes fast and sometimes when you least expect it, it surprises you.

Kenneth

PS Thanks, to your generosity over the last two weeks in donating to the Ukraine crisis. We will announce the final figure next week, but currently we have raised with your help just over €4500 for the Ukraine appeal. Thank you so much.

3 Ways to Honour Mother Earth this Mother’s Day

by Liz Child

Mother’s Day is coming up and I’m very excited to receive my homemade cards, breakfast in bed and I’ve got my fingers crossed for some of these Booja Booja chocolates! Mother’s Day is all about saying ‘thank you’ to the people that nurture us and take care of us, be they our biological mothers or not. So the one mother we shouldn’t forget to show some love and appreciation to is, of course, Mother Earth. So here are some ways to honour our mothers and our incredible planet at the same time this year.

Plant Trees

Buy your mother some native trees or hedgerow to plant this year. If she doesn’t have her own garden why not donate to a native tree planting scheme in her name or get involved in a tree planting event? It is national tree week 20th-26th March and the Tree Council have organised a nationwide program of events here. Is there one near you? We plant native trees every year on our organic farm in Galway and are raising money to donate to tree planting charities too. Here is a list of Irish tree planting charities in Ireland:

Eat Green

Make a home-cooked meal to celebrate Mothers Day and Mother Earth. Include lots of locally grown, in-season vegetables and buy organic and plastic free. Our 100% Irish box ticks all the boxes. Click on the photo to see what is included this week. What could you make from all that Irish produce? We have lots of ideas here on the blog. Here’s a menu idea for you:

Clean Up

Don’t leave the cleaning to your mum! Get involved and think about Mother Earth at the same time. Use eco-cleaning products to clean up inside then how about a lovely walk in your local woodland or at the beach? Take a bag and some gloves and pick up litter as you go. Here are some of our favourite green cleaning products from our online shop. You can add them to your next fruit and veg order along with lots of other organic groceries.

Colcannon

by Liz Child

This St Patrick’s Day favourite combines the two best vegetables of all time – potatoes and kale. Don’t let anyone tell you these humble vegetables are nothing less than extraordinary!

Potatoes (especially when you leave the skin on) are a delicious source of fibre, energy giving carbohydrates, antioxidants, potassium (more than a banana!) and magnesium. They also contain vitamin C, calcium, folate and vitamin B6.

Kale is well known for being a superfood. The humble kale, grown right here on our farm in Galway, is one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet and contains well over 100% of your daily needs for Vitamins A, C and K as well as a whole host of other vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fibre and even an omega 3 fatty acid!

So we say this dish is not just for St Patrick’s Day, make colcannon regularly as a side dish or as a topping for your pies.

Liz x

Ingredients (per person)

  • 1 large or a couple of smaller potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into even chunks
  • 3 kale leaves, rinsed, tough stems removed (save the stems, they are delicious finely chopped and added to stir fries, stews, soups etc)
  • 1 scallion, sliced
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Get your potatoes boiling in a large pot of water. Meanwhile tear up your kale leaves into small pieces and place them in a steaming basket or metal colander.
  2. When the potatoes are nearly cooked through, place the steaming basket/colander of kale over the pot and put the lid on. Let the kale steam until wilted and soft – this only takes around 3 minutes so keep an eye on it.
  3. Remove the kale and drain the soft potatoes, then tumble them back into the warm pot. Mash the potatoes with the butter and season with salt and pepper to your taste. Then stir through the wilted kale and chopped scallions.
  4. Serve with an extra dollop of butter as a side dish. It’s also delicious as a shepherd’s pie topping, baked in the oven to crisp up – see pic below.

Dairy-free Soda Bread

by Liz Child

Soda bread is so easy to make and a delicious Irish classic. You’ve got to try a fresh, homemade loaf for St Patrick’s Day! Perfect for breakfast with sweet or savoury toppings or for lunch with a bowl of soup. We make versions of this loaf at least once a week, sometimes with a handful or two of dried fruit in the mix for a sweet version, and it’s the perfect loaf to make with kids as it’s so quick and simple.

Traditional Irish soda bread contains buttermilk so it’s easy to make a dairy free version with oat milk and a little apple cider vinegar to make it acidic. The baking soda needs something acidic to react with otherwise it will not rise, so don’t be tempted to skip the vinegar. I promise, you can’t taste it in the bread. We choose creamy, Irish oat milk and raw apple cider vinegar from Clashganny organic farm. Here’s our easy recipe.

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 300ml oat milk
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 400g white flour
  • 100g wholemeal flour
  • a handful of porridge oats (optional)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • a handful of optional seeds or dried fruit

Method

  1. Turn your oven on to 200C and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
  2. In a mixing jug, mix the milk, vinegar and oil and let it sit for a few minutes while you prepare the dry ingredients. This is your vegan buttermilk.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, measure the flours, oats (if using), salt and baking soda and mix well with a wooden spoon. Make a well in the middle. You can also add dried fruit or seeds at this stage if you would like to.
  4. Then pour the ‘buttermilk’ into the well and stir with the wooden spoon until the ingredients come together into a rough, sticky dough.
  5. Now use one hand to turn and squash the dough together in the bowl. You may find it is too sticky to handle and needs an extra handful of flour. Careful not to add too much flour though, the dough should be slightly sticky otherwise the loaf will come out too dry and crumbly. Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and knead briefly, just for a minute or two at the most.
  6. Shape the dough into a disc that is around 3 cm high and place it on the lined baking tray. Using a large knife or bread knife, cut a deep X into the top of the dough, around 1 cm deep. Dust with a little flour or an optional sprinkle of seeds or porridge oats.
  7. Bake in the oven until risen and golden – around 30-40 minutes. The loaf should sound hollow when you tap it. Enjoy warm or cold slathered in butter (we stock a really good vegan butter here if you need).

Hope for the Future

by Kenneth Keavey

What a week it’s been. It seems wrong to feel you are struggling with everyday issues when there are such terrible things going on in the world, and yet life goes on. We still need to get up and do our jobs and get on with all the other things that life brings to our door.

As we push on into 2022 it is hard to know which way to look to understand what kind of a year it will be. A few weeks back there was plenty of reasons to be optimistic, finally we were emerging from a dark period and there was a sense of relief and hope for the future, much of that now seems to have changed.

Our heart here on the farm has gone out to the people of Ukraine, and there have been some emotional discussions, and discussion too about what we can do as a small business to help. We decided there certainly were things we could do, easily and quickly, so we did them. We have changed our donation box to the “Ukraine donation box” it is €30 and we are topping up the value by an extra €10 for each box. We are also donating €1 for each delivery we make this week (and next). All of the money raised will be given to UNICEF Ireland. We have decided to keep the appeal going for another week and we have already raised close to €3000! So, thank you so much to all who have bought a donation box or received a delivery this week.

I have found at times this week as the real pressures of business bear down and the cost of living and the inflationary pressures increase that there is no where to turn to. We seem to be caught in a perfect storm, we are in the food production and delivery business, the cost of everything has gone up so much, it is eye watering as I am sure most of you are feeling these cost of living pressures too.

We have been looking at this issue every which way you can imagine and have been trying to keep things on an even keel. We are doing what we can, if you look in the special section of our website you will see discounts on some of the staple products, it may not be much but it is a start and hopefully a help. Remember too we deliver to your door and if that means you save a trip in car not only are you helping the planet now you will also be saving money.

While all of these things are flying around in my head I find that there is always one thing that gives me an unequivocal feeling of progress, hope and optimism for the future and that is the farm. The season is starting again we have ploughed our first fields, we have sown our first crops, we are planting our first plants the week after St. Patricks week. The earth smells wonderful, the birdsong is amazing and the break in the clouds to give us the most amazing blue skies with a frosty farmscape have been intoxicating.

So, whenever things are getting that little bit too much, remember you have been one of the people that have contributed to nearly €3000 for people who need it much more that we do, and the fresh air, the blue sky and the earth beneath our feet are always there we just need to stop and look.

Here’s to a great St Patrick’s week ahead.

Kenneth

PS There is also a 15% off all of our orders for next week just use the code “STPADDYS” when you order.

From the farm or IRISH this week: Potatoes, leeks, spinach, kale, mushrooms, parsnips, cabbage (3 types), purple sprouting broccoli, celeriac, swede and chard.

Also Remember we are not delivering by courier next week as DPD are not operating on Thursday or Friday.

The Benefits of Buying Local

by Liz Child

With recent world events, it has become startlingly clear how important being self sufficient as a country can be. Don’t get us wrong, we love to trade with the world, we all love oranges, olives, wine, tea, coffee, chocolate etc. Keeping our fridges full with a healthy variety of fresh fruits and vegetables year round means importing from our organic farming connections around the world (by the way, we never use airfreight). Trading with the world is a positive thing, being friendly with our neighbours and part of unions benefits us all – nutritionally and to promote peace and prosperity. But, it’s also important to us to support local and buy local food as much as possible. Food security is a real issue and supporting local farmers and paying them fair prices (we’re looking at you supermarkets!) is always going to be an important topic that we will talk about regularly. So this week, with St Patrick’s Day on the calendar, we are celebrating all things local and Irish.

Good for You

Local food is fresh, more flavoursome and even more nutritious than food that has travelled! When there has been less time between harvest and your home, there are more nutrients. Did you know that as soon as a fruit or vegetable is picked it starts to loose nutrients? So the quicker it gets to your plate, the better. Locally grown food intended for local consumers will be picked when it is ripe too, so you’ll be getting the best flavour as well as avoiding waxes and preservatives found on food that has travelled a long way.

Good for the Planet

Buying locally produced food, of course means less food miles. ‘Food miles’ is the term for the distance food is transported from the time of its making until it reaches the consumer. Choosing local food requires less transport, therefore less fuel/energy is used to get the food to your plate – so local food has a smaller carbon footprint because it produces less transport related emissions. Less transport usually means less need for packaging too. We use as little packaging as possible to get our food to you, and where we do use packaging we choose paper or compostable bags over plastic.

Good for your Community

Supporting local food producers means more work and more money in your community. Spending money with Irish business will mean more Irish jobs, more Irish tax and therefore better services for everyone. Shopping locally strengthens the local economy too. Local businesses are more likely to recirculate the money locally – not just on wages and taxes, but also on local suppliers and services. This leads to a stronger financial foundation for our neighbours and communities and a more recession-resilient local economy.

Will you support the local economy and help Ireland build better food security by buying a box of organic fruit, vegetables and groceries from us today? We deliver nationwide. Have a look at all we can deliver to your door here.

Ukrainian Mushroom & Barley Broth

by Liz Child

Here’s another Ukrainian recipe inspired by Olia Hercules. If you love mushrooms, you’ll love this broth. It packs a mighty umami punch and is dark and delicious. I serve is as it is for a lighter meal or for a more filling meal, with these stuffed buns or with creamy mashed potatoes. If you add a spoon of soured cream or crème fraiche when you serve, the flavour is really reminiscent of a stroganoff, and of course, these flavours of umami rich mushrooms, onions, pepper, dill and cream are popular in Eastern European and Scandinavian countries, post-Soviet states, Russia and more. We all have so much more in common than what separates us, and food is one of those things where we can clearly see our commonalities.

Buckwheat is a highly nutritious, gluten free whole-grain, a great source of protein, fibre, potassium, magnesium and energy. We sell the whole grain in compostable bags here (and also useful buckwheat flour and flakes). As well as extra nutrients, buckwheat brings a bit of body and texture to the broth but you can switch it with noodles, pasta or rice as you like. Happy cooking!

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 200g buckwheat groats
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp crumbled dried mushrooms
  • 1 litre of boiling water
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 3 white onions, roughly diced
  • 3 carrots, chopped chunkily
  • 500g chopped mushrooms (a mix with some wild mushrooms is always more interesting, but chestnut mushrooms work well too)
  • a large handful or two of chopped dill
  • sour cream, yoghurt or creme fraiche to serve
  • mashed potatoes/cooked noodles/pasta/rice to serve or toast or stuffed buns…

Method

  1. Start by making a mushroom stock. Put the bay leaves and dried mushrooms in a glass measuring jug and boil the kettle. Pour a litre of just-boiled water in and let the stock brew.
  2. Next toast the buckwheat groats in your soup pot. Put the pot onto a medium high heat and tumble in the buckwheat. Stir or shake the pot regularly until the buckwheat is perfectly toasted. Then tip all the grains into a bowl to use later.
  3. Now, in the same pot, add the oil and onion. Sauté with a big pinch of salt until the onions start to colour and soften. Then add the mushrooms and carrots, more seasoning and sauté again for another 5-10 minutes until the vegetables are cooked to your liking.
  4. Add the mushroom stock and the toasted buckwheat and simmer with the lid on until the buckwheat is cooked through but still has some bite. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed with more salt and pepper.
  5. Just before serving, add the dill. Enjoy as is in bowls with a dollop of cremè fraiche or with toast, buns, mashed potatoes, pasta or anything you like.