Clean Dirt

by Kenneth Keavey

What is hiding in our food? 

Simone’s oranges picked in Italy contain nothing but a good helping of Italian sunshine and healthy nutrients from his soil. Our parsnips contain nothing but a good helping of Irish rain and the healthy nutrients from our soil. What then about their conventional cousins? Hmm well as it turns out, the story there is very different.

Dirt, clay soil the stuff that gets stuck under your fingernail is good for us. It is actually pretty healthy to get it on your hands, in fact research has shown that getting your hands stuck in clay may actually ease depression. (Mycobacterium vaccae the bacterium is found in soil and may stimulate serotonin production is currently under study)

Some of our produce comes with dirt on it and we are pretty proud of that, we know it takes a little more effort in the kitchen and time can be in short supply, we know when you have a busy household the last thing you want to do is to wash dirty carrots or parsnips. We get that, I know the feeling and sometimes I reach for that bag of washed carrots and am just thankful they are washed!

But here’s the thing we are not hiding anything, you can see the dirt and it has a very important function. It is a natural preservative, it keeps the veg fresh, it keeps the flavour in. You can smell the freshness when you wash one of our dirty parsnips. Crucially leaving dirt on your veg actually helps reduce food waste!

The great thing of course about soil is it can be washed off.

This unfortunately is not the case with chemicals. Many are systemic in nature, (simply put they get inside the plant or food and stay there). 

Some chemicals are applied to the skins of fruits and vegetables to preserve them. The most commonly known ones are the fungicides mixed into the waxes and applied to citrus fruit. 

We stumbled upon some pretty eye-watering facts during the week. It turns out that one of the big supermarkets are now kindly putting the names of the chemicals mixed in with the waxes on their loose citrus fruit on their website. Have a look see for yourself. (Check out the description on loose lemons on this retailer’s website. I’ll give you a hint the name of the multinational supermarket begins with T.)

This is what is found on your conventional (Non organic) LEMONS:

Here is the list we found (Depending on country of origin, the treatment varies)

Spain: Imazalil/Thiabendazole/Pyrimethanil & Wax E914, E904 

Morocco:  Propiconazole/Pyrimethanil/Imazalil & Wax E914, E904 

Egypt: Imazalil/Thiabendazole & Wax E904, E914 

RSA: 2,4 D/Imazalil/Thiabendazole & Wax E914, E904 

And if you were wondering what these wonderful preserving chemicals may do to us unsuspecting humans here are some fun facts:

Imazalil is a suspected carcinogen and a probable endocrine disrupter (compounds that mimic or inhibit the body’s hormones, generally not good for us)

Thiabendazole is a probable endocrine disrupter 

2,4-D falls into a class of compounds called endocrine-disrupting chemicals. 

Here is another fun fact, the amount allowed in a piece of fruit is set by something called the MRL (Maximum residue limit) and this is generally set by what works to kill a pest and not what is safe for human consumption. (Recently The EU proposed reducing the MRL for Imazalil to 0.01mg/kg  for citrus from 4mg/kg, but this was overturned by growers, so what is the safe limit?)

So, unlike the dirt on our parsnips which is harmless, and could be argued is actually improving our health, extending shelf life, locking in flavour and can be seen, these hidden compounds reside on much of the conventional fruit that is purchased in supermarkets and is bad for our health. It is refreshing to see at last that there is some transparency creeping into our food supply chain. 

Kenneth

https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/citrus.php

Parsnip Tarte Tatin

by Liz Child

A tarte tatin is traditionally made with apples as a dessert, but we love making savoury versions too. It’s a great way to showcase a seasonal vegetable and make it the star of your meal. The result looks fancy and tastes amazing, but the secret is it is sooo easy to do. Serve with some fresh salad and a zingy dressing, with some cheese, nuts, seeds or beans scattered on top for a little protein and you’ve got a wonderful, balanced, plant based meal ready to share with friends or family.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 6 -8 depending on sides)

  • 50g butter (we love our new Naturli vegan butter) – chopped into small pieces
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 2 tsp thyme leaves (fresh or dried)
  • black pepper to taste
  • 2 large parsnips sliced into finger sized wedges (enough to tightly cover the base of your dish)
  • a sheet of puff pastry (check the ingredients, many are made dairy free now – or make your own)

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C and find a large, round oven proof dish. Or you can use a square/rectangular dish too of course, anything that your sheet of pastry will fit in comfortably.
  2. Dot half the butter around in the base of your dish. Drizzle over half the olive oil and then evenly sprinkle the sugar, half the salt, half the thyme and a good grind of black pepper.
  3. Arrange the slices of parsnips over the butter and seasoning. Aim for complete coverage and one tight layer.
  4. Dot over the remaining butter and drizzle the oil, sprinkle the rest of the salt, thyme and another grind of pepper.
  5. Place the dish in the oven until the parsnips are soft and starting to caramelise. This should take around 30 minutes but keep an eye on them as ovens vary.
  6. Remove from the oven then quickly and carefully place the sheet of pastry over the hot parsnips and put the dish back in the oven right away.
  7. After 15 minutes or so, the pastry should be risen and golden brown. Remove the dish from the oven and place a large, heat proof plate or chopping board over the dish.
  8. Then use oven gloves to carefully, but very quickly, flip the plate/board and dish over. Still using gloves, pick the now upside down dish up off the plate/board and you should be left with a beautiful parsnip tarte tatin!
  9. Slice and serve whilst still warm with salads. It’s delicious cold too, so if you have any leftovers, eat for lunch the next day.

Vegan Pancakes

by Liz Child

Is pancake day is the best day of the year? How do you like yours? The classic lemon and sugar? Rolled up with chocolate spread? Or filled with something savoury like wilted spinach and cheese. We love this simple crepe recipe that happens to be egg and dairy free.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 1 mug of flour
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 1 & 1/2 mugs oat milk
  • dairy free butter for frying
  • fillings of your choice

Method

  1. Measure the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and olive oil into a mixing bowl.
  2. Whisk whilst slowly pouring in the milk until you have a smooth batter. Let the batter rest for 20 minutes before frying or you can even make it the night before and keep it in the fridge overnight.
  3. Use a cast iron or non stick pancake pan for best results. Heat the pan to medium-high and add a tsp of butter. Let the butter melt and tilt the pan back and forth to spread the butter evenly around the base. Add a ladle of the batter to the pan and tilt it again to swirl the batter into a thin, even layer.
  4. Cook on the first side for a couple of minutes or until golden brown underneath. Then carefully flip the pancake and cook on the second side for another minute.
  5. Repeat until you have used all the batter and enjoy with your choice of fillings. Our favourite? A squeeze of fresh, organic lemon or blood orange and a small sprinkle of raw cane sugar.

Food Waste & Fussy Pigs

by Kenneth Keavey

Food waste has always upset me and I think I get that from my mum.  Pre-covid my mum was a regular in our packing shed, salvaging any waste produce for a variety of charities, she was the ultimate food waste champion. 

Her generation was not one to waste anything. 

It wasn’t until the plastic clad, sell more, always on, supermarket culture took over did we as a generation decide it was ok to dump food. Or was it really our decision? I think not. It was the supermarkets that decided for us and made it ok to waste food and to grade out perfectly good produce based on how something looks.

In our business we try really hard to keep food waste to a minimum. It can be challenging as we are dealing with so many different fresh items, and we have harvests and deliveries arriving everyday. We run 5 different cold rooms, and we run some at different temperatures to ensure the optimum temperature is maintained to keep produce fresh.  We have also committed to not using plastic.  

(Incidentally, just this week it has been shown that despite the Supermarkets railing on about it, plastic does not actually reduce food waste, it can actually increase it!)

But back to our story, we need to make sure you our customer gets the most amazing quality.  Everything piece of produce gets inspected, and while sometimes the odd one gets through,  we work really hard to deliver on our promise of only delivering amazing quality produce to your door.

“Grade outs” : produce that we know will not make it to you our customers in first class condition, are left on a shelf in our packing shed and are generally used to make staff boxes and our team can help themselves. Finally, what is left, the stuff that we don’t eat ourselves usually ends up in Florence and George’s bellies (our rescue pigs!)

I always thought pigs would eat anything. As it turns out I was wrong. Pigs do indeed have some serious food preferences. I know because just over a year ago we took charge of two rescue pigs George and Florence. They have the run of an acre of mostly forested land and will live out their long and leisurely lives here on our organic farm. (Incidentally pigs can live until they are 20!).

Who would have known that pigs are fussy eaters? Well, I can tell you that they will not eat broccoli or kale, they are not partial to courgettes and apparently mushrooms do not tickle their palettes either.

It would seem then that they know what they like and what they don’t like. But when it comes to wonky shapes, and blemished skin they see only food. 

I don’t know that supermarkets take food waste seriously.  A couple of years ago, a person who would know told me about 12 pallets of pineapples that were dumped as a result of a supermarket quality inspection failing them because of some blemishes. This happens.

Maybe being that little bit more mindful of our food can go along way in reducing our food waste, and the funny thing is it can actually end up saving us quite a bit of money too.

Here’s to less food waste!

Kenneth

The Dirty Dozen

by Liz Child

Have you heard of ‘The Dirty Dozen’?

The Dirty Dozen is a list of 12 fruits and vegetables which have been found to contain the highest levels of pesticides. The aim of these lists, which are updated yearly, is to inform consumers about which fruits and vegetables to prioritise when buying organic. Of course we dream of a future where everything in our shopping carts is organic, but we know that right now, not everyone has access to organic foods. We work very hard here in Ireland to make organic food accessible to as many people as possible. Please take a look at what we can convieniently deliver to your door here.

Dirty Dozen lists are fascinating and highlight the danger of the cocktail of chemicals found in our food. Unfortunately you won’t find a list of the pesticides used on most fresh fruit and veg. However we found it very interesting looking at this label on lemons from a popular online supermarket here in Ireland. Although it is shocking to see, at least it is upfront and evident and we hope that labelling like this will soon become the norm so that consumers can make informed choices. What do you think?

For a ‘Dirty Dozen’ list most relevant to us here in Ireland we’ve been looking at PAN-UK. Pesticide Action Network (PAN) is a network of over 600 participating nongovernmental organisations, institutions and individuals in over 90 countries working to replace the use of hazardous pesticides with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives. Here’s a screenshot from their website on the latest list:

Fruits (especially citrus) and salads seem to be the biggest culprit. But it’s important to remember that these are just the top 12 fruits and vegetables containing pesticide residue, almost all non-organic foods will contain pesticides. Unfortunately washing or peeling your fruit and veg will not be totally effective in removing the pesticides. Many pesticides are systemic, meaning they are absorbed by the plant and can be found throughout, not just on the surface.

There is a growing body of evidence that pesticides can become more harmful when combined and the ‘cocktail effect’ has long-been recognised as an area of concern. Despite this, little has been done to understand or prevent the human health impacts that may occur due to long-term exposure to pesticide cocktails. Find out more about the cocktail effect.

Let us make it easy for you to avoid the cocktail of chemicals found in your supermarket trolly. Order a box from us today, we deliver to every address in Ireland and Northern Ireland and we would love you to join the Green Earth Organics family.

What are your thoughts on organic farming versus the over-use of pesticides on most (but not all of course) non-organic farms? Do you think pesticides are essential to produce enough food for a growing population? Or is there a better way with tried and tested organic systems? We’d love to chat in the comments. We’ll leave you with this quote we love from Mary Jane Butters.

Banana Skin Recipes

by Liz Child
Are these bananas over-ripe? Or are they perfectly ripe?

Who knew you could eat the skins of a banana? It’s amazing what we have been conditioned into discarding as not edible isn’t it? The amount of delicious and healthy fruit and vegetable offcuts – skins, leaves, stalks…that we just throw away is actually quite shocking. We could make our weekly food shop go so much further if we re-learn what is edible and what isn’t. Lack of dietary fibre is a big health issue here in the west. It’s so important to eat enough roughage to help your digestive system move, for bowel health, and to balance your blood sugar and lower cholesterol. Dietary fibre is found in fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, nuts, seeds and legumes.

Eating banana skins is not just about increasing your fibre intake. Banana skins are rich in potassium (amazing for your heart health), magnesium (helps your muscles and nerves work properly, maintains protein, bone and DNA, levels blood sugar and pressure), B6 (which improves your sleep) and B12 (keeps your blood and nerve cells happy, helps make DNA), Vitamin A (great for eyesight), antioxidants (lowers cancer risk) and more!

So here are a couple of ways to cook banana skins. Always choose organic to avoid nasty pesticides/herbicides and give your bananas a good rinse. Riper banana skins are softer and sweeter. If you don’t fancy making a meal out of banana skins, you can always blend some into your smoothie or next batch of banana bread too.

Liz x

Save Your Banana Skin ‘Bacon’

Rescue your ripe banana skins from heading to the bin by putting them in a box in the fridge to add to smoothies – or make this vegan bacon. Yes, this recipe is a bit of a gimmick, but it is surprisingly delicious. It’s all about the smokey bacon marinade of course (which you can use to marinade strips of aubergine, mushrooms, courgette, carrots etc to make whatever plant-based bacon you desire). Banana skins bring a light banana flavour to the party along with a deliciously chewy texture. Definitely worth a go!

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sugar or maple syrup
  • 1 tsp garlic granules/powder
  • 1 tsp nutritional yeast flakes
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 3-4 ripe banana skins, washed

Method

  1. Mix all the ingredients (except for the banana skins) in a container that will hold 3 or 4 banana skins. I use a sandwich box with a lid.
  2. Chop the tough ends off of 3-4 banana skins and tear them into strips (a banana skin should naturally tear into 3 or 4 strips). Use a spoon to scrape off the phloem bundles – that’s the name for the soft, stringy bits of banana stuck to the inside of the skins. These can be added to smoothies or banana bread.
  3. Place the scraped banana skins into the marinade and mix well ensuring each piece is coated in the marinade. Leave to soak up the flavour for at least 20 minutes. You can even prepare this the night before and pop in the fridge, then cook the bacon for breakfast in the morning.
  4. Fry the strips of banana skin with a little oil in a medium-high frying pan on both sides until sizzling and crispy. Enjoy as a side of your cooked breakfast plate or in a sandwich. Crumble over pasta or eat wherever you would like a sweet and salty, smokey bacon-like flavour.

Whole Banana & Coconut Curry

You need to really like banana to like this curry. It’s sweet, creamy, mild and absolutely delicious! I like it just as it is so I can really enjoy the flavour and texture of the banana skin and flesh with some simple rice, chilli flakes and coriander. But I often bulk it out with roasted cauliflower or squash or a drained tin of chickpeas too.

Ingredients (per person)

  • 1 tsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
  • a pinch of fresh curry leaves will take this curry to the next level
  • 1/2 a white onion, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
  • 1 very ripe banana
  • 1 tsp ground/grated ginger
  • 1 tsp ground/grated turmeric
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt – or to taste
  • black pepper to taste
  • 1/4 tin coconut milk
  • rice, fresh coriander, chilli flakes, lime wedges to serve

Method

  1. Get your rice on to cook then heat up a pan with your vegetable oil to medium-high. Add the cumin and mustard seeds and cook them until they start to crackle and pop. They should get very fragrant. If you can get fresh curry leaves where you are, add a pinch of them now too and swoon at the gorgeous fragrance.
  2. Then add the sliced onion with a pinch of salt and sauté until soft and starting to turn golden brown. Add the sliced garlic and stir for a couple of minutes.
  3. While the onions and garlic cook, slice the tough ends off your banana and peel it. Cut the skin widthways into three roughly pinky-finger length chunks, then cut those chunks lengthways into nice thin strips. Add the banana skin to the pan and stir.
  4. Add the turmeric, ginger and curry powder and stir well. The curry will be quite dry now so add a splash or two of water and cook for around 5 minutes, stirring regularly and adding more water as needed until the banana skins have softened.
  5. Slice the banana flesh into thin, diagonal ovals and add them to the pan with the salt and pepper. Stir gently for a couple of minutes to warm up the banana, add another splash of water if needed.
  6. Add the coconut milk and turn the heat down to simmer. Taste the curry and adjust the seasoning if needed with more salt or a squeeze of lime if acidity is called for.
  7. Serve piled next to rice. Add a sprinkle of fresh coriander and some chilli flakes/slices for heat if you wish and enjoy!

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

by Kenneth Keavey

I was delighted to welcome Sean Owens and Callum Patrick Swift to our farm yesterday, two amazing and inspiring individuals, who had driven from Dublin to have a podcast chat about the planet, food and all sorts of other things. I believe our little interview will be on their podcast “climate conversations”  soon, give them a listen, I will keep you posted when it is available. 

They are both environmentalists, but with a twist.

They are doctors and both are members of “IRISH Doctors for the Environment” and “Plant Based Doctors”. Their focus is on caring for patients and people but weaving in care of the environment into their practice also. This is forward thinking, the kind of thinking our planet desperately needs, and gives me hope for the future.

I was, I have to say awe struck as Callum asked if he could use our electric charge point for his electric van which was identical to our electric van that we use to delivery some of our veggies in, how cool was that!

Both are advocates for eating more plant-based foods, the old idiom I used the other day is really true I guess: “no doctor will ever tell you to eat less vegetables”, and as Callum pointed out the 5 a day advice has pretty much been relegated to the back seat now; the current thinking is: eat as much vegetables as you possibly can.

We had an interesting and fun chat; it is I guess easy to speak to the converted, but it was also liberating to be able to talk freely about things that are clearly really important to the two lads and to all of us here on the farm too.

Sean spoke about eating the rainbow and how incorporating an array of different coloured vegetables into our daily eating regime is so good for our health. I think we all agreed that the best way to improve our health is to take small changes and make them a habit. 

We had a wander around the farm, sampled a sea of green kale, and of course went to scratch George and Florence’s belly’s. Funny how our two rescue pigs never object to having their backs scratched.

I took away from our conversation that our mission to grow the most amazing local organic plants here in Galway and deliver them (along with all the other very best healthy food around) to homes all over the country is indeed the right thing to be doing.

So, lads thanks for a decent shot in the arm of much appreciated encouragement.

I think neither of the two fellas would have a problem with the saying. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. In fact, as they said themselves, current thinking is moving towards preventing people going to hospitals and for that to happen, we all need to focus more on what we eat and on our health way before there is a problem. 

Thanks

Kenneth

5 Foods for Heart Health

by Liz Child

Heart health is central to overall good health. In Ireland, heart disease is the leading cause of death. Approximately 10,000 people die in Ireland from Cardiovascular Disease each year, accounting for 36% of deaths. Thankfully there is a lot we can do to prevent heart disease. As well as avoiding stress and moving our bodies, what we eat can really boost our heart health. These 5 main heart-healthy food groups are important to include in your diet. We can make it easy with a regular delivery of fruit, veg and groceries to your door. Explore all we have to offer here. We deliver nationwide to every address in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Check out these recipes developed specifically with heart health in mind – Heart Health Bowls and Smoothies for Heart Health.

1. Leafy Greens

Leafy green vegetables like spinach, kale, chard and cabbages are exceptionally high in vitamin K and nitrates. These help reduce blood pressure and improve the function of our arteries. Studies have shown that a higher intake of leafy greens is associated with a lower risk of heart disease. We always have a good range of leafy greens in our online shop. We grow a lot of organic kale, cabbages, spinach and chard on our farm here in Galway, and we also source greens from other organic farms when we don’t have enough of our own grown produce. It’s very important to us to keep your leafy greens needs fulfilled year round.

2. Whole Grains

Choosing whole-grains over refined grains can help improve your heart health. Whole-grains (like oats, barley, buckwheat, brown rice, wholewheat flour, quinoa…) include all three nutritious parts of the grain as it is found on the plant: the bran, germ and endosperm. Refined grains (like white rice, white flour and associated products like pasta, white breads/crackers etc), on the other hand, are processed and some of the grain is removed. Wholegrain foods therefore contain far more fibre, vitamins and minerals than refined grain foods. Studies show that eating whole grains lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, which leads to a lower risk of heart disease. We stock plenty of whole grains in clever compostable packaging. Check out our range of sustainable groceries to compliment our organic fresh produce here.

3. Healthy Fats

Nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil… foods rich in unsaturated fats and essential fatty acids are crucial for heart health. They increase ‘good’ cholesterol which reduces ‘bad’ cholesterol and improves your blood pressure. Cholesterol is arguably one of the most misunderstood substances. Your body needs cholesterol to perform important jobs, such as making hormones and building cells. It can be complicated but generally foods made from animals, including red meat, butter, and cheese, have a lot of saturated fats. Whereas plant based sources of fats like avocados, olive oil, nuts and seeds contain healthy unsaturated fats.

4. Legumes

Beans, chickpeas and lentils are incredibly healthy foods. Good for you and good for the planet, not to mention affordable and filling. Legumes are especially beneficial for heart health because they are high in resistant starch (which your microbiome loves) and have been shown to reduce levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, lower blood pressure, and decrease inflammation.

5. Antioxidant Rich Foods

Berries, beetroots, tomatoes, green tea, dark chocolate… foods that are high in antioxidants are good for your heart. When we eat fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants, our bodies use them to prevent cell damage, reduce inflammation, and protect the health of our heart.

Who We Are

by Kenneth Keavey

We (Jenny & Kenneth Keavey) started Green Earth Organics in 2006. Our organic farm is situated 8 miles from Galway City. Originally the land was Kenneth’s grand-father’s and then his father’s and finally we took over the farm 14 years ago. We put the farm into conversion for organic status in 2004.

Currently we are farming on 40 acres of organically certified land. Another 10 acres is split between a wild life biodiversity area, native woodland forestry (7000 trees) and red clover/grassland. We are certified organic by the IOA (Irish Organic Association) – please note that EVERYTHING we sell is organic.


You can order online direct from us. We deliver to every county in Ireland – click here for more details about the ordering deadline and delivery days. 

Our Commitment to Sustainability 

Our aim at Green Earth Organics is to minimize the impact of our farm on the environment. We do this by growing our produce in an organic and sustainable way, by generating our own electricity using solar panels, and by harvesting the West of Ireland rainwater to wash the freshly picked veg and to water the plants in our tunnels.

As a business, we are striving to be carbon neutral and we’re actively looking for ways to reduce and eliminate the small amount of plastic packaging remaining in some of our boxes (this is mostly from grocery items – we are always looking to expand our plastic free grocery options so keep checking back on those).

All our set boxes are PLASTIC FREE, we use compostable bags for salads and greens.
All of our other fresh produce is packed either loose or in brown paper bags which we take back and re-use every week. 

We also have a box that contains 100% Irish Veg which you can order here. Thank you for your support – we really appreciate it. 

Currently there are 45 employees in total across the farm, packing team and administration team. We also take on students and interns and employ seasonal workers at certain times of the year. You can check out our vacancies here.


We have 6 polytunnels and grow a wide range of crops both indoors and in the field. Over the course of a year, a typical seasonal box will contain 80% local, organic produce.
We buy produce from other Irish suppliers and we also import organically certified veg and fruit in order to be able to offer a full selection of produce year round. We never use airfreight!

At Green Earth Organics, we care deeply about the environment and believe that people should be able to choose foods that are grown as nature intended, taste fantastic and add to their wellbeing.

Sustainability and health is at the centre of all business decisions we take.

Every Year it Happens

by Kenneth Keavey

Every year it happens, we are waiting and waiting and then bang out of the blue it all starts again. I guess life is like that sometimes, we push and we shove and want to change things, and then when we finally just accept the ways things are (often because what we were doing was making no difference anyway) and least expect it things fall into place.

So it was this morning with my first farm walk in two weeks. We have been struggling with the dark closed in feeling of winter, and then this morning bright sunshine, singing birds, and life were evident all around.

The crops need to have our focus again, they are flying. We have the best kale harvest in years, our leeks are amazing as is the purple sprouting broccoli.

We are out in the fields everyday but today we start in earnest after we have finally shrugged off winters cloak.

Nature is very subtle, we are always on the watch for change, and somehow just suddenly it changes without you noticing. Like a seed germinating, one day it is a seed and the next it is a plant is has germinated, just like that, this is the miracle and power of nature. It is the same with the kale regrowing, it just happens when the time is right. Or the birds singing a spring morning chorus they just begin, and wow were they out in force this morning. 

I get excited at this time of the year, the start of a new growing season and the challenges and opportunities it brings fill me with hope for the year. 

It is a natural cycle and as we emerge from the dark winter months there is a sense at least on the farm of a new slate, a fresh start, a chance to begin the journey anew.

Nature is wonderful like that, and up until this period in man’s history it has been stable and consistent. I read this morning that the Gulf Stream which here in Northern Europe we rely on for our stable weather patterns is not in good shape. 

These complex global climate regulation mechanisms are hard to understand I would imagine, but there are clear signs that climate stability all over our one and only beautiful home is being compromised.

I do admit to getting frustrated with the slow pace of change, it doesn’t make sense to me. There is a phenomenal opportunity now to take the risk and invest in Green Energy, to cut consumption and do so much more. We as a small farm have done it, and we as a small country can do it.

But maybe it is like the kale regrowing or the seed germinating, you can’t force the seed to grow faster or the kale to appear faster, but all of a sudden without even noticing it has changed.

Maybe that is happening now too with movement to cut consumption, power our lives with green energy, moving to more plant-based diets, all these things are happening.

The most amazing thing is you are causing this change by supporting us.

Thank you.

Kenneth