Our Children & The Planet

by Kenneth Keavey

Thank you so much to everybody who responded last week to our plea it made a tremendous difference and whilst we won’t ask again, every order you make during the summer makes a massive difference and keeps us going!

I will never forget when myself Jenny and my dad put up our first polytunnel back in 2005. It was a milestone and like a dream come though, I will never forget it. 

We were so proud of ourselves, that was our first season growing food and we tried it all. We were so enthusiastic, we wanted all the plants in that little tunnel, aubergines, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers. If truth be known there was very little harvest from that tunnel in the first year. We had plants but little enough of the fruits of our labour! Nevertheless, this did not discourage us in any way.

We were on a journey we had closed the door on a different chapter of our lives, lives lived far from the land and with little connection with our food. Certainly, there was always a burning deep desire to do the right thing by the environment and this our mad chance to embrace that vision. 

It was two years later in 2007 that our first child was born and that was a momentous occasion. I do remember many things from that day, but one that I am sure most people do not experience on the birth of their first child was the doorbell ringing (We had a home birth) and a guy that was fixing a fridge on our van wondering if he could talk to me about a problem he was having. I think the noise in the back round ended that conversation swiftly.

Then we watched Hannah grow and at the age of two she was able to go and pick her own tomatoes and cucumbers from the polytunnel. When Ella came along it was clear she was going to be our earth child and she spent more time in those polytunnels than anybody else, I am surprised we had any tomatoes left to harvest for you, our customers. 

In hindsight remembering those moments and appreciating them seems like it was a perfect and ideal life. There was of course plenty of smiles but there was all the other stuff too.  We were guilty of having no time, no money, and no energy, it was truly exhausting, starting a farm, a business and a family at the same time. I would recommend that if you are embarking on this journey that you spread those events out a little!

But we got through. The days when we have had schools on our farm, and you see the amazed face of a child when they pull a carrot from the ground it makes you remember what is important

The journey has certainly left its scars, but it has also allowed a deeper appreciation of what we have, how lucky we are. If nothing else seeing the respect Ella, Joe and Hannah have for the environment is something that I am proud of.  If we achieve nothing else on this journey, we will have achieved something positive.

Our job here is to spread a message that nature and our land are beautiful and precious, and all living things are to be respected. We as a business, a farm and individuals really do have an obligation to take care with our actions.

It is on us all, of course we can all point the finger but what good does that do? We need to take responsibility for our actions and do the right thing, is that easy? Absolutely not. Is it necessary? Completely. Therein I believe lies our greatest hope for our children and all that we share this land with.

Have a fantastic and amazing week and thank you for your continued support.

Kenneth

Potato Hash w/ Roast Romanesco & Crispy Fried Eggs (serves 4)

by Lou Robbie

A brunch dish bursting with goodness and flavour! Roasting veg is very satisfying. A potato hash with added veg made this way is very simple and uncomplicated, any left over veg can be use for dinner the next day #zerofoodwaste. Roasting veg brings out the natural flavour of the vegetable adding sweet and charred notes, made with gorgeous organic Irish grown veg…..well there is nothing better.

This dish was inspired by the Irish Farm Box. Its packed full of seasonal locally grown veg! You can make a version of this all through the seasons adding squash, broccoli, kale, courgettes, beets, carrots or parsnips too……just keep your hot sauce handy!

Lou 🙂

  1. Preheat your oven 180℃.
  2. Prepare 2 large roasting tins with parchment paper or silicone liners. 
  3. Wash the potatoes, give them a scrub until they are clean. 
  4. Chop into cubes roughly the same size, add to a mixing bowl. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and a good glug of oil, toss to coat. 
  5. Pour onto a large roasting tin and put into the oven to roast for about 1 hour, check and toss the cubes every 20 minutes. 
  6. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the veg, you can add the veg to the same mixing bowl. 
  7. Chop the romanesco into bite sized florets and chop the mushrooms into quarters. 
  8. Chop the onions into quarters but break up the layers, bash the garlic cloves with the back of a knife and add to the bowl. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper and coat with a tablespoon or two of oil. Toss to coat and add to the second roasting tin. 
  9. Put it in the oven to roast for about 30 – 40 minutes. Check halfway and give it a toss. 
  10. Finley slice the scallions and keep in a serving bowl. 
  11. Wash the spinach and roughly chop. Keep in a container with damp kitchen paper on top until later. 
  12. The cubed potatoes are ready when they pierce easily with a sharp knife and they look golden brown. The veg will be soft and slightly charred in places. Squeeze out the garlic cloves and serve or discard if you find the flavour too strong, they will have done their job to flavour the veg. 
  13. Fry the eggs to your liking (2 per person) on a frying pan, cook on a medium to high heat for crispy fried eggs. 
  14. Reheat the potatoes on a frying pan along with the veg and at the last minute toss through the chopped spinach. (You could reheat in the oven also and stir through the spinach)
  15. To serve, add the potatoes and veg to a plate or wide bowl, top with 2 fried eggs, sprinkle on the chopped scallions and add your favourite hot sauce. 

This is a delicious dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner! 

This is a Plea

by Kenneth Keavey

It is always with a great sense of irony that we head into July. It is the official end of the hungry gap.  We are catapulted from a frenzy of farming activity and a dearth of harvest in early June to a level of activity bordering on the insane and an overflowing harvest basket. 

July is the time when we have a plentiful harvest, and it is the very same time that many of you our customers break your routine with cooking.  Especially this year it seems that many people are going away on holidays and are taking a well-earned break. 

It is hard to assess our harvest need a year in advance and the last two years we have seen so much volatility, we are not sure what way is up anymore. But plans were made back in November and now we are harvesting the fruits of our labour. 

This summer is proving to be a big challenge; We have so much of our own freshly harvested food right now and we have developed relationships with other local organic farms and now when the time of Irish plenty arrives we find that you our customers are taking a break for all the usual reasons, holidays, not cooking, routines out the window and we understand completely. 

The downturn this summer for us is leaving us with much surplus harvest with nowhere to go but back into the ground. 

This time of every year we also see a large increase in labour costs on the farm. 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.

The initial start of this growing season on our organic farm, seeds, plants, fertiliser (organic), compost, contractors and labour are very high, before you harvest even one bean. All of this is necessary to make the food in the fields happen.

Growing food at the best of times is not a money-making enterprise, far from it, we only ever expect the farm to break even and most years this is a stretch to achieve. We grow the food, because we love to do it, because sustainable agriculture is something we strongly believe in, and it is the right thing to do. 

We have PV cells generating our electricity, we have invested in our first zero emission electric van, we collect our rainwater, we plant trees, and hedgerows, we use only plastic free packaging.   We educate people on how important biodiversity is, and to get everybody involved in thinking about the planet and the environment, where our food comes and how it is produced is our critical philosophy.

All of this takes time and energy, it all costs money and at the end of the day although everybody wants to enjoy their job and although nearly everybody that works with us believes in our values and our mission, they still need to get paid.

So, this is a plea, a plea to ask you to order next week, to find a way (if you can at all) to continue supporting us over the summer, to tell your friends and family to order from us, or let us deliver to you if you are on holidays in Ireland, (we have just reduced our courier charge).

The boxes next week are loaded with the most amazing fresh local Irish organic produce, including, spinach, salad, lettuce, Romanesco, cucumbers, kale, scallions, tomatoes and new IRISH organic potatoes.  (The value of the boxes has also increased to give you more for your money!)

So please if you can at all do order.

Your support as always is very much appreciated.

Thanks

Kenneth

Jammy Crumble Slice

by Liz Child

These are wonderful treats. A beautiful, buttery shortbread base, a layer of jam (we used our rhubarb and rose jam from last week) and an oaty crumble top. So delicious! Pack up slices to take out on a picnic or over to a friend for tea. You’ll be amazed at how simple the recipe is too. Once you have the 1,2,3 method in your head (100g sugar, 200g butter, 300g flour), perfect biscuits are never far away.

Liz x

Ingredients (makes 18 slices)

  • 100g sugar
  • 200g butter, chopped
  • 300g flour (plain with no raising agents!)
  • a large handful of porridge oats
  • 3 or 4 heaped tbsp jam

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 175C and line a medium baking dish with baking parchment.
  2. Measure the sugar, butter and flour into a food processor or mixing bowl. If using a food processor, blend until the mixture resembles wet, crumbly sand. If you are using a mixing bowl, use the tips of your fingers and rub the ingredients together into an even, crumbly texture.
  3. Take out a large handful or so of the mixture and move it to another bowl to reserve for the crumble topping. With the rest of the mixture, bring it together into a ball either with your hands (in the mixing bowl) or by blending a little longer until it comes together into a ball (in the food processor).
  4. Press the ball into the lined baking dish into an even layer. Use a fork to prick holes over the base then bake in the oven for around 8 minutes or until just starting to take on some golden colour.
  5. Meanwhile add a large handful or so of porridge oats to the reserved crumbly dough and mix together with your hands into the crumble topping.
  6. Remove the shortbread base from the oven and spread with jam then sprinkle with the crumble topping and bake again until golden on top. This should only take another 8 minutes or so but ovens vary so keep a close eye on yours.
  7. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool completely (I like to let it cool and set overnight) before pulling out onto a chopping board and slicing. This keeps fresh in an airtight container in a cool place for 4 days.

Exciting Changes

by Kenneth Keavey

I hope the week has been good to you. It has been busy here on the farm and a strange week too. Life can be frantic, just this week I was reminded by the fact we are all on a clock, we all have a certain amount of time and that time is short. I was determined not to let this reminder slip, not to let this wake-up call fade away, but it does, life has a habit of coming in at full tilt and disrupting best laid plans.

The determination to savour every moment can at times be a little unrealistic and must I think, be coupled with a dose of realism. There is a need of course to be present (as best we can) to all that is going on around us. But in my experience it can be difficult to maintain a measured approach all the time, and the little annoyances of life can all too soon be elevated quite quickly into full blown emergencies! (Such as Marley our still young puppy coming in covered and muck and jumping up on the sofa which she knows she is not allowed on!) But coming back to ground zero and starting again over and over is I think what it is all about.

This week there was intense the pressure of change on so many different fronts and it made it difficult to maintain a focused outlook. Running through sticky jam (or mud!) is sometimes how it feels, expending loads of energy and feeling like you are going backwards.It can be frustrating but maybe that’s life telling us to let go, ease up, go with the flow, and stop falling into the same hole in the road over and over! At least I know the hole is there now. That’s where little moments like the one in the picture with Molly (my dog sadly no longer with us) are so important.

We are busy, very busy, we are planting leeks by hand, we are harvesting, we are weeding, and we are transplanting. It is that cross over time of the year, when the planting is not completely done, the weeding is bearing down on top of us and thankfully the harvest is kicking in full throttle. Just last night we got the final sowing of 6 different types of clover and wild flowers into the ground at 10.45 pm just before the rain came, that is timing for you.

Our first tomatoes are nearly ready and Ella (the younger of my two daughters) has been coming in with full bowls of nearly ripe tomatoes, I hope there will be some left for you guys! Soon very soon we will have plenty for everybody.

Philosophical ramblings aside, the fields are proving very bountiful now. So, we wanted to say a massive thank you to all of you good people who have been supporting our efforts to protect our planet through growing food by increasing the value in our set boxes. We have made an exceptional effort from next week to give more in all our boxes, to make sustainable food more accessible to everyone, to make our boxes even better value.

You will notice the difference; we have added extra farm produce to all our fixed boxes from next week and they will be overflowing with produce. When everything else is going up we have effectively decided to bring the price of our boxes down by giving you more produce for your money.

Not only that but we have some amazing news, nothing short of sensational news for all our customers who are getting boxes delivered to every corner of Ireland by courier, we are so excited about this one! We have managed to reduce our courier delivery charge to €4.50 by moving from DPD to Greenway, an electric van fleet! So not only will your delivery charges go down, but they will be emission free! AND we can now accept back the courier boxes too, not just our local routes boxes. They can only be accepted back by Greenway if they are neatly flattened so please do flatten and leave them out when you expect your next delivery.

Thanks for your support, please spread the word about our better value and better deliveries to your friends and family all over Ireland.

Kenneth

Rainbow Salad

by Liz Child

Happy Pride month to our wonderful rainbow of customers and recipe readers. You are all amazing just the way you are! Here’s a fun rainbow salad to celebrate. Did you know that ‘eating the rainbow’ is so beneficial to your health? Different coloured fruits and vegetables contain different vitamins and minerals, so to get the full spectrum, make sure you regularly eat the rainbow. This fun salad is so simple to put together, and of course it is endlessly adaptable. We served it with a zingy lime and mint dressing, but your favourite salad dressing would work well here. We recommend waiting to dress and mix it until it’s at the table, make the most of that beautiful rainbow of colours for as long as possible!

Liz x

Ingredients

  • red pepper, diced
  • tomatoes, diced
  • carrots, grated
  • yellow pepper, diced
  • cucumber, diced
  • red onion, finely diced
  • beetroot, grated
  • cooked chickpeas, beans or lentils – drained and rinsed
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • a large handful of fresh mint leaves (or any herb you prefer)
  • 1 small garlic clove
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • salt and pepper to taste (a big pinch of each is good)

Method

  1. Arrange your chopped/grated ingredients on a large platter in the shape and colours of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, purple/blue…and add chickpeas or cooked lentils to add protein.
  2. Make the dressing by adding the lime juice, olive oil, mint, garlic, salt, pepper and maple syrup to a blender and blending until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
  3. Pour the dressing over the salad just before serving and mix well. Enjoy with salad leaves, bread, some crumbled tofeta… or as a side to a BBQ.

If You Stumble, Let it Become Part of the Dance

by Kenneth Keavey

I remember my grandad in his garden growing sweet peas, and carrots and apples.  I remember my dad growing potatoes and onions and my mum growing raspberries and gooseberries. I remember a red jumper on a scarecrow, and I also remember our food. We ate many potatoes, but I feel as I look back now that I knew where my food came from. Growing food was a celebration of life, it was a connection to another energy force, it was a basic and primal link to the earth.

I was at my daughter’s graduation from her primary school during the week. The first event in the school since 2019 and it was a celebration of people and little lives embarking on a new beginning. Terry the principal had a wonderful quote that I loved:

“If you stumble let it become part of the dance” 

What a wonderful analogy for life, and indeed it has a place here on our farm and business too.

We all ride the waves life throws at us and sometimes we can get stuck in a rut and not even be aware that we are. We all stumble.

We started our business to celebrate our lives and our food, to produce and supply food that is life enhancing for you our customers whom we serve, and the people who work here and also to the planet and the land that gives us so much. 

Over the past two year we have lost our way at times, and at other times we have been stuck in a rut, more like a maelstrom of constant change that has been difficult to endure.  We have been in a constant state of stumbling and not even been aware. The waves have been big. 

But the essence of what we have been about right from the beginning never changed, and I guess when you stumble it pays to know who you are. Many times, you won’t get it right, you will make mistakes, stumble, and even fall. But getting up again, brushing the dust off your shoulder and marching on is inevitable when there is something else driving you, a purpose greater than yourself.

You may forget what that driving force is, but it is still there like a bright flame inside, and so here we are after so much change, and we are beginning to find ourselves again, to remember why it is we are doing what we do.

As the cucumbers blossom and produce their fruits, and as the first tomatoes turn red on their vines, as we harvest the gorgeous heads of lettuce and the different leaves for the salad mix, as we see the fox ramble by as we are harvesting the kale, it is not difficult to be thankful. 

We are celebrating life through food, through delivering sustenance that enlivens you and our land. 

We are celebrating the diversity of nature and the beauty and the vitality that can be found on our planet and in the food we grow.

Thank you for continuing to join us on this journey.

Kenneth

People are the Essence of all Activity

by Kenneth Keavey

On our farm and in our business without the people there would be nothing, just quiet empty buildings, offices, and fields. Community is a gathering of people, and it is only when people come together that things happen for good or for ill. My favourite quote of all time involves people:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has” Margaret Mead. 

Last week we had the opening of our farm shop and the first public farm tour in well over two years, and we had people, many people. Thank you to all who came. 

It was truly amazing to see so many interested in sustainability and local food. The sun shone and there was music and laughter. There was interesting questions and conversations, there were young children and those somewhat older in years.

There was a question from a young child about snails, there were questions about vertical farming, and soil pH and fertility and trees and biodiversity and the climate crisis and so much more. 

We had an amazing talk from Gerry the beekeeper (whose passion for bees was unmistakable), the bees on our farm are native Irish black bees and they can fly at just over 9C which makes them a hardier Irish bee. It seems as I listened that I knew very little about bees.  They have a harsh life, the poor drone bee has his wings eaten off and he is thrown out of the hive to die at the end of the season!   

But through it all there was a common thread, an idea that united everybody there: that there is a better way to produce our food, a way that helps our planet instead of destroying it, a way that enhances the land instead of laying it to waste. A way that gives nature a fair chance.

We all have the ability three times a day to vote for the future we want.  Ultimately the food we choose to eat and how it is grown contribute greatly to how our planet will fare. 

If you are reading this on a screen or at home after receiving your order, know that you are making a difference. Your purchase and support of our farm does make a difference to the planet and the environment and what you put into your body will impact your health for years to come. 

If you visited the farm, then you would have seen our first kale crop. That kale was transplanted by Emmanuel and his team 6 weeks ago, it will be harvested by hand by the same farm team this week.  It will then be packed into compostable bags by Barry and the packing team. Every part of its journey right up to its delivery onto your doorstep wherever you maybe, we have overseen.

Right beside that kale crop is a 120metre strip of wildflowers. Last night our resident fox sauntered by that kale, the pigeons in the forest at the bottom of the field eye that kale hungrily (they will be getting very little!).

That kale is the essence of vitality it is harvested for you and could only be fresher if you picked it yourself from your own garden.

But that kale and our packing team and our farm team would not be here if it were not for you. So, thank you. Thank you for your support.

Kenneth

Farm Shop Re-Opening!

by Kenneth Keavey

We closed our farm shop just over two years ago. 

We always meant to reopen it, but there never seemed to be enough time or energy, we never quite got back into anything that resembled routine, and so it remained closed, that is until this coming Saturday at 10am.

On many occasion over the past two years we came close to being ready to reopen then another lock down or another wave would raise its head and bang off we went again tumbling and rolling with all that was thrown at us.

The first lockdown for us was not too unlike being hit by a bus and over and over again, up and down it went for the last two years. 

It is funny though that now life seems normal again. I can never quite grasp how everything moves on. You think at the time you will be in the middle of the pain forever and then just like that, it is gone, over and we move on. Life is funny.

Anyway, philosophical ramblings aside we are finally reopening our farm shop and this time it is going to be so much different, better, brighter and on a Saturday which is what you all asked for! 

We have two amazing people that will be serving you Thiago and Anna, both lovely bubbly and helpful individuals. 

We have opened up our whole packing shed with all the hundreds of grocery, plastic free, sustainable and 100% organic products, plus of course the very best range of fresh organic produce in the country and nearly all plastic free. 

We will have a modern till system, and accept all cards for payment, in fact that would be our preference and going forward the shop will be cashless.

It all kicks off this Saturday at 10am and we have some amazing things happening. The line-up will go something like this.

Parking on site

10am shop open

12pm-2pm farm tour. (I’ll bring you on a tour of the farm, show you the polytunnels, and the fields walk down to one of our forestry areas see the bee hives and hopefully meet and feed Florence and George (our two rescue pigs). All the time you will be learning about sustainability, growing and biodiversity. )

1-2pm see the tractors and some machine demonstrations (get up on one if you are feeling brave!)

2-4pm live music, including classical flute music!

3-4pm kids natural art workshops run by Jenny.

There will be a pizza truck and a smoothie/juice stall and coffee too!  There will be even some home baked fresh cakes.

The event is FREE, so come along bring your friends and family and please let others know. The current weather forecast for Saturday looks amazing and hopefully it stays that way!

Thanks for all your support and looking forward to finally meeting people here again on our farm.

Kenneth

PS – our eircode is H91F9C5

Wonky Veg, Food Waste & Great Crops

by Kenneth Keavey

Over the last 16 years we have seen a fair bit and although generally things are never black and white, one thing stands out for us as being just that: food waste. Whatever way you look at it wasting food based on aesthetics is immoral. We work really hard to reduce food waste, it is one of our core values. There are times when the quality just is not good enough and we will never ever compromise on the quality of what we send out. We will give food we cannot sell to our team members, or you may get a freebie or two in your boxes sometimes.

Stuff that really is not good for eating, either goes to our compost heaps to make fertiliser for our new food, or goes to Florence and George’s bellies (our two pet rescue pigs in case you didn’t know). But we grow our own food and so we have a very good understanding of what is ok and what is not. We make sure we harvest as close to packing the boxes as possible, we work with other growers to ensure we have the freshest best produce.

But there is one thing we never do, we never discriminate based on looks, on wonkiness. If a carrot is wrapped around another carrot, will we grade it out? Absolutely not, we will CELEBRATE it, If a potato is showing a little cheekiness well that is absolutely ok with us. In fact, we want vegetables like that. This ‘WONKY’ food tastes the same, it has the same nutritional value, it looks the same on our plates it has been grown sustainably on organic land.

It makes a lot of sense to us NOT to grade out vegetables like that. I guess we are pretty lucky that we do not have to conform to supermarket standards, that we set our own standards and we can do this because we know you our customers are ok with getting cheeky potatoes every now and again.

We know how hard it is to grow food and it is crucial to our planet to make the best use of the land available to us, and not throwing away food based on looks is a good start, at least we think so.

Last year we got our planting plan wrong, it is difficult to guage the market a year in advance, and ended up having to turn crops back into the ground. This year we have been a little more cautious and we hope a bit smarter with our time and energy.

This evening as I write, the sun is shining I have just finished my farm walk of checking the crops. The crops are progressing so well, the tomatoes look amazing as do the cucumber plants and the first lettuce, salad, celery, courgette, broccoli, kale, Romanesco and cabbage are well on their way, even the first parsnips, carrots, beetroot and outdoor spinach are poking their little heads above the soil.

Thank you for supporting our farm and know in doing so, not only are you contributing to reducing your carbon footprint, and reducing your waste burden on our planet, you are also contributing to reducing food waste and giving these cheeky potatoes a good home!

Thank you

Kenneth

PS we have some very exciting news! Our farm shop is finally opening next Saturday the 4th of June at 10am, we will have a farm tour at 12pm, and music, and children’s art, so come along!