Have I gone too far this time?

by Kenneth Keavey

Are we promised rain? I went to that place this week, I said the unsayable, “We need rain”.  There is always the fear here, that once the rain comes it will never leave, and to be fair we have had plenty of experiences with rain never leaving. 

We have been out with our water tanker this week as many of our crops are stunted. Broccoli, kale, celery, cabbage and more are stunted they need water.  It is not close to the major drought of 2018 when we had to dig down 18 inches to find moisture, but it is starting to be a problem.

These extended periods of dry weather are amazing the blue sky does us all a world of good, but 3-4 weeks without rain, that is unusual, or is it? It seems to me that these extended dry spells followed or proceeded by intense rain are not so unusual anymore. Since 2018 we have had more and more weeks of intense dry or drought conditions than I remember in the prior ten years.

Right now, our farm more resembles a farm in southern France or Spain, dusty dry and stunted.

The climate is warming, it is undeniable, man-made greenhouse gases are responsible. Weather patterns are changing rapidly. 

It’s hard to grasp the magnitude of climate change, we don’t see the glaciers or the ice caps melting, the wild-fires in Europe last year or those in Canada right not are removed from our comfortable corner of the world.  

Our direct experience of climate change is relatively benign, but that too is changing. Earlier this year the lack of tomatoes and peppers due to extreme weather, affected us, but it was more of a minor irritation that a real problem. But what happens when these climate stresses increase, and they start to affect our food production?

We have such potential for diversification in our food production here and yet the market is undermining our horticultural industry at a time when it couldn’t be more important to support it. 

It may be selfish, but we need to be able to grow our food and we need to support local food growers. One critical way to reduce our burden on this planet is to think mindfully about what we eat, and where and how it was grown. Eat more plants, locally and organically grown.

We can only do what we can do. We can only do what we have the time energy and money to do. But how we spend that time, energy and money makes a huge difference for the better.  Our business was started to guarantee that what comes to your door in one of our boxes has as far as we can control, been grown or produced, ethically, sustainably, and organically. We don’t always get it right, but those principles are one thing WE WILL NEVER COMPROMISE ON.

Thank you to everybody who responded to our post and e-mail last week. The number of responses and the level of support was amazing, uplifting and encouraging and made a difference so thank you, I read them all and if you have any thoughts on the above again we would love to hear them.

Thank you for your support.

Kenneth

Green Cashew Dressing & Cous Cous Salad

by Lou Robbie

This is one of my all time favourite dressings. It is so vibrant and punchy and creamy from the cashews. I ordered a head of Irish red lettuce last week and have been living off it for the last 5 days (it was massive and gorgeous). And I remembered this dressing, I shared a version of it with you last summer. Its just the best and makes enough to last a few days.

Couscous is so quick and handy here but you could add leftover rice, pasta, tinned lentils or beans instead. As well as adding grated carrot, shaved red onion or any leftover cooked veggies that need using up.

Let us know if you try it,

Team GREEN yay!

Lou 🙂

Note: If you love garlic add extra cloves- I usually do.

Ingredients: makes 2 large salads

Method:

Step 1: Begin by making the cous cous. Add the dried cous cous to bowl, add a pinch of salt and top with boiling water. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave it for 15 minutes.

Step 2: Put the cashews into a bowl and cover with boiling water, leave to soften for 15 minutes. if your blender is not very powerful, soak for a full hour.

Step 3: Toast a handful of almonds on a dry frying pan on a low heat, toss ever minute until toasted. Once cooled, roughly chop them.

Step 3: Make the dressing, to a blender add the basil, spinach, the softened cashews plus the water, lemon juice, oil, grated garlic and a good pinch salt, pepper. blend until nice and smooth.

Step 4: Dice the tomatoes and cucumber. Fluff up the cous cous with a fork.

Step 5: Build the salad add the cous cous to a plate, top with lettuce, tomato and cucumber, pour over the dressing and scatter the almonds on top.

Mix and enjoy

Recipe Roundup – Salads

by Simone Kelly

With the lovely warm weather we’re currently having, it most definitely is salad season. Quick, easy and healthy, as a side or as a main course – you’ll definitely want to try these!

Click on the bold part to go straight to the recipe.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Interesting piece on Countrywide last week…..

by Kenneth Keavey

There was an interesting piece on Countrywide last week documenting the demise of our indigenous vegetable growing industry.  All the interviewed vegetable growers told the same story, loss leading and chasing the cheapest possible produce by supermarkets is destroying our industry. In some cases, refusing a very basic increase of a few cents to ensure survival of some of Ireland’s vegetable farms.

We have been led to believe that carrots at €.49 or broccoli at €.79 is the norm, or Brussel sprouts for €.05! This is loss leading as it is impossible to produce crops for these prices. The market will always chase the cheapest option, always, using cheap import pricing as a barometer to value locally grown food. 

Not only are our food growers closing doors, so too are smaller independent retailers who haven’t the scale and cannot compete with supermarket pricing.  

What happens when this short-term approach to food supply eventually leads to the last vegetable farms and independent retailers closing their doors. Where then will our food come from when there is a climate shock, as there was in Spain earlier this year.  Where then will supermarkets look to supply our food?  Where is the long-term vision and the commitment to sustainability in this food sourcing strategy? 

Here’s another interesting fact about retailing in Ireland: ‘the restrictive practices order 1987 prohibits the sale of grocery products at below net invoice price’ but this law does not include fresh produce! It is deemed permissible to allow loss leading on all things fresh, and that includes you may be surprised to learn not only fruit and vegetables, but also milk, meat, and fish.

Setting a basic requirement to sell fresh food at fair prices would level the playing field would allow a more measured amount of the sale price to go to the farmer and give independent retailers a fighting chance.

An IFA commissioned economics report published last March, stated that retail prices compression threatens the viability of Irish horticulture which could lead to even more reliance on imports to feed our nation. 

The most recent national field vegetable census showed that the number of field vegetable growers fell from 377 in 1999 to 165 in 2014. That is a contraction of 56% These skills are lost for ever, and once they are gone are difficult to replace.

I for one am grateful for our own farm and the farmers that supply us, we aim to pay fairly for the food we produce and buy, we price our produce as competitively as we can, and we feel by removing the middleman we are able to reasonably compete with the big supermarkets. But not if they continue to sell produce for below the cost of production.

We are lucky and thankful to have our own farm and also to have a network of great Irish organic farmers that we source our food from.  We can’t wait to be harvesting more of our own produce and receiving the amazing produce from our other Irish suppliers and you can see all the IRISH produce we currently have here. 

Please remember your purchase with us makes a massive difference, thank you for your continued support.

Kenneth

Crispy Black Bean Tacos

by Lou Robbie

Tacos are on trend at the moment, you can add just about anything in there but its hard to beat spicy smashed black beans. They’ve got to be crispy so give them a good fry and serve up with your favourite taco sides.

We are big fans of Mexican style food in our house its great family food to share and dip and mix and match. Add fresh salsa, guacamole, cheese and jalapeños.

Find all the orgainc beans and spices you need in our groceries.

Lou 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp dried herbs
  • 1 tablespoon tomato puree
  • 1/2 cup water
  • salt to taste
  • 1 tin (400g) black beans, drained
  • 100g grated cheddar cheese
  • 6 small tortilla wraps (wheat or corn)
  • 1 lime, cut into quarters
  • smashed avocado and fresh coriander to serve

Method:

Step 1: Make the spicy smashed beans. Add the oil to a warm frying pan along with the onions and garlic. Gently cook to soften. Add the chilli, cumin, paprika, dried herbs, a pinch of salt and tomato puree. Cook for 3-5 minutes.

Step 2: Tip in the beans, stir to coat in the spices pour in the water and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the beans cook down, add a squeeze of lime. Mash with a fork or a potato masher, transfer to a bowl and clean the frying pan.

Step 3: Spoon the mashed beans onto the tortilla wrap, add cheese and fold over. Heat the frying pan, add oil and fry the taco on both sides until golden and crispy. Push down with a weight or small pot to get better contact with the pan, flip and fry on the other side until crispy. Repeat.

Step 4: Serve hot with smashed avocado, fresh coriander and lime.

3 Ingredient Almond Cookies

by Lou Robbie

Quick, dairy free, vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free, kid approved, only 3 ingredients and very tasty! You need to try these cookies.

My kids are alway hungry and I like to have snacks on hand that have a bit of goodness in them. Almonds are a superfood and while my kids wont eat whole almonds they will happy munch on these cookies instead.

They may not look perfect but for a quick bake they hit the spot. They are crispy on the outside soft in the middle. If you’re feeling extra fancy drizzle some melted chocolate on top.

Will you try them?

Lou 🙂

Ingredients: makes 10 small cookies

Method:

  • Step 1: Preheat the oven 170ºC. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
  • Step 2: Melt the coconut oil in the microwave or in a small pot and stir in the maple syrup.
  • Step 3: Mix the coconut and maple into the ground almonds and work into a dough. Use your hands to form 10 small balls put them on the baking tray 1.5 inch apart.
  • Step 4: Use a fork to push the balls down and make a crisscross on the top of each cookie.
  • Step 5: Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Thoughts on Biodiversity

by Kenneth Keavey

It struck me today as I took the chance to get out of the office for a while, that there is a very real tangible benefit to doing business and farming in the way we and other organic farms do it.

There is pressure too as we don’t have the reliance on an armory of chemicals to cut the work to the minimum and to ease the pressure when there is a risk of disease.

But the pluses definitely outweigh the negatives, It is definitely worth it, 100%.  It is worth it when you take a walk around and you absorb the diversity we have here in abundance, and not just biodiversity we have diversity of people and plants, and animals and insects and even in you our customers that we have the privilege of being able to connect with directly we have diversity. Often marketers ask us who our customer is, and it is so difficult to define because people from all walks of life choose to support us.

But the biodiversity is the one thing that without fail always reminds me of the importance of changing the way we produce our food, and I guess the poster child for biodiversity is the bee. I don’t think I can count the number of different bumble bees I have seen in the last week.  They seem to come in all shapes and sizes and they just make me feel happy! But not only that they of course have a very real role as pollinators and without the bee we would be lacking for so much.

So, and it seems like deja vu, as we do this every year, so here we go again! I hope if everything goes according to plan by the time you have read this then we will have planted nearly 3 acres of wild flowers and clover. We do this to enhance the structure of the soil and to add nutrients too. But the most amazing benefit will be felt later on in the year when the color and the flowers and bees come in their thousands and for that I cant wait. A real gift of nature, but as with many things it is fleeting, but to be enjoyed while it lasts.

I also hope by the time you read this that we will have successfully sown our first parsnip, carrots and beetroot crops, that of course is by no means guaranteed as the weather the machinery tend to take on a life of their own. But what will be, will be, they do say you need to cultivate (and that was definitely not an intentional pun!) patience to do this job, and they are right.

I will of course keep you posted of our progress, and in that respect the farm team are making loads. The tomato plants look amazing, and there are flowers blooming on all the plants (over 1100) we also have fantastic harvesting going on for you over the coming days. The spinach, chard, lettuce and salad, coming from our own farm.  We are also receiving gorgeous rocket from Millhouse organic farm, and fresh herbs from Joe Kelly, amongst all the other usual Irish staples.  

We have this year put in place formal agreements with a number of small and not so small Irish organic growers as we came to two realisations.

  1. We simply cannot do it all ourselves, we have tried.
  2. This allows the creation of an amazing network of support for other small Irish organic farms. As this season rolls on watch this space for all the amazing Irish produce we will be growing receiving and delivering.

So, thank you, without you and you need to really understand that we really mean ‘without you’, we would not be here, the bees would not be here. You are making this possible, and you are getting the very best cleanest freshest organic food on the planet delivered to your door to boot!

So, thank you from all of us here.

Kenneth

PS Watch out for the signed note of who packed your order in all your boxes, you may not meet the guys who walk around our warehouse carefully putting your orders together but now at least you get to put a name to the person who does.

PPS So don’t forget to place your order, and if you are a courier customer, watch out for our amazing new FSC (Forest Stewardship approved) courier boxes, only ever packed with shredded waste cardboard! Also remember delivery is still FREE when you spend over €100.

Warm Aubergine Salad

by Lou Robbie

Fancy an exciting zingy extra tasty salad this summer? This is it!

Spongy aubergines love to be bathed in spice and charred until soft and caramelised. Chopped warm and added to the fresh cherry tomatoes and garlic they liven up to give a delicious tongue tingling flavour.

We used the air fryer to cook the aubergine quickly, but you can roast it in the oven at 180ºC for 30 mins or even char it on the BBQ.

Save this recipe and enjoy it on the warm summer evenings with great company. Head to our groceries for most of the ingredients.

Lou 🙂

Ingredients: serves 2

  • 1 aubergine
  • 150g cherry tomatoes
  • 2 tsp cajun spice (or a mix of cumin, chilli, paprika)
  • 3 tablespoons olive or rapeseed oil (divided)
  • 150g greek style yoghurt
  • 1 clove garlic
  • juice and zest 1/2 lime
  • 8 torn mint leaves
  • 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  • Preheat the air fryer or oven 180ºC.
  • Step 1: Slice the green top off the aubergine, then cut in half and chop into long pieces, about 8.
  • Step 2: Mix together 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 teaspoons of cajun spice, season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Brush this onto the aubergine pieces.
  • Step 3: Line the basket with parchment paper and air fry for 18 minutes at 180ºC and check and turn half way through. (If using the oven it may take 30 minutes)
  • Step 4: Chop the cherry tomatoes into quarters and add them to a mixing bowl. Finely grate the garlic clove and add this to the bowl, add the zest and juice of half a lime, 2 tablespoons of olive oil a small pinch of salt and pepper. Tear in the mint leaves. Chop the warm aubergine into 1 inch pieces and add this to the bowl, mix.
  • Step 5: Spoon half the greek yoghurt onto each plate and top with the warm aubergine salad sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
  • Enjoy.

Jam Jar Dressing w/ Feta Salad

by Lou Robbie

Lighter, brighter days love lighter brighter dishes and we welcome all the delicious colourful organic salads. Make sure to arm yourself with some handy jam jar dressings like this one, make extra and store it in the fridge!

A jam jar dressing is very satisfying to make especially when you get to shake it up like a cocktail! Feel free to adjust and change up the flavours, you could add some dried herbs, chilli flakes, fresh grated garlic, lemon juice, pesto, or what ever you like.

Now you have your dressing sorted order some incredible organic produce for your salad www.greenearthorganics.ie Keep it simple like this feta salad full ingredients below.

Lou 🙂

Ingrediens:

For the dressing:

  • 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar (white wine or cider)
  • 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
  • 1/2 orange juice zest and juice
  • 6 tablespoons light oil (sunflower/olive)
  • salt and pepper

For the salad:

Method:

  1. To make the dressing: Add all the dressing ingredients to a clean jam jar, put the lid on and shake well. Taste the dressing and adjust the seasoning if needed, it may need more salt, honey or vinegar, keep tasting and adjusting until you are happy with it.
  2. To make the salad pour half the dressing into a mixing bowl. Tear in the lettuce leaves, add the diced tomatoes, cucumber, feta cubes, zest the orange, and scatter in the olives. Gently toss through and pour onto a serving plate, top with mint leaves and serve.
  3. Keep the other half of the dressing, in the fridge, for or another day.

News from the farm

by Kenneth Keavey

The art of producing food is marvellous and tough and on sunny days it is a privilege.

We talk about food all the time here, we grow it, we sow the seeds, we watch the plants grow, we fertilise the soil, we control the weeds and hope we have the right mix to ensure the plants grow healthy and pest free.

We spend the time in between managing the crops, maintaining the land, planting trees, growing hedging, sowing wildflowers for the bees, harnessing the power of the sun, these are all things we do.

We see first-hand the connection between the fresh produce and the cooked food on our plate. We can see how the process of growing healthy food from healthy soil creates local employment and impacts on our locality positively. Sustainable agriculture is good for all and it benefits the environment immeasurably.

We see more bees, and flies, and insects on our farm and we feel there is a balance as we rarely see an out-of-control pest issue. We see more birds, and wildlife, we see the land thrive, just this morning I saw a giant hare saunter past one of our polytunnels.

Not only that, but organic food is so much better for us, of course it hasn’t been sprayed and so is free of harmful chemicals, but it is also just better nutritionally.

A comprehensive study carried out by David Thomas has demonstrated a remarkable decrease in mineral content in fresh produce over 50 years, comparing food grown in 1941 to food grown in 1991. To the extent that today you would need to eat 6 apples to get the same nutritional value you got in 1941 from eating 5 apples. In some cases, mineral levels have dropped by as much as 70%.

The use of highly soluble fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides and the intensive production of food has led to land that is lifeless and food that is less healthy and less nutritionally dense, this reflects the remarkable connection between our food and the health of our soil.

There is no way we could know this, as a population we are in danger of losing our connection with the land and our food. This is not our fault, the food system that is championed by supermarkets and giant food producers has made it this way.

Imagine though if we could see the impact of our positive choices, if we could somehow rekindle that connection with our food? Over the past year it seems we have been remaking that connection.

We are reconnecting with our food by cooking and touching and smelling and seeing how our food is grown. We are redeveloping that connection with nature, and this is something we can pass onto our children, we can show them that there is a great, fun and fantastically positive way to live and eat.

Although from what I have seen recently it is the children who are teaching us!

Kenneth