Food from the Farm
Farm Bathing – How Hard Work on the Farm Keeps Me Sane, Healthy and Fed.
It is good to work. The rhythm and lift of a scythe or an axe. The weight of hay on a forks end as you pivot the handle with a palm and lift it into a loft. The spade as it cuts bright slabs of clay from the soil. The turn and pitch and sway […]
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Tree Sap Syrup
I’ve a mind to make syrup from tree sap on the farm. I’m combing the hedgerows and woodlands for good sized Alder, Sycamore, Beech, Poplar and Lime
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The Past is a Farming Country…
You are always in time. On time. Out of time. On a farm. Always. Seasonal time. Geological time. Daytime and night time. Deep Time and no time. You are in the time of fertility and the time of harvest. Your year might be framed by frost time. Sow after the last harvest before the first […]
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Waiting for a Swarm: What bees mean to me
I’m waiting for a swarm of bees. If it happens, it will be quick. A kind of inverse tornado calmly and efficiently funneling themselves down, by the thousand, and in to the hive entrance. Up to twenty thousand of them. And it is done. The colony has reproduced. Swarms begin when the workers in an […]
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A journey, three turkeys, and what it means to make food.
It’s been a journey. But for our trouble, we have three plump bronze Turkeys weighing around 20lbs each. We had our butcher in Boyle clean and prepare them. He’s deft, careful and skilled. And he gives the kids lollipops. Two are gifts for good friends. People who will come and tend a pulled lamb or […]
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How to make delicious Irish Buttermilk Brown Soda bread. Thrifty, healthy and sweet.
Today I’m posting the recipe for Buttermilk Brown Soda Bread. With treacle, honey and oats. About as traditionally Irish a thing as you can eat. Simple, healthy, brimful of wholemeal, and delicious. Easy to make. Great to make with kids. Who will devour your wholemeal loaf and ask for more. Best eaten warm from the […]
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Why we graze our sheep and goats on wildflower meadow. (It’s sustainable. They taste great.)
This is a post about flavour. Deep, complex, flavourful lamb and goat. It’s also about wildflowers. Diversity. Sustainable farming. Pine martens. And grazing. But it’s fundamentally about flavour. Which is what grazing boils down to. We believe how we farm gives our lamb, goat and hogget a taste of place. A unique taste that’s a […]
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