Farming
Lambing 2020
Lambing is almost done. Sweat, tears, heartbreak, joy and new life, on the farm and for the farm
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Messy by nature
There are farms with lines of white stones that pick out the borders of perfectly crisp lawns. Striped. Formal and formed. There are farms with trim hedges that behave themselves. Rectangular boxes of clean green lines that picture frame their fields. There are farms with fields of ryegrass and clover, uncluttered by wildflowers or weeds. […]
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The Consumer Shapes the Farmer
There is a clear idea of community, of what the culture in agriculture means. It means in part, the people. In part the stories the people band themselves together with. But the culture and community of a farm is bigger than that. It’s everything. It’s the sense of place and of purpose. It’s the people […]
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Lambing, loss and unexpected learning
This is from my archive of last years lambing. We are not lambing this year to manage our overstock from last year. We had too many lambs, and made the decision to keep some as hoggets, instead of lambing this year, and buy in store lambs at 6 weeks from other farmers. Service as normal […]
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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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Autumn lamb, beginnings and endings and the cyclical poetry of farming
That moment when the end of things and the beginning of things melts and merges into each other. That’s Autumn. The bushes once bending under the weight of raspberries and rain are now bare. The last of the potatoes lifted. Cooked. Mashed. Served with glistening dark mutton stews. The blackberries are long gone. The sloes […]
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Machismo, electric fences, and managing randy rams.
It’s 7 in the morning. The kids open the bedroom door. “There’s a powercut”. It’s still semi dark. But the sun has risen behind the thick grey clouds. Storm Ali, the first of the season has made landfall. We are in the North Roscommon. I propel myself out the door. Quickly. The electric fences are […]
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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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Wild orchids and what they mean for this farmer
In the Quarry field, tight by the road, once more, our wild pink orchids bloom. This makes me as giddy as a kid in a sweetshop. This is Christmas, and Hannukah, and the all Ireland championship and a Monster Truck rally all rolled up into one for me. There are drifts of Ragged Robin too. […]
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