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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Snowwwwww Dayyyyyyy!!!!!
The snow came. I clear drifts from the barn doors. Haul down bushels of treehay from the loft and shoulder them out to the flocks. Cart bales of hay and buckets of feed up the hill. Sinking ankle deep in crunching clean snow. No time for anything other than the necessary. Our backup water is […]
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Winter’s Coming…
I love the frost and the snow. The clarity and crispness of the light seems a beautiful thing. What is to be done is clear, that it needs to be done pressing. It’s a clear, simple, uncomplicated and necessary world in the snow
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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 […]
Read MoreThe Sparrowhawk
I live in a land of thrushes, and of sparrowhawks. In summer she waits. The female hawk. Perched on the thick overarching hedgerows that border the back roads in summer. The hedges are thronged with thrushes and blackbirds. Safe, hidden in amongst the thorn trees. Bread and butter for sparrowhawks is she can but flush […]
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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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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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Free Food from Sligo Global Kitchen and Hawthorn Hill Farm
Sligo Global kitchen is a group of refugees, some in Direct Provision, who cook food, and share it with whoever turns up at their Global Feasts. You can’t cook in Direct Provision. You can’t work. Or study. So. What do you do? You open a Global kitchen that serves food for free to 300 people […]
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