following on from what I'm doing in the examiner at the mo....
newish publication on organic farming yields
organic farming
(I haven't actually read this yet, but its publication is noteworthy)
Monday, September 24, 2007
organic consumers association (US)
If you want global organic news, there are a few options, some of which are over there on the left in links....
one that always does a good job is this one
they also do a newsletter, which is full of useful, often quite positive tidbits
there I got an update on the bizzare world of US organic milk labelling
one that always does a good job is this one
they also do a newsletter, which is full of useful, often quite positive tidbits
there I got an update on the bizzare world of US organic milk labelling
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Organic hill farming
A whole system, from production to consumption, with biodiversity improved along the way, through the scrub-reducing activities of this cattle breed in this location....
The foothills of the Knockmealdown mountains, like any other mountainous region, is not what you might call typically good farming land. And it is not in any way suited to high stocking rates. Along with upland grassland, this part of Ireland is characterised by wet heath, scrub, dry heath and dense bracken. Yet somehow Joe Condon and his wife Eileen have managed to turn a remote hilly farm with commonage into a thriving business.
In fact the Condons, through their farming and retailing practices, have turned their splendid isolation into a thriving organic food business, one that has an array of feathers in its bow.
They manage to protect and indeed develop biodiversity, while directly selling an especially healthy meat to their customers.
The Condons are organic beef farmers, and their meat comes from a Galloway herd. The products are artisan from beginning to end: the Condons use a local butcher, Michael McGrath from Lismore: �hand butchering is essential to the process. People like Michael develop a feel and a vision for what they are doing - you could look at the job and it looks easy. It�s not. You have to have the skills, the discipline, the training. You have to make sure that no gristle ends up in the burgers, for example.�
Joe has a small scale processor licence under his IOFGA organic certification, so he contracts out the processing work under his licence.
The Galloway is well suited to the hills. There is research to suggest that these sorts of traditional breeds do a far better job than sheep at keeping unwanted monocultures of scrub at bay in sensitive areas. On the Condon�s farm, as in the farms in the BurrenLIFE project in Clare, farming is being used to protect and improve biodiversity, not hinder it.
There is also research to suggest that Galloway meat has more Omega three, and a better Omega three to six ratio that other meats.
Joe is quick to let his customers know this � the website through which much of his sales are conducted is called after this fact: http://www.omegabeefdirect.ie/ .
I asked Joe about how the direct selling works: �We deliver frozen burgers and beef direct to the consumer through a courier. I drive over to the depo in the evening, not the middle of day, so the products are only with the courier for 10 hrs. I can track POD (Proof of delivery) on line .There have been no slip ups to date�.
Customers can order quarter pounder burgers, and all the steaks � sirloin, striploin, mince, fillet, cubed and round, along with a stir fry option. There are three box options on the site, and 5 kgs clocks in at �95.
And the reviews couldn�t be better. The latest addition to the long list of high profile customers is the Schoolhouse gastropub in Ballsbridge, Dublin. Joe�s meat featured on Richard Corrigan�s Corrigan Knows Food, while John McKenna eats Joe�s burgers at home: As he said himself recently when interviewed in the Irish Times �if you've got three kids as we do, the box with the burgers from Joe Condon's farm is a box from heaven�. And Conor Pope, also in the Irish Times, gave the omega direct organic burgers the top rating of 5 stars, ahead of all comers.
Joe doesn�t just deliver direct. He also sells at two farmers� markets, Dungarvan on a Thursday and Waterford city every second Sunday. His FBD insurance allows him, as a food processor, to trade at farmers� markets at no extra charge. This type of direct selling particularly appeals to Joe:
�You couldn�t put a monetary price on what has developed out of the farmers� market. You get to improve your product; you know if you are going in the right or the wrong direction; you develop your sales techniques. And there�s an unbelievable amount of networking; journalists, chefs, they see you there. At home on the farm, nobody sees you.�
True. Especially at the foothills of the Knockmealdowns.
The foothills of the Knockmealdown mountains, like any other mountainous region, is not what you might call typically good farming land. And it is not in any way suited to high stocking rates. Along with upland grassland, this part of Ireland is characterised by wet heath, scrub, dry heath and dense bracken. Yet somehow Joe Condon and his wife Eileen have managed to turn a remote hilly farm with commonage into a thriving business.
In fact the Condons, through their farming and retailing practices, have turned their splendid isolation into a thriving organic food business, one that has an array of feathers in its bow.
They manage to protect and indeed develop biodiversity, while directly selling an especially healthy meat to their customers.
The Condons are organic beef farmers, and their meat comes from a Galloway herd. The products are artisan from beginning to end: the Condons use a local butcher, Michael McGrath from Lismore: �hand butchering is essential to the process. People like Michael develop a feel and a vision for what they are doing - you could look at the job and it looks easy. It�s not. You have to have the skills, the discipline, the training. You have to make sure that no gristle ends up in the burgers, for example.�
Joe has a small scale processor licence under his IOFGA organic certification, so he contracts out the processing work under his licence.
The Galloway is well suited to the hills. There is research to suggest that these sorts of traditional breeds do a far better job than sheep at keeping unwanted monocultures of scrub at bay in sensitive areas. On the Condon�s farm, as in the farms in the BurrenLIFE project in Clare, farming is being used to protect and improve biodiversity, not hinder it.
There is also research to suggest that Galloway meat has more Omega three, and a better Omega three to six ratio that other meats.
Joe is quick to let his customers know this � the website through which much of his sales are conducted is called after this fact: http://www.omegabeefdirect.ie/ .
I asked Joe about how the direct selling works: �We deliver frozen burgers and beef direct to the consumer through a courier. I drive over to the depo in the evening, not the middle of day, so the products are only with the courier for 10 hrs. I can track POD (Proof of delivery) on line .There have been no slip ups to date�.
Customers can order quarter pounder burgers, and all the steaks � sirloin, striploin, mince, fillet, cubed and round, along with a stir fry option. There are three box options on the site, and 5 kgs clocks in at �95.
And the reviews couldn�t be better. The latest addition to the long list of high profile customers is the Schoolhouse gastropub in Ballsbridge, Dublin. Joe�s meat featured on Richard Corrigan�s Corrigan Knows Food, while John McKenna eats Joe�s burgers at home: As he said himself recently when interviewed in the Irish Times �if you've got three kids as we do, the box with the burgers from Joe Condon's farm is a box from heaven�. And Conor Pope, also in the Irish Times, gave the omega direct organic burgers the top rating of 5 stars, ahead of all comers.
Joe doesn�t just deliver direct. He also sells at two farmers� markets, Dungarvan on a Thursday and Waterford city every second Sunday. His FBD insurance allows him, as a food processor, to trade at farmers� markets at no extra charge. This type of direct selling particularly appeals to Joe:
�You couldn�t put a monetary price on what has developed out of the farmers� market. You get to improve your product; you know if you are going in the right or the wrong direction; you develop your sales techniques. And there�s an unbelievable amount of networking; journalists, chefs, they see you there. At home on the farm, nobody sees you.�
True. Especially at the foothills of the Knockmealdowns.
Monday, September 10, 2007
300 plants in an organic garden: Lissadell
I've been away for a while guys...back once again....
�The staff tell me there�s over 300 plant varieties here, but I haven�t had time to count� laughs Dermot Carey, head gardener in Lissadell House, Sligo.
Dermot is busy but happy. He comes from a growing background, and has grown all over the world. But here, in the walled 2 � acre Victorian walled garden in Lissadel, he�s in his element.
Walking around the garden, it would be suprising if I wasn�t surprised by some of the things I encounter. First up, 29 varieties of lettuce. Not herbs and lettuce, just lettuce. 9 different types of Basil. I sampled the Lemon Basil, and it�s extraordinarily flavoursome.
Black peppers � not pepper as in salt and pepper, but peppers; heritage potatoes sourced from David Langford, who grows 160 varieties in his garden, and once had a man drive from Belgium to deliver a single spud variety to him in Mayo. Dermot and David were both out in the Organic Centre for a Slow Food event recently, tasting native black bee wild flower honey. These people know and grow good food.
Back to Lissadell. Dermot comes from a large scale conventional vegetable growing background. His father grew 100 acres of vegetables in north county Dublin. His mother worked in the Dublin vegetable market, the wholesalers in Smithfield in the north inner city, which is where they met.
Perhaps because of this large scale vegetable growing background in county Dublin Dermot is also convinced of the benefits of technology in organic farming: �organic farmers, to supply more people with a consistent supply of vegetables, need to embrace technology, in the way people like Philip Drapier does�.
He�s grown in the US, on the Aran Islands, and in an T�irseach. In an T�irseach he established the Dominican nun�s gardens in Wicklow town, who supply a range of regional farmers� markets, who grow biodynamically and hold seminars on spirituality.
�The garden is divided into four sections, each of which is further subdivided into four sections. That�s how the Victorians would have done it. Except for this bit; this section is fairly wild, more like nature�, he says, pointed to a spectacular, sunflower- laden section.
Everything looks and tastes fantastic. Even the weather this summer didn�t destroy the garden: �some of the crops are wet weather crops�, according to Dermot.
But how does this 300 plant garden make money? �It�s a demonstration garden, so people do tours, and Lissadel is a major Tourist attraction. It�s also a kitchen garden for the restaurant here�.
Along with this, Dermot has let his products speak for themselves. �I�ve brought chefs from local hotels and restaurants out here, like Brid Torrades from Osta wine bar and the Atrium cafe, walked them around and given them a box of vegetables to take home with them, They�ve become my biggest customers.�
�I�ve also gone to my customers in January with a seed catalogue, and asked them what they wanted me to grow. It�s a buyer�s market.�
So how does your garden grow? By knowing your market, selling directly, combining demonstration and retailing, having a lineage and a vision, and, perhaps most of all, having 300 varieties of expertly-grown plants. At least, that�s how Dermot�s garden grows.
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