One of my favourite things about autumn, along with the fact that we often get an Indian summer, is the food festivals.
There are a plethora in the south west. The season and the region begins with Mitchelstown (August 28th-30th), features a real gem with Skibbereen's a Taste of West Cork (September 14-20th ), and is bookended by the gorgeous Dingle Food and Wine festival (October 2-4th).
But if you want to get away and find a foodie haven, then try the Harvest Feast in Drumshanbo, Leitrim (September11th-13th).
According to John Brennan of the Leitrim Organic Farmers' Co-op and chair of the Festival Committee: �This year there is a real focus on the best of seasonal, local produce, on getting back to basics with gardening and cooking, and on innovative ecotourism activities.�
Now in its third year, there is a real cost saving focus at this year's Harvest Feast. This is obviously incredibly apt, considering the new omnipresent fashion for frugality.
Not only are many events free, there is also a free talk and demonstration on reducing your food bills by 30% without compromising on quality. Sian Breslin of the Donegal Manor Cookery School will reveal how to better plan your meals, how to develop recipe lists while keeping your focus on good healthy and nutritious food.
Eye catching events include the excellent 40 stall regional food market; a Neven Mcguire cookery demo; children's cookery classes and Tommy Early's organic farm walk.
Tommy Early has about 100 acres of IOFGA certified farmland. His farm is a treasure trove for nature lovers. Along with the farmland, there's lakeshore, untouched bog, wetlands and woodlands old enough to be marked on the first ordinance survey maps.
The farm stocks the rare breed Moiled cattle, which will form part of the walks. �Moiled are a dual purpose rare breed, with dappled coat, dating back to the Vikings� he tells me.
I asked Tommy Early about how and why he started doing biodiversity walks on his beautiful, lakeshore farm: �We have the perfect spot for it: we're on the shore of Lough Allen. A lot of the habitats haven't changed - none of it was ever intensively farmed�.
�Along with that, the land is marginal. Marginal land, especially the boggy land, is the first to get wet and the last to dry.�
He continues �And with the summer's we've been having, its getting more and more difficult to cut silage. So I think there's potential in nature tourism�
He seems to be thinking correctly. The farm now hosts school tours, various nature appreciation groups and the broad Harvest Feast walks, which covers a wide range of events.
From a farmer perspective, he tells me that �this sort of tourism is fairly low cost. There are a number of walks on the farm, due to its diversity. We could do heritage, birds, bats, historical: you could develop it from several angles�.
He now even has moth tourism. A bird expert told a moth expert, photographer Philip Strickland, and now people visit to experience the fantastic range of moths on the site.
The light hand with which Tommy has farmed allows incredibly rare and delicate flora and fauna to flourish.
�With moths, its all to do with variety of habitats. The healthier and longer established they are the better: Some moths can only live in habitats that are a couple of hundred years old.�
�We're preserving the bog, and have changed some drains which has created ponds. The bog is also untouched � it was never harvested. We have a rare species of butterfly called March Fritillary�.
�On the lakeshore of Lough Allen we've a rare orchid � the Irish Ladies Tresses. That only flowers after a flood and without too much rain following it. It might only flower every couple of years. We've been maintaining the shoreline to promote the orchid.�
Its sensitive work, requiring a light hand, but combines well with an organic approach and ethos.
For more see: here or ring 071 9640868
No comments:
Post a Comment