A happy Christmas to you from all at our farm. I hope that you enjoy our newsletter, and that you have enough time over Christmas to read it. Perhaps you could even enter our competition.
We still have a very good supply of apples left, and expect to be still selling Bramley cookers in March and eaters until well into February. At the moment we have our "first-pick" Jonagored and Karmijn (Cox-type) apples. These were the first ones that we picked off these trees in October, and they are just coming to optimum maturity now, and really tasting well at the moment.
As usual, we have apple juice, apple jelly, and strawberry and plum jams also. Over the Christmas period we also have some special apple and strawberry juice mix, which we are making from strawberries that we kept in the freezer since July, and of course fresh apples.
We have also been test-selling a little bit of unpasteurised cider vinegar, and some of this is still available. It is a bit unusual, as the bacterial "mother" that makes the vinegar is still present in the bottle. As with cheese, some people prefer that made from un-pasteurised raw material, while others prefer the pasteurised product.
Also back in the farm-shop is the bag-in-box juice that we tried last year. The crew of Germans who helped us make the juice last year have been back again, and have done as good a job as before. Hopefully we will have enough to keep customers satisfied for a bit longer this year. Prices remain unchanged since last year at €13.50 for the bag with box, and €12.50 for the refill only.
I am sorry to report that we have not yet received the recipe for the wonderful
white forest gateau that Seamus O'Connell made on our farm for the Soul Food programme on
RTE last year. However, RTE is repeating the series, and so you may have a
chance to figure it out for yourself if you see it.
Since our last newsletter the farmers' market in Cahir has been going well. A break for Christmas is now in order, but the show will resume in mid-February.
For anyone who receives this newsletter before Saturday (and I hope that that includes most in the Cahir area), Santa Claus will be visiting the market this Saturday (December 20th), and will have some free goodies for kids to leave out for Rudolf and himself on Christmas Eve.
I look forward to seeing you there at our stall on Saturday, and don't forget to bring the children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and so forth.
