| Newsletter Autumn 2006 | page 2 of 4 | |
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A pictorial history of Cahir
An old schoolfriend of mine recently contacted me
about a book he is publishing. The person in question, Paul Buckley, has
studied history for many years, and is an enthusiastic historian on the
subject of his home town, Cahir.
The book, called "Cahir, a Photographic Introduction" contains
124 pages with some 134 images pertaining to the town's past. It is
presented in an attractive landscape format (230mm x 180mm) and will be
available in both hard and soft back editions. I have seen some of the
old photographs, and must say that they really bring me back in time.
Paul has published this book himself, with the sponsorship of some old
friends and local businesses, and I am proud to be associated with such
a fine work, and wish him the best of luck with it. The book will be
launched before Christmas, so if you have an interest in Cahir, why not
drop a hint to someone, that this would be a great present for Santa to
bring. More information is available at www.cahirpress.com
Apples in the news:
Our apples were recently featured on RTE's Afternoon
Show with Derek Mooney. Dermot O'Neill, who does the gardening section,
was featuring old Irish apples from the seedsavers association, and
decided to give Derek samples to eat. Derek found some of them a bit too
soft, but that was probably because they were early apples which had
been held too long, and were not at their best at the time of the show.
Dermot had asked us to send up some Elstar apples, and when Derek tried
these, he thought they were the best he had eaten, so we were delighted
with that. We even had one enthusiastic apple lover who drove all the
way from Dublin to get a box after what she had heard.
And as if that is not enough, Ear
to the Ground will be featuring Celtic Orchards apples in the near
future. You may remember that this is a joint effort among many Irish
growers to bring you good quality Irish apples that are genuinely Irish
(unlike some of the "Irish" apples that you get in the shops,
which are of very dubious origin). Luckily, you will not have to put up
with my face on television this time. The Ear to the Ground team filmed
the feature at David Keane's orchard in Cappoquin, where the Celtic
Orchard apples that are supplied to Super Valu stores around the country
are grown. David is a very dedicated grower, who grows apples to the
very highest standard, and it is great to see the Celtic Orchards brand
get some more exposure for Irish apples. All reports that I have heard
back say that the Celtic Orchard apples that are available in Super Valu
are excellent, and if you are too far from our farm to travel here
regularly, those apples are well worth a try.
By the way, Celtic Orchard apples from other growers are also available
in Superquinn.
Beech tables
On Christmas Eve, 1997,
a severe storm hit Ireland. Many people were left without electricity on
Christmas Day, and many turkeys weren't cooked till a day or two later.
On our farm, the storm blew down one of a line of six magnificent 180
year old beech trees. Although standing 75 feet tall (22 metres), the
roots had been weakened by a root rot which is common among beech trees
of a great age. Indeed, since then, two more of the six have been lost
to root rot and wind, though storms of such severity were not required
for these.
In any case, the wood of this great tree that fell needed a fitting
purpose, and so we sent the tree to the sawmill about two miles away,
and collected some of the wood back afterwards. Some of the timber we
used for equipment shelves in the workshop, and some used on the
campsite. The poorer quality timber was used for firewood, and we had a
bit left over. A short time ago, a near neighbour was good enough to use
some of the leftover pieces to make two display stands for our produce,
and if you visit our farm-shop, you will see one of these now displaying
the jam, and another showing off some of our gift-bags of juice.
I can't help thinking what a short distance this timber has travelled in
200 years. From our farm to the sawmill, to our neighbour, and back to
the farm. Less than ten miles in total. Wouldn't it be nice if life were
so simple for everyone.
In our farmshop
Right now we have three eating apples for you to
choose from. We have the Elstar, as mentioned elsewhere in this
newsletter, we have Golden Delicious, and we have Karmijn de Sonnaville.
As usual, we also have Bramley's for cooking.
In juices, we have apple, and also the long-promised raspberry &
apple and strawberry & apple mixes. We have also commenced with a
brand new apple and blackcurrant mix, using blackcurrants grown by Simon
and Tina Mosse in Kilkenny. This proved very popular when we did a trial
run in the summer, so it's probably worth getting some the next time you
call.
As usual, we have plum jam, strawberry jam, and apple jelly, and we also
have some honey from Knockmealdown Apiaries.
- Page 1: The Brogdale Fruit Collection
- Page 3: Apple Varieties
- Page 4: Music, by Willem Traas
- Newsletter main page