| Newsletter Winter 2009 | page 3 of 4 | |
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Irrigation
With the weather we have had for
the last three summers, and the incessant rain of recent times, I am
almost embarrassed to write about our irrigation project. However, over
the past few years, we have been expanding the area of crops that we can
supply water to. In December 2004, I wrote about boring for water on our
farm, and each year since then, we have added a little to our water
infrastructure.
The reason that we decided to build this infrastructure is due to the
climate change models, which show South East Ireland having hotter and
drier summers, as well as milder and wetter winters. The latest edition
of the book “Climate, Weather and Irish Agriculture” goes into great
detail, but suffice to say that if it is correct, summers will have dry
spells long enough to put crops under stress from lack of water. And as
farmers, our job is to minimise the stress on our plants, so that they
can perform at their best.
So this summer and autumn we expanded the on-farm network to cover
another two apple orchards, as well as the new plum trees I mentioned
earlier. It really felt odd to be doing this work when the current
weather did not warrant it. However, the climate models are actually
gaining more credibility all the time, so I can only conclude that our
last three wet summers were down to hard luck. Here’s hoping that the
next one will be better. We can all do with the lift that a few weeks of
sunshine brings.
A new award
We were honoured to receive an award
from Euro Toques, the European organisation of Chefs. It came about
after we received a visit from one of their chefs (although I was
unaware of the purpose of his visit at the time) and I showed him around
the farm one autumn morning, giving him samples of some of our apples,
and generally explaining what we do. A few weeks later I received a
letter from EuroToques, informing me that I was to receive one of their
annual awards for producers. And when I went to receive the award about
two weeks ago, who was there but Peter Everett, the chef from “Residence”
who had visited me during the autumn. Also there were many other well
known people such as Derry Clarke and Ross Lewis, both of whom have
Michelin stars, Myrtle and Darina Allen, and so many more. I was
especially happy to receive the award from Neven Maguire, who uses our
juice in his restaurant in Blacklion, Co. Cavan. The award was given “In
recognition of excellent quality standards, traditional and artisan
production methods, and outstanding contributions to Irish food.”
And to top off a really exciting day, we had samples of all sorts of
wonderful dishes, prepared using the food produced by the award-winners.
Web links:
www.eurotoquesirl.org
www.macneanrestaurant.com
www.chapteronerestaurant.com
www.lecrivain.com
www.residence.ie
- Page 1: A new plum orchard
- Page 2: Planting Elephant Grass, Spanish Tunnels
- Page 4: A Book Launch, Miracle of Apple Juice
- Newsletter main page