Nuacht Feirme Nollaig 2011 Plásóg na bhFeá

BARRAÍ
Our Brussels sprouts, red cabbage. leeks and broccoli grew very successfully for us this year along with the first crop of carrots, beetroot and cabbage. Kale is growing and selling well for us too with lots of people now aware of the importance of leafy green vegetables. We grew a very large crop of leeks and secured a sale of leeks to Superquinn nationwide. 2011 was a good planting year with the exception of the delicate crops such as tomatoes courgette and French beans. The lack of direct sunlight delayed their maturity and ripening. We hope for a sunnier 2012!
We employed an agricultural advisor this year, a man who has worked with growers in North Dublin and Co. Meath. This has helped us a lot especially around the area of machinery and sowing, planting and harvesting schedules. We harvested 20 tons of Setanta potato in November and sent most of them to a storage company in Dublin with a controlled temperature warehouse in case the frost comes.

OIBRITHEOIRÍ FEIRME
We are very happy with our farm staff this year. Padraig along with Gregor, Dave and Christopher are doing the outdoor farm work and have put in a good years work. We had many volunteers on work placement and on working holidays from abroad who helped us in 2011. We are very grateful for their help. Darren Kelly is head of veg packing in the farm shed. Michael Harrington is our delivery driver and Marie Downey runs the office and is the box scheme co-ordinator. Without their commitment and hard work we wouldn’t be here today!

BORD BIA ORGANIC AWARDS
We were highly commended this year for our rocket 80g bag and our curly Kale 250g shop shelf bag. Bord Bia are also giving us funding to rebrand and design a flyer to advertise our box scheme.

MARGADH: We continue to sell at Loughrea market on Thursday mornings 9.30am-12.30pm and Oranmore market on Thursday afternoons 2pm -5pm. The weather is challenging at the moment but that’s Winter!

GEIMHRIDH: During the quieter Winter months we are focusing on reviewing our crop growing year. Any comments are welcome. We are also focusing on printing our new veg box flyer and selling our veg to new shops, including Supervalu Monksland, Athlone, Queallys Supervalu Killaloe, Londis Kilcolgan and Centra Athenry. Also buying from us are Irelands Raw Kitchen in Galway. Check out www.irelandsrawkitchen.ie

AN NOLLAIG: If you want to make your Christmas veg box ordering simple you can order a €20 or €30 Christmas box. It will contain potatoes, carrots, parsnip, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts for the traditional dinner, red pepper, yellow pepper, courgette, onion for stuffing and a stir fry/roast, and melon, blood orange, apples, pears, and cooking apples for starter/dessert. You can add or take away items from the list to suit your preferences.

CHRISTMAS PRIZE VOUCHER
Our €50 box scheme voucher winner is Phil Fagan. Darren, while blindfolded picked Phil’s name from a total of 94 customers. Congratulations Phil! You have won €50 euros worth of veg and fruit.

BREITHLÁ: We will be ten years in Business in Spring 2012. We hope to organise a celebration in the summer. We will keep you posted.

SIOPA FEIRME DON NOLLAG
The farm shop is always open on Tuesdays as we pack our veg boxes. For Christmas it is also open on Thursday 22nd from 9am to 5pm and Friday 23rd December from 9am to 5pm. The box scheme deliveries return at the later times of Wednesday the 4th Jan for Athlone and Ballinasloe boxes and Thursday 5th Jan for Aughrim and Galway boxes.

Nollaig Shona agus athbhliain faoi mhaise is faoi shéin. We hope you and yours enjoy the Christmas and new year celebrations!

Le mór mheas,
Úna Ní Bhroin & Padraig Fahy