The food at the farm is strictly vegetarian and mostly organic. We ain to be as self sufficient as possible, and grow as much of our own vegetables and fruit as we can in our gardens and polytunnels, bake our bread from grain milled on the farm, and have recentlry started producing some of our own milk and dairy produce. We are also experimenting with grain. We also produce a range of dried herbs and herbal teas, country wines, chutneys and jams. We also have milking sheep, bees, hens and duck to suply us with milk, honey and eggs. We pay great attention to the quality and provenance of the food we buy, and unless it is not possible, we only buy produce that are either organic or local (ie from Co Mayo).
We are a member of GM-free Ireland Network and the farm is a GM free zone. We are also members of the Slow food movement and as such value good, clean and fair food and work to defend biodiversity in our food supply, spread taste education and support producers of excellent foods.
Food for thought
Only after the last tree has
been cut down
Only after the last river has been poisoned
Only after the last fish has been caught
Only then will you understand that money cannot be eaten
-- Cree prophecy
Only after the last river has been poisoned
Only after the last fish has been caught
Only then will you understand that money cannot be eaten
-- Cree prophecy
The
industrialisation of food production over the past 60 years certainly
hasn't been an improvement in the way the World feeds itself.
Up to very recently (less than a century ago), nearly everyone ate food that was produced locally, often by themselves or by their neighbours. Nowadays, for most westerners, food simply comes from supermarkets.
Because of the imperative to maximise profit, the food they offer is laced with chemicals and enzymes before being packed in plastic bags and shipped half way across the country, or around the world. Most of it is grown on huge farms using vast amounts of fertiliser, pesticides and fossil fuels to power the necessary machinery.
We can eat strawberries in the middle of winter, grapes in spring and mangoes just about anywhere, anytime. Of course, these fruits are flown long distances and barely taste of anything, but we don't care anymore, as long as they look fresh. Meat is even worse, and a lot of the animals send for slaughter have never seen the sun, and have spent they short lives in cramped conditions, standing ankle deep in their own excrement, fed on an unatural diet of GM grain and soy, with antibiotics and sometimes hormones to promote faster growth.
These changes haven't done our planet any favours either. Hudge trawlers are fast depleting fish stocks and wrecking the sea bed. Rain forests are being cut down to to make room for more GM soya plantations or grazing for cattle. Agriculture is a worse contributor to global warmng than aviation.
We believe that a major food crisis is looming. This is because fossil fuel ressources, which have become indispensable in all aspect of food production and transport will soon come into irreversible decline. Other important ressources, such as water and top soil, will also become more scarce. Finally, the effect of global warming on agriculture is likely to be a further devastating blow. Famine will be widespread in the 21st century (read more on this), and the Western world, who has gambled heavily on industrialised agriculture and imported food, and has not met hunger for 2 generations, is ill prepared for this.
Up to very recently (less than a century ago), nearly everyone ate food that was produced locally, often by themselves or by their neighbours. Nowadays, for most westerners, food simply comes from supermarkets.
Because of the imperative to maximise profit, the food they offer is laced with chemicals and enzymes before being packed in plastic bags and shipped half way across the country, or around the world. Most of it is grown on huge farms using vast amounts of fertiliser, pesticides and fossil fuels to power the necessary machinery.
We can eat strawberries in the middle of winter, grapes in spring and mangoes just about anywhere, anytime. Of course, these fruits are flown long distances and barely taste of anything, but we don't care anymore, as long as they look fresh. Meat is even worse, and a lot of the animals send for slaughter have never seen the sun, and have spent they short lives in cramped conditions, standing ankle deep in their own excrement, fed on an unatural diet of GM grain and soy, with antibiotics and sometimes hormones to promote faster growth.
These changes haven't done our planet any favours either. Hudge trawlers are fast depleting fish stocks and wrecking the sea bed. Rain forests are being cut down to to make room for more GM soya plantations or grazing for cattle. Agriculture is a worse contributor to global warmng than aviation.
We believe that a major food crisis is looming. This is because fossil fuel ressources, which have become indispensable in all aspect of food production and transport will soon come into irreversible decline. Other important ressources, such as water and top soil, will also become more scarce. Finally, the effect of global warming on agriculture is likely to be a further devastating blow. Famine will be widespread in the 21st century (read more on this), and the Western world, who has gambled heavily on industrialised agriculture and imported food, and has not met hunger for 2 generations, is ill prepared for this.
