Castlefarm Shop Newsletter

4-Apr-2009

Castlefarm Shop newsletter, April 09

Castlefarm Shop newsletter, April 09 Email jenny@castlefarmshop.ie to receive this newsletter by email.

Sunday 12th Easter Sunday – 12pm and 3pm Collect your own organic eggs at Castlefarm.

On a whistle stop visit to our hen houses customers are welcome to collect their own eggs – No extra charge (only pay for the eggs) but places must be booked in advance! Groups will be taken onto the farm at 12 and 3pm.

Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th Cob outdoor pizza building course at Castlefarm (details below)

Saturday 18th Summer Family fun day from 11-1 (details below)

Saturday 25th Allotment growing course 11am and 2pm Summer family fun day

To celebrate the arrival of summer we are holding a family fun day on Saturday, 18th April from 11am to 1pm. This family fun day will provide visitors with a chance to meet calves, cows and hens and participate in a guided tour of the farm. Visitors will also have the chance to collect and bring home their own hen eggs. Michelle Hourihan, our tours and education manager has also organised old-fashioned games such as welly wangling, Aunt Sally and giant chess. These will take place in the fields. This is a great opportunity to enjoy some fun and games with friends and family, all in the lovely setting of Castlefarm.

Tickets must be booked in advance and are available from Castlefarm Shop at a cost of €25 per family (2 adults and up to 4 children).

Learn how to build an outdoor pizza oven on Castlefarm Cob building course Participants on Castlefarm’s April cob building course will learn how to build an outdoor pizza oven from clay, sand and straw with their bare feet. Course tutors (and neighbours) Christian and Louise; have built their own cob house as well as a cob pizza oven for festivalgoers at the Electric Picnic in Laois.

The course will cost €150 per person and will take place over two full days on the 18th and 19th of April. A lunch of local food is also included. Enquiries welcome on 087-6785269 or jenny@castlefarmshop.ie.

What’s happening in the Castlefarm garden?

I have been getting lots of help from customers and also a local organic student Maeve, planting up our spring garden. So far we have sowed celeriac, salad crops, carrots, leeks, turnip, onions, shallots and onions.

Our parsley is coming and our broad beans and peas are flowering. Castlefarm organic vegetables on sale at Castlefarm shop include rhubarb, lettuce, rocket, spinach and parsley. We are delighted that over half the vegetables on sale at the moment are Irish (at this time of year Irish vegetables are getting scarce as we head towards the hungry season).

On the farm

All of our stock are now out on grass and as we empty the winter housing our composting heap grows. We will turn this farmyard manure regularly throughout the year and it will provide really healthy compost for next year’s vegetables.

Andrew has been doing quite a lot of fencing on the farm and spent last week power hosing the dairy. At this time of year we dust the milking herds grazing areas with calmag (calcium and magnesium) so that they take in minerals they may be lacking in after calving.

Castlefarm school tours

If you would like Michelle to send your child’s schoolteacher information about our school tours please email her with details on tours@castlefarmshop.ie

Castlefarm allotment news

As we get closer to our fourth allotment-growing course, most allotments are looking pretty well dug and planned. At this stage we have rented 33 plots and if anyone is interested we do have some still looking to be worked. All plots are organic and our allotment holders are learning lots about the organic way of growing and production.

Castlefarm barter board

Does anyone have anything to barter? If so put it on the barter board in the shop free of charge.

Don’t forget to bring your recyclable shopping bags into the shop! Although I love recycling my cardboard boxes on my customers, please if possible remember to bring your reusable bags into the farm shop to bring your groceries home in.

Egg boxes wanted

Don’t forget to recycle used egg boxes with us! Each egg box saves me and you 6 cent!

Interesting cheese price comparisons Just thought you may be interested in my trip to Dunnes last week – browsing in the cheese section I noticed mini Wicklow Blue cost €5.20 (I charge €4.50), Roquefort was €41/kg (I charge €30) and French chevre or goat log cost €21.70 (I charge €16.95).

Jenny no longer attending Athy Farmers’ Market

As you probably know after Christmas I scaled down my attendance at Athy Farmers’ Market to once a month. This was due to me being overstretched in terms of growing vegetables, running the farm and the shop and producing cheese and relishes. I am sorry to say that this is no longer working out for me and I will no longer be doing the Sunday market in Athy.

Recipe of the month Quick rhubarb mousse.

With a damp clean j cloth wipe clean 4 stalks of rhubarb, dice and stew in 4 tablespoons of apple juice and teaspoons of sugar. Allow to cool. Whip 2 egg whites until stiff and separately whip half a pint of cream. Fold in the cream, a carton of rhubarb (strawberry or raspberry will also do) and the rhubarb into the egg whites and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Opening hours Friday and Saturday 10am-6pm Sunday 12-5pm

To receive our newsletter and news of new products on line please Contact Castlefarm Shop, Narraghmore, Athy, Co Kildare, Telephone 059-8636948, jenny@castlefarmshop.ie, www.castlefarmshop.ie