Castlefarm Shop Newsletter
5-Aug-2009
Castlefarm Newslettter, August 09
Castlefarm Shop August newsletter 09
Email jenny@castlefarmshop.ie to receive this newsletter by email
August diary
• Thursday 20th of August 7pm. A walk to inspect the Castlefarm Organic Angus beef. As part of the Taste Kildare festival which runs from 17th – 23rd of August we will be holding a beef walk at 7pm at our farm. No charge. PS, on the evening you will even be invited to pick the animal that goes into your beef box – now that’s traceablity!
• Saturday 22nd August. A family farm tour and picnic at Castlefarm. At midday (sharp) we will lead a farm tour through our farm with a special emphasis on our new pigs and our garden. We will also allow people to collect their own eggs. Then from 1-3pm we will open our park field so families can picnic on the farm. Bales and ideas for games will be provided. No charge.
• Sunday 23rd of August Taste Kildare. We will be exhibiting at Taste Kildare in the K Club. Enable Ireland will benefit from this festival which will focus on flavoursome Kildare food and family fun. There is no charge, although a €10 car parking charge will go directly to Enable Ireland. For further information log onto www.tastekildare.ie
• Friday 28th August. 2pm. Teagasc/Department of Agriculture Farm Walk. This will focus on farm diversification and will be of special interest to commercial farmers.
• Friday 28th 12pm Castlefarm Harvest Fair weekend will kick off with allotment holders’ food stalls selling allotment produce, tasty homemade snacks and an allotment cookery booklet. The stalls will close at 7pm.
• Saturday 29th from 12-6pm the growing year will continue to be celebrated with tours of the allotments, talks, a fun and healthy kids club, guided walks and demonstrations and a special goody bag for all participants. Again lots of tasty organic allotment produce will be available to buy and taste. Tickets for this adventure packed day will cost €14 euro per adult and€9.50 per child with a special family ticket available for €45.
• The finale of the weekend, on Sunday will be a barbeque feast of local food and Castlefarm organic spit roasted pig. Tickets for this are limited and will cost €30 euro per adult and €10 per child with a family ticket costing €70.
Castlefarm Harvest Fair
Our Ladies Children’s Hospital in Crumlin and St Brigid’s Hospice on the Curragh will benefit from the bountiful harvest of the Castlefarm organic allotments on the last weekend of August. From 28th-30th of August allotment holders at Kildare’s Castlefarm will run a festival of fun, food and fundraising to celebrate the first year of the Castlefarm allotments and to give over 30 green fingered allotment holders a chance to show off their achievements. Information and tickets available from Jenny at Castlefarm Shop on 059-8636948 or jenny@castlefarmshop.ie.
Castlefarm Shop late opening on Fridays and email order service
Due to customer demand we will now open until 7.30pm on Fridays. People are also welcome to text or email their orders to save them time on the way home.
Castlefarm seasonal vegetable box scheme (pictured below)
To convenience customers we are putting together a weekly, seasonal vegetable and fruit box. These will vary from week to week to make sure our customers get the best quality and value for money. There is a €15 family box and a €10 kitchen box. The family box will contain more vegetables with a significant amount of day to day veg. The kitchen box will contain smaller volumes and include one or two more unusual treats. Please book your orders as early as possible. The focus is on Irish seasonal produce and while there will be some organic imports for variety they will be kept to a minimum.
Castlefarm Organic Angus beef (Pictured above) update
For those who really want to see where their beef is coming from we are holding our next beef walk/talk on Thursday 20th of August at 7pm. The first two heifers sold immediately. Our next available beef boxes are on 28th August and 4 September. Our beef boxes contain a mix of steaks, roasts, mince and stewing beef. We hang our organic Angus beef for 21 days to ensure maximum flavour. The boxes will cost €12/kg with approximately 10kg of meat in each box. We can also accommodate people who would like a variation in their beef box (more steaks will of course cost more) or only roasts and mince (which will cost less). The beef went quickly last time so to avoid disappointment please email me as soon as possible. If you would like to be included on our beef list so that we can contact you when the other heifers are fit for the freezer please let us know. Email jenny@castlefarmshop.ie
Whats in season in the Castlefarm garden and allotments
We don’t have lots of them but our tomatoes are now on sale at the farm shop. We continue to harvest lettuce, rocket, fennel, cucumbers, onions, courgettes, Swedes (or are they turnips), and rhubarb. Our allotment holders are also harvesting a lot of the above and also new potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, beetroot, peas, borage and marigolds. Rachel and Declan (pictured below) can hardly keep up with the wheelbarrows of vegetables they are harvesting.
Castlefarm foraging hedge update
The birds have been feasting on this summer’s crop of gooseberries, black currant and cherries. Our apple varieties look good and we are looking forward to giving customers a guided talk (and perhaps taste) of the foraging hedge during our harvest fair celebrations.
On the farm
July was the wettest month in 50 years which didn’t make life very easy. We are currently putting in a new feed passage, to make winter feeding easier. Our next cut of silage will also hopefully be made at the beginning of the month, weather permitting. Our Autumn calving cows are preparing to calve down next month and our other cows are milking well. Our fields are white with organic clover and we are crossing our fingers they will be soon white with field mushrooms.
Castlefarm honey on the way
We are awaiting the arrival of Castlefarm Honey. Loretta and Jane who will give a bee talk on the Saturday of our harvest fair weekend, say that patience is needed. If they jar the honey too soon the rape honey may solidify, so in order to ensure runny honey we need to wait a little longer. PS they also have moved some of their bees to the heather so we are also very looking forward to having this in stock.
Recipe
This came via Michelle, via Sarah Ravens seasonal cook book.
Castlefarm courgette, mint and coconut soup
Lightly fry one large fresh Castlefarm onion (stalks and all), add an inch of grated gingera and two cloves of crushed garlic. Continue to fry and then add a large diced courgette and fry until tender. Add a litre of vegetable stock, a small handful of choped fresh mint and a quarter tin of coconut milk. When the soup cools add some sea salt and black pepper and then blend. Reheat thourougly before serving.
Opening hours Friday 10am – 7.30 pm, Saturday 10am-6pm and Sunday 12-5pm
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Contact Castlefarm Shop, Narraghmore, Athy, Co Kildare, Telephone 059-8636948, jenny@castlefarmshop.ie, www.castlefarmshop.ie