Castlefarm Shop Newsletter
3-May-2010
Castlefarm Newslettter, May 10
Castlefarm Shop newsletter and diary May 2010
Email jenny@castlefarmshop.ie to receive this newsletter by email
Castlefarm diary for May
• Saturday 8th May 3pm Gardening in May – Growth has taken off so see what has happened in the past month in our garden and discuss what the priorities are for May. Question and answers and general gardening discussion.
• Sunday 16th May 2pm. Collect your own organic eggs with Michelle. Children and adults are welcome to join us for egg collecting, meeting the hens and seeing where they live €2.50 per ½ dozen. (no extra charge)
• Thursday 20th May 7.30pm Cookery demonstration with Louise O’Hare of Whats Cooking? ‘Eating Al Fresco’. Louise will show how to make the most of seasonal produce to enjoy outdoors and on picnics. Cost is €15 per person to include tastings and refreshments. The farm shop will be open from 7-7.30 pm and again for ½ an hour following the demonstration.
• Saturday 22nd May 12pm Castlefarm Gardening Club meeting...topics to be decided.
• Saturday 22nd May 12-2pm Farmer for a morning. Join Michelle for egg collecting, pumpkin planting and scarecrow making. €10 per child. There will be a small charge of €2 per half dozen eggs that children would like to bring home.
Counting down to the Castlefarm Summer Club
“Our summer club promises lots of fun, socialising and learning in a safe and healthy, happy environment.
Activities include learning about where milk comes from (from cow to carton), helping with the calves, hens, ducks and pigs. Children will also learn about growing vegetables and work together building scarecrows to protect Castlefarm’s organic vegetable garden. They will also enjoy games, crafts, quizzes, fresh air and lots more.
Whether your child is a boy or a girl they will love spending time on a real farm. Parents will be just as happy when children return home with stories of scarecrow building, mini gardens to take care of and tales of all the fun they’ve had.
Castlefarm caters for children from 5 to 12 years of age, providing fun and education at exceptional value. Costs are from €30/child per day (11am to 3pm) or €125/child per week with further early bird bookings and family discounts available. For more information please contact Michelle Hourihan on 086-3736402 or email tours@castlefarmshop.ie. If you would like to visit our farm online log onto www.castlefarmshop.ie
The dates for the Castlefarm summer clubs are:
28th June – 2nd July,
5th – 9th July,
2nd – 6th August,
9th -13th August.
Please email or call me with any queries (086-3736402 or tours@castlefarmshop.ie)”
Michelle Hourihan
Tours and Education Manager
Eggs for boxes
Our hens are laying like mad at the moment and the honesty box is always full. We have a serious shortage of egg boxes with the increased production. So to reward customers who recycle egg boxes with us during May we will be offering a free ½ dozen eggs for every 10 egg boxes you bring to the farm shop.
Vegetable seedlings on sale in the farm shop
From Friday 7th May we will be selling some of our organic seedlings in the farm shop. These include tomato, cucumber, squash and pepper plant.
In the garden
New seasons Castlefarm rhubarb is now plentiful and full of flavour. The first of our courgette plants has flowered....so not long now until courgettes come into season. Our tomatoes, cucumber, pepper and squash plants are growing well in the polytunnel. Soon they will need to be supported with stakes and strings. Our salad leaves will be on sale in the shop by mid May. Our rocket, chard and spinach are also doing well and should be on sale by the end of the month. In early May the rest of the Castlefarm garden will be ploughed and we will be planting our pumpkins into the pumpkin patch.
On the farm
With a few late calvers to go the last calves to be born are all Angus. These calves will be reared and finished for beef and will be sold through our beef box scheme in two years time. The warm, wet weather has seen a jump in grass growth. Clover is plentiful in the cow pastures. Unfortunately weeds are also plentiful in our vegetable garden. Our spring calves are being fed once a day. By early June they will be weaned off milk altogether.
Recipes
Stewed rhubarb with orange
5 sticks of rhubarb wiped clean with a damp cloth then diced
6 tablespoons of brown sugar
Juice and zest of one orange
Stew over a very low heat with lid on for about 10 minutes. As long as the heat is very low and the lid is firmly in place the rhubarb will not burn!
Scalloped potatoes with fennel, red onion and blue cheese
This works especially well with a strong blue such as Bleu D’auvergne and if you don’t have fennel you can substitute with tomatoes
Ingredients
6 large potatoes
2 bulbs of fennel
1 red onion
4 oz blue cheese
½ cup of milk
Lightly fry diced fennel and red onion in olive oil for about 8 minutes until they are soft. Grease a shallow oven proof dish. Thinly slice 3 potatoes layering into the dish. Then add the semi cooked onion and fennel. Then slice and layer the remaining potatoes. Pour over the milk and then slice the blue cheese on top. Bake for 4 minutes in the top of a moderate oven (about 180 degrees) for 40 minutes checking after 20 minutes. If the cheese starts to overcook move the dish down a shelf and cover with tin foil.
Opening hours Friday and Saturday 10am-6pm Sunday 12-5pm
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Contact Castlefarm Shop, Narraghmore, Athy, Co Kildare, Telephone 059-8636948, jenny@castlefarmshop.ie, www.castlefarmshop.ie