Castlefarm Shop Newsletter
3-Aug-2010
Castlefarm Newslettter, August 10
Castlefarm Shop newsletter and diary August 2010
Email jenny@castlefarmshop.ie to receive this newsletter by email
Castlefarm diary for August
• Saturday 14th August 4pm – Gardening club meeting
• Sunday 15th August 3pm – Foraging hedge row walk. Taste, explore and learn about our foraging hedge row. We have 300 metres of nuts, berries and fruit. No charge. PS you are welcome to bring your own picnic to enjoy in our field following the walk
• Saturday 21st August 3pm. Taste Kildare celebration at Castlefarm. Join our Kildare farm walk at Castlefarm and help feed our pigs, collect your own eggs and pick your own vegetables to bring home. No charge.
• Sunday 22nd August – Taste Kildare. Castlefarm will have a stall at Taste Kildare. Please support Enable Ireland at this showcase of Kildare food producers, crafts people and restaurants in the Victorian walled garden of the Fabulous K Club. Entrance €10 per car. For further information lot onto www.tastekildare.ie
Coming up in September
13-19 National Organic week celebrations include vegetable harvesting, pig on a spit, cookery demonstration and a farm walk (full details in next month’s newsletter).
Coming up in October
29-31 Halloween kids club to include scary pumpkin carving, the haunted farm maze.... (details in next month’s newsletter or for further information email tours@castlefarmshop.ie).
Angus beef box update
We will bring our first heifer to the local butcher during the first week of September. The meat will be hung for 3 weeks. That means our first organic beef boxes of the season should be ready for the weekend 24th of September, and the second the weekend 1st October, the third the weekend 8th October and so on. The first few heifers are nearly booked so to be sure of your order please let me know asap.
The boxes will include 6-8 steaks, roasts, stewing beef and good quality mince. Cost per kg is €12 and box sizes range from 8 to 14kg. As I said the first animal is already taken and you should let us know if you are interested. Deposits will be due 3 weeks before the beef boxes are ready.
Castlefarm Pork
We will also be bringing our pigs to the butcher in September. One pig will be sold through the farm shop and another will be spit roasted to celebrate National Organic week (spit roast will happen during weekend 18-19 Sept). If anyone would like to put an order in for fresh pork or sausages please let me know.
Castlefarm berries
Our autumn raspberries have appeared. They are huge and easier to pick than their summer cousins. If anyone would like to pick their own please let me know. We charge €5/kg (email me or text me 087-6785269 to arrange)
Castlefarm honey
Jane and Loretta our local bee keepers have taken honey off our hives. This should be in the shop in mid august (i will email out when it arrives). We should have local comb honey in for next weekend (6th August) and i will email out when this arrives.
In the garden
We are harvesting lots of carrots, parsley, spinach, lettuce, chard, raspberries, onions, kale and scallions. Our polytunel is producing tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, peppers and courgettes. We hope to have our own aubergines for sale in the farm shop later this month. Our leeks, turnips and parsnips are growing well but they will not be harvested until autumn time.
On the farm
August is a quiet and white time on the farm. White, due to the fields of clover, which normally are at their peak. Quiet in that the cows that will calve in the autumn have been dried off, leaving around 60 spring calvers going through the parlour. The first autumn cows will calve in late August/early September. We are also preparing to cut the spring oats. These oats will be whisked away to Flavanan’s in Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford where they go to make their organic porridge.
Two recipe ideas from customers using honey and cheese.
• Mix half a cup of honey and half a cup of olive oil and add a little seasoning. Rub over chicken and roast.
• Gather up any older bits of cheese in your fridge. Cut off rinds/mouldy bits. Grate (you could use your food processor) the cheese. Add a cup of white wine and some parsley. Mix well and press the mixture into a dish. Use ‘Pate’ like and spread over bread or crackers for lunch or snacks.
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