The last few weeks have been a remarkably stressful rollercoaster. If you think local sustainable food growing is important, we still need your help.
We have gone from our lowest level of orders in 9 months to the highest in the space of one week, then a week later we are dropping back again. We have gone from a huge harvest from our farm to harvests being impacted by heat stress, the irony of tomatoes not ripening because the temperatures in our polytunnels have exceeded 45C is not lost on me.
This week we are facing a new crisis, the soil moisture levels are at a critical point, we are now irrigating in the West of Ireland. The courgettes are producing massive amounts of fruits, but the leaves are extremely spiky, this only happens when there is not enough water in the soil.
A nationwide hosepipe ban tells us here in Ireland that the water is low, climate change is real, and data centres are definitely not where we want to be using our precious resource. The celery is stressed and as we start harvesting, we have already seen patches that are affected by stress related disease. The sprouting broccoli is bolting, the swedes are struggling, the cucumbers are aborting and leeks are dying.
Our weather station is measuring a drop of 50% in soil moisture content in the last 10 days, with no rain of any consequence on the horizon. Never say commercial growing is for the faint hearted. I have found that the pressures to produce food and then sell the food when we have it can be very challenging. Our chosen model is labour intensive and is about connecting people with how our food is grown. We will not deviate from the path, just last weekend we had over 100 people on our farm walk.
I believe connecting people with our food, with our environment, and the importance of growing food without chemicals is critical for our health and the health of the planet, today more than ever. I imagine as one of our readers, supporters, you may share this view?
Our food system has disconnected us from our food, it has disconnected us from the truth behind our food, pesticides are still in use, maybe now more than ever. Supermarket food culture is based on profit before all else, this has taken its toll on growers not just across Ireland but across the world.
This is not sustainable. There is another way, but this way does not fit the large distribution centres, and the current model of selling fresh food as cheaply as possible. I wonder do we need to start thinking more about value and less about the cost of our food?
When we value something, we are less inclined to waste it, when we value something we hold it close, we become more mindful about it, we treat it with a greater degree of respect. From our perspective as growers, setting aside acres of land each year to allow the soil to regenerate incurs a very real financial cost, but it is repaid in allowing us to grow more nutrient dense food and a stronger more resilient ecosystem.
Most farmers cannot afford such a luxury as they feed into the insatiable supermarket machine, where uniformity and price are the overriding factors in meeting contract supply criteria. So how can we get to a place where growing food without pesticides and with nature is the norm?
Well to be honest that is exactly what we are doing, and your support means the food system we are developing has a chance.
Please continue to support us during the summer.
Thanks
Kenneth