With the Late Late Toy Show on the horizon, excitement levels and festive cheer will be bubbling within every household in Ireland. On the night, young and old will come together to enjoy the show and pick what they’d like from Santa this year, all while tucking into a few tasty treats. With this to mind, I decided to create a bowlful of snacks using the gorgeous seasonal vegetables which arrived in my veg box this week. Parsnip, beetroot and of course potato all make for delicious crisps, and they really are so easy to make. However, the oil must be very hot, so this is a job for the grown-ups! I’ve sprinkled the cooked crisps in sea salt, but you could use any spice you like.
Wash and peel the vegetables, before thinly slicing them using a mandolin or sharp knife. Add the prepared vegetables to three separate bowls and cover with cold water.
After 30 minutes, drain the water from the vegetables and dry them well with some paper towels.
Heat the oil to 180°C in a high-sided, wide pan. When ready, add the vegetables in batches. Don’t overcrowd the pan and turn each one a few times during the cooking time. Each batch should take between 7-10 minutes, depending on their thickness. Once crispy and golden, remove carefully with a slotted spoon.
Transfer to a paper-lined wire rack. Sprinkle with sea salt and served straightaway once cooled.
Its funny how some memories stay with us. We all have flashes that we remember, or think we remember. I have some memories of my early years and of my grandad, he was a gardener and a farmer. He brought some of the benefits he learned as head gardener at Cregg Castle to his home garden where he grew so much lovely food. I remember his little seat in the garden where he would take a break and sharpen is always with him knife and smoke his pipe. He used to make raised beds for the carrots and potatoes. When I came back from England and started out in 2004 exactly 20 years ago, I made the same raised beds in that same garden.
He gardened and farmed, and I don’t know if he was happy, but I have happy memories, so I assume he was. I have very little doubt that the work was hard and so much more of my grandparents’ time was devoted to work. He worked on his farm and grew as much food as he could. There was a strong sense of community back then and a connection to the food, it was essential, that connection to food and community. It was a means of survival, they needed that food, and I imagine those first new season potatoes were appreciated back then in a way we cannot imagine today.
There is little doubt that the convenience of the modern-day food system is something that would have inspired awe in my grandparents, to them it would have been a miracle. But I wonder whether they would have enjoyed the food? The variety and diversity: yes, but how about the taste and the freshness? Would they have traded their fresh carrots for the supermarket wrapped chemically sprayed, not so fresh supermarket carrots? Maybe not.
But we have traded something fundamental, something very important for our convenient food system, something that is in danger of disappearing from our way of life here in Ireland for ever. Something that has swiftly been side lined to move with the modernisation of our food system. We have traded part of our heritage, and our love for food and our connection to the land for convenience, and in so doing we risk losing something very valuable. The race to the bottom, to the cheapest food possible at all costs has a very real price. Apart from what we pay at the automated tills (These machines would have sent my grandad running back to the fields). These costs loom large, the loss of our native growers here in Ireland, the degradation of the land by polluting our soil and rivers, and the destruction of biodiversity to maximise every inch of productive land. The short-term gain of cheap food today, will not be any good to us in even half a generations time. I loved my grandad, and the turnip juice I used to drink from a tin cup on his knee in his kitchen. My grandparents didn’t have much but they had healthy food that nourished them and the land they farmed.
Your support gives us the courage we need to continue, thank you.
Kenneth
PS please support local organic farms this Christmas, our Christmas boxes are jam packed full of the best local Irish organic ingredients on offer from organic farms including ours across the country. Get your order in now to ensure delivery on the 23rd of December.
When it comes to growing food we need water, and not too much but certainly not too little, between May and September 2018 we had the direst summer ever. We had a water deficit here on our farm. We had parched ground that went down 18 inches, never in my lifetime or in my dad’s lifetime had we seen such a thing.
Our planet is burning, it seems like we are walking in an alternate universe, there is so little talk about the climate crisis, as today COP29 finishes. Three weeks ago, Spain was devastated by the worst flooding on record, did you see it? A year’s worth of rain fell in less than half a day in some regions, killing at least 205 people.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We have seen Europe burn in two successive summers. The impact that this changing climate will have and is having on our food supply will be immense.
The science is clear, and it makes sense, warming oceans mean more water and energy in the air, hence bigger wind and more rain. Last year I remember swimming in the sea off Galway and the water was hot! Another once off. An unheard-of marine heatwave caused an increase of 5C in sea water temperature. These “once off” events are happening more often, the extremes are becoming normalised.
We are not immune here in Ireland either, thankfully we have been spared the worst, or maybe better to say we have been spared the extremes. But how about the relentless rain? I know there will be many who smile and say of course it rains this is Ireland, but this is on a whole new level. It started raining in June 2023 and it didn’t stop here until the end of August 2024. It prevented us getting into the fields to plant, It delayed harvest, it reduced yields, increased disease, it has had a very serious impact. July 2023 was the wettest July ever recorded here in Ireland, EVER!
Why is all of this change happening so fast? We all know the answer to this, we are putting too much greenhouse gases at too fast a rate into the atmosphere. Of course, there are natural variations in the climate but over the last 11700 years we have been blessed to live in a relatively stable climate. This is all on the cusp of changing, but why? Why must we destabilise a planetary system that has allowed us to prosper, to have such abundance like never before?
There is only one reason when clean energy solutions are staring us in the face: GREED. The fossil fuel companies are determined to keep us on this path of planetary overheating. 57 fossil fuel producers have been responsible for 80% of all global CO2 emissions. Of course we need energy, but we can change to clean energy, and we are.
There is such hope in renewable energy, we have these amazing natural resources that are clean and do not pour warming gases into an already overheated atmosphere, why wouldn’t we do it? What is the downside? There is none that I can see.
In 2018 with the help of a crowd funding campaign we got enough money together to install a 10KW solar panel array. Two years ago, we borrowed to increase this and finally with the aid of a grant from the Department of agriculture we installed a further 20KW array this week. I am so excited to have finally taken this step, which brings us one step closer to creating our energy here locally from the sun and becoming carbon neutral. There are so many sheds on farms all over Ireland, and there is good support from the government, if you are in agriculture, surely it is worth a look?
Producing our food locally and harvesting and being able to store it in fridges that are being run by the sun makes me feel very happy. What makes me feel even happier is that there are people like you who believe that taking these steps are critical to protecting our planet.
I can only say, at this time of great change in the world, you are needed now more than ever.
We can only ever take these steps because you support us.
Once you make these carrot fries for the first time, they will soon become a part of your recipe repertoire as they are totally addictive and so easy-to-make. Of course, they are also bursting with goodness. Carrots are rich in beta carotene, which is converted into Vitamin A by the body. Vitamin A supports our immune system and vision, while promoting healthy skin, bones, and teeth. These carrot fries are scrumptious as a snack but are also perfect to serve as a side. The coriander dip serves perfectly with the fries, but if you’re not a fan of coriander, basil can be used in its place.
Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C /Gas Mark 7, or the air fryer to 200°C.
Prepare the carrots by peeling them and cutting into strips or batons.
Add to a large bowl along with the olive oil, cornflour, smoked paprika, onion granules, and garlic powder. Season with a little salt and pepper. Toss to combine and fully coat the carrots.
Cook in the air fryer for 18- 20 minutes or the oven for 25-30 minutes, turning twice during cooking.
While the carrots are cooking, make the dip by adding the ingredients to a high-powered processor and blitz for a few seconds until smooth. Refrigerate until needed.
Serve the carrots while hot with the dip on the side. Enjoy!
As the evenings are getting darker and a little colder, comforting dinners, such as this delicious green vegan mac & cheese, are perfect for tucking into. The addition of romanesco to this pasta dish adds extra flavour, texture, and colour, as well as lots of nutrient. It is part of the brassica family of vegetables and tastes like a cross between broccoli and cauliflower. This stunning vegetable is grown on the farm, so nutritionally it benefits greatly from the best of soil. It is rich in fibre, calcium, and iron, and also a good source of vitamins, such as A, C and K. This dish only takes minutes to prepare and is best served with a simply green salad and chunks of crusty bread.
Place the cashew nuts in a heat-proof bowl. Cover with boiling water and leave to soak for 15 minutes.
In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the macaroni according to the pack’s instructions. Add the romanesco to the pot for the last 3 minutes of cooking time. Drain the pot, reserving 175ml of the cooking water.
Drain the cashews and add to a processor, with the juice of one lemon, nutritional yeast, Dijon mustard, turmeric, the reserved pasta water and a little salt and pepper. Blend until combined.
In a large casserole dish, combine the drained macaroni and romanesco with the sauce. Top with the vegan cheese and place under the grill for 5 minutes until golden brown. Serve straight away. Enjoy!
Over €400 million worth of vegetables were imported into Ireland in 2023, that is an increase of 17% in value and 6% in volume since 2022.
Last week we reviewed our farm accounts, and the picture painted was not one that brought joy to the heart, it rarely is unfortunately. The fundamentals of growing vegetables means that the price paid does not cover the costs of production, so far this year we are carrying a significant loss on our farm.
Whilst we as a nation seem to be importing more and more fresh produce we are losing more and more of our growers. There is no escaping the fact that as the industry has been left vulnerable and right on the edge by the price paid by supermarket buyers. Smaller growers have exited the industry, and this has been compensated for by the larger grower here in Ireland.
However, this is no longer the case as we all have heard the familiar story at this stage as the cost of inputs has risen over the last number of years and the decline of people wanting to work in the industry is critical. A number of bigger growers have also closed their doors for good. It is not an unreasonable path to take as why would you stay in business when you are losing money, and you have very little control over your income as prices are set by external buyers. These import figures come at the same time as our minister for agriculture states “it is important to consider agrifood imports in the context of corresponding exports.
Ireland recorded a total agri-food trade surplus of more than €5 billion in 2023”. This means we exported lots and lots of meat and dairy and imported lots of vegetables and fruit, but interestingly we also imported lots of cereal based animal feed to generate this trade surplus.
But our high reliance on imports when it come to our vegetable supply means that when there are shortages as a result of drought or other climate shocks which are getting more and more likely due to climate change then we will not be at the top of the priority list when it comes to supply. Right now, we are starting our farm planning for next year. We will also be talking to other Irish growers that supply us with produce and agreeing volumes and prices, for next year, prices that are always fair.
Since 2006 when we sold our first locally grown organic vegetable the planning of our farm has always been something that has been very close to my heart, but after 19 years of growing vegetables with only a handful of those years break even, it does leave you scratching your head when you just can’t make the numbers add up. We have always persevered and will continue to do so, but we can only ever do this and support the nearly 40 people that currently work in our farm and business with your support.
This blog has two parts this week, the first bit was an unexpected happy moment that occurred only yesterday:
We won a national organic award! We won the best “direct to the consumer” award and we are delighted. Thank you so much to Bord Bia and to all the judges for looking at our business and for giving us the thumbs up. It is absolutely a credit to everybody who works at Green Earth Organics that we won, the hard work and dedication, innovation and integrity of the whole team on our farm made achieving the award possible.
Against the backdrop of two very challenging growing seasons, and many growers opting to get out of the business altogether, the award couldn’t have come at a better time.
So, thank you to everybody who works here, thanks to all you our customers who keep us in business, and thank you to the judges for recognising it all. We are very grateful.
In Ireland in 2021 there were 3 million kgs of pesticides applied, and in that same year the dept of agriculture tested 1,039 fruit, vegetable and fungi samples mostly imported and found than 60% had detectable limits of pesticides, and 5.3% had higher levels that what was deemed safe.
It has always been clear to me from a young age that spraying chemicals indiscriminately in nature was wrong. Now I can’t say I understood why I felt this way or why I felt that our planet needed to be protected from ourselves but that is the way I was programmed.
As a scientist I understand the role science plays in our lives and in facilitating the production of food for so many people. But we have been to an extent conditioned to think that we need all these chemicals to grow food, it is not unlike the pharmaceutical industries desire to have us taking preventative maintenance doses of some of their drugs for life.
So here is the thing we have a perfectly amazing way to reduce our chances of getting sick. Being healthy indeed can be our default setting, but it seems that not unlike our natural world we too have developed a deep sense of physical and mental malaise. We are in a word not well.
The common scientific perception is that chemicals in small doses are not harmful to life. There certainly is some validity in this statement and this piece is not about engendering fear, far from it. It is about increasing awareness about how our food choices can have a remarkable positive effect on our lives and our environment.
So, taking low level doses on a daily basis of chemicals in our diet is not how at least I want to live my life. I get it that the scientists use terms like MRLS (maximum residue limit) to reassure us that our food is are, after all that is their job. But is it really? And how do they decide and who is they anyway? Well, they use all sorts of things like acute toxicity and extrapolations and lifetime consumption assumptions.
Talk of the gut Microbiome is everywhere these days and rightly so, its importance is only beginning to be understood. There is little doubt that the myriad of beneficial bacteria that inhabit our intestines play a major role in our health, from depression to inflammation.
So, it’s with interest that I discovered a couple of articles that link the constant imbibing of pesticides into our bodies not only damage our cells but also all the myriad of microbes that live in our gut and you guessed it it is not a positive feedback loop we are talking about here. You can if you are inclined read the article here.
It is no coincidence then that these pesticides that kill plants or organisms and damage the microbial life in the living soil also damage and kill the good bacteria in our gut.
Pumpkins and butternut squash are from the same plant family and are both currently in season. They can easily be interchangeable in recipes and make for a nutritious addition to any curry or casserole. They are packed full of vitamins and minerals and are also a rich source of fibre, which is essential for optimal gut health. Preparing the pumpkin or butternut squash is the most time-consuming part of this recipe, so to aid with the preparation of an otherwise speedy curry dish, I normally peel and cube the squash ahead of time and store in a sealed container in the fridge until ready to use. It will keep perfectly when stored this way for up to three days. This curry tastes just as good the day after it is made, so keep a bowl aside in the fridge for the next day’s lunch.
To serve – fresh coriander leaves, boiled brown rice and coconut yogurt
Method
Over a medium heat, add the olive oil to a large saucepan. Once it has heated through add the onion and turn down the heat. Sauté over a low heat, stirring regularly. Add the garlic and stir through, before adding the curry paste and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir to combine.
Next, add all the remaining ingredients to the pot. Place the lid on the pot. Once it starts to bubble, turn the heat to low and simmer for 50 minutes, stirring regularly.
To serve, ladle into bowls, serve alongside some boiled brown rice, scatter over some fresh coriander leaves, and add a dollop of coconut yogurt.
It’s now peak mushroom season in Ireland, and we’ve a great variety of them available to pick up in our online store. When preparing mushrooms for cooking they should never be washed, as they are porous and will retain this water which will interfere with their texture and flavour when cooked. However, their ability to retain fluids works perfectly for this recipe as the mushrooms are marinated in a flavoursome mixture which adds an extra level of deliciousness to these burgers. I’ve made a simple plant-based burger sauce, which works nicely with the cooked mushrooms, along with a layer of lettuce and slices of our juicy tomatoes.
Prepare the mushrooms by removing the stems and lightly brushing away any dirt. In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and garlic, along with a little salt and pepper. Whisk to combine, before adding to a bag along with the mushrooms. This allows the mushrooms to better soak up the marinade. Place in the fridge for about an hour.
Make the sauce by combining the mayonnaise, gherkin liquid, gherkin, mustard, and garlic in a small bowl. Place in the fridge until ready to use.
Place an oven-proof griddle pan over a medium heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil, once hot add the mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side.
Preheat the grill. With the mushrooms underside up, place a slice of plant-based cheese on top. Place the pan under the grill for about two minutes, until the cheese starts to bubble.
Remove straight away and layer into the toasted bun with the burger sauce, lettuce, and slices of tomato.
We all get sick sometimes, but when something serious comes along how we define what is important to us can change significantly. There is little doubt that without our health we have very little. All it takes is to be laid up in bed with a serious dose of the flu to know that being sick can be serious. The prevalence of chronic disease in our current age is frightening, it is unfortunately a reflection on how we as a society have evolved. Our eating habits, working habits, exercising habits, have steadily changed and not for the better over the last 50 years.
But what has happened to our food is very concerning. Obviously, the ultra-processed rubbish that is designed to be irresistible is very unhealthy, and we would in all seriousness be better off eating cardboard. But it is often said that it is not what we do occasionally that is the problem it is what we do every day that causes the benefit or the damage. Those things we eat everyday are one of the keys to our health. Our bodies are amazing machines and when we are young, we can cope at least for a while with just about anything, but as we grow older things start to take a greater tole on our health. So it is with our food, at least in my opinion the chemicals on conventional food must over time do damage, they hurt us on the inside and they do it gradually over years. I remember years ago my biology teacher telling me if you irritate something for long enough you will cause cancer. I know I am fortunate and can afford to consume organic food as I have it all around me, I don’t take that for granted. Ironically, for health reasons I have a restricted diet and one of the things I can eat are blueberries. Over the last couple of weeks, we haven’t been able to source organic blueberries as we do not buy airfreighted produce. So, I bought some conventional blueberries in a shop. I think they tasted a little odd, I ate them anyway. But I decided to investigate this a little and here is what I found: In 2024 Pesticides were found on 90 percent of conventional blueberry samples, compared to 81 percent in 2014. 80 percent of samples had two or more pesticides, versus 70 percent in 2014. A single sample of blueberries could have up to 17 different pesticide residues, compared to 13 in 2014. Reference here.
This information is relevant to the US, but many of the blueberries on Irish supermarket shelves come from all over the world and could have the same residues. The most troubling pesticides found on blueberries were phosmet and malathion, chemicals known as organophosphate insecticides. They kill many types of insects and are toxic to the human nervous system.
Not only are conventional blueberries on the list of items to source organically if you can, but green beans, peppers, and kale were also singled out. We have sourced organic blueberries again, the first new European harvest from Spain. I write this piece to once again highlight the difference between conventional food production and organic. Don’t we deserve to known about these unseen extras? So anyway, I am looking forward to getting the first new season organic non airfreighted blueberries next week. They won’t be as good as the Irish ones we had a few weeks ago, but they will be pretty good.
