Friday, September 30, 2011

Irish Beef

Marvelous piece in the Farmers Journal this week entitled 'Where's the beef?' by Imen McDonnell about the quality and taste of Irish beef and how she has come to appreciate the taste and flavour of our grass fed beef.

From our own point of view, for quality and taste the traditional breeds are best whether it be Angus, Hereford, Irish Moiled etc.. We of course would be rather partial to the Irish Moiled, but basically if you want top quality beef  buy Irish, buy it from your local butcher and preferably from a butcher who has his own abbatoir. They need our support and our beef needs them!


And speaking of local butchers, we have just come back from Flood’s of Oldcastle where we went to see our Moile bullock which has been hanging in their fridge for the past 3 weeks. It was a great opportunity to see it on the hook and to discuss with Johnny, Declan and Martin Flood the different cuts and options to make the best use of it from our freezer!

If you’re ever in Oldcastle be sure to call in, or alternatively look out for their market stall on Saturdays at Sheridan’s Cheesemongers warehouse in Carnaross.

The four quarters ageing nicely in the fridge, and a good covering of fat too, essential for flavour. I was relieved to see the carcass looking so well as I was worried he wasn’t finished properly, but Declan assures me that it’s looking really good.
Our own organic rare breed beef, butchered locally and into our freezer: a total of 25 miles from ‘field to fork’!

We will be using this Moile beef through our B&B, and may have small amounts for sale but essentially we envisage using most of it here, however we sold 2 bullocks to Clanwood Farm who own and operate The Organic Kitchen, which you may have seen at shows and festivals round the country.
As part of their business they also sell their organic beef to specialist shops in the Dublin area: Cavistons, the Organic Supermarket and Thomas’s of Foxrock to name a few. So keep your eye out for Irish Moiled beef in these establishments and better still, create a demand by asking for it!

Some of our Irish Moiled Cattle

Friday, September 23, 2011

Eco Label

Stealing the phrase of a certain motoring journalist I suppose we have always been 'Ecomentalists', and now we have the certificate to prove it!

During the summer we did an Eco-Tourism course which was organised by Westmeath Community Development and facilitated by Neil Faulkner. 
To find out more please click on the following link: www.greenhospitality.ie
 From left to right: Maurice Bergin of Green Hospitality Ireland, Christopher, Helen and Joe Potter of Westmeath Community Development.
Nine businesses took part, all from Westmeath and all still committed.
A special thanks to  Westmeath Community Development who ran the Eco Tourism Training Project which was funded under the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Autumn


I'm not sure what happened to summer but it seems as if autumn is with us in the form of conkers at least.




The damsons and the crab apples are the last of the fruit to ripen, and while the recent windy weather and the birds have had their share there was still plenty for us to pick.



After much teetering on ladders we can return to the house and start processing the haul!



More jellies and jams - lets hope our guests, family and friends enjoy them as much as we do. 
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