The Soil Salon – Convergence Event, 30 September 2017
Features citizen soil scientist, David Beacher and the Cloughjordan community farm’s own Kevin Dudley. This afternoon event is aimed at food growers, farmers and other people interested in soil and agroecology. It will introduce the GROW Observatory is an EU-wide project supporting the emergence of a citizens’ movement to share knowledge and help monitor our European soils. The salon will develop the capacity of Irish citizens to understand soil and to better steward land and includes presentations by Devyn Olson-Sawyer and Ben Whelan of the GROW Observatory and representatives of the People4Soil campaign. Saturday 30 September 2017, 14.00 – 16.30
Work on the farm
Bye bye Raquel!!Thank you for the EVS Blog and videos! Raquel, Goi, Juan Carlos and Pricilla and all EVS students and Woofers of 2016-2017(I don’t have all the names right now..) The students did amazing work throughout the year and left a legacy of vegetable for members to enjoy right up to the end of the year. Raquel kept a Blog page live while here and you can see all the work they did and some great photos – here May on the farm: http://evs-cloughjordancommunityfarm.blogspot.ie/ You can find Raquels personal ongoing Blog page here https://raqueldafouzeng.wordpress.com Watch all the great videos Raquel made of work on the farm 2017 here:
Butternut Squash or Pumpkin Risotto
-Peel 1 small butternut squash, then cut into ½ inch big cubes. -Peel and then finely chop 1 onion. -In a medium saucepan, heat 4 cups chicken stock over medium-high heat until boiling, then reduce heat and simmer. -Add 3 TBS olive oil or ghee to a large, deep-sided skillet over medium-high heat. -Add onion and butternut squash and cook until beginning to soften, 8 to 10 minutes. -Season with sea salt and pepper. -Add 1½ cups Arborio rice and let cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. -Add ½ cup dry white wine and simmer, stirring frequently, until nearly absorbed, 2 to 3 minutes. -Reduce heat to medium and add ½ cup stock, then let simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently. -Continue adding stock and simmering until all stock has been used, about 15 minutes. -Stir in the following: 1 TBS fresh rosemary, finely chopped 2 TBS unsalted butter ½ cup freshly…
Indian Spiced Fennel Pickles
-Chop up 1 fennel bulb into 1/8 inch slices. -Put the fennel slices in a 1-quart canning jar. -Add the following to a medium sized saucepan: A ½-inch piece ginger, peeled, thinly sliced 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced ½ cup white vinegar 1 tsp kosher or sea salt 2 TBS granulated sugar 2 TBS light brown sugar 2 tsp yellow mustard seeds ½ tsp coriander seeds 1 tsp cumin seeds ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric 1 star anise pod 1 cup of water -Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve salt and sugar. -Pour hot brine into jar and cover. -Let cool, then chill. -Store in the fridge for up to 2 months.
SpeakEATsy – 23rd September 2017, Cloughjordan Ecovillage, 7.30pm
A convivial evening meal with spoken word, music and compelling conversations, this happening is far more than the sum of its parts: it’s a confluence of influences and inspirations delivering a full sensory and intellectual workout! A deep discussion will be held with Easkey Britton, a big-wave surfer who is using her passion for the ocean to create social change and connection across cultures, and Fergal Smith (pictured), a professional surfer who has returned to the land to start a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm near Lahinch. Live acoustic music, slam poetry and global beats from DJs complete the aesthetic. Book early as this one books out! Buy SpeakEATsy Ticket online now, options: Ticket 1 (no food contrib.) €25.00 EURTicket 2 (I’m bringing a dish) €15.00 EUR See this one minute snippet for more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTg4DBJoGkk An evening with food at it’s core – bring a dish to share…
Féile na nÚll Apple Festival – Saturday 23rd of September 2017
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY FAIR – Féile na nÚll, Apple Festival @ Cloughjordan Ecovillage It’s that colourful time of year, Féile na nÚll the Apple Festival and Sustainable Community Fair takes in Cloughjordan Ecovillage. From 11am there will be a Little Food Fair with stalls from Night Orchard, Wildfire Pizza, Back Lane BBQ, Lime Tree, Walnut Books and Harmony Gardens. Throughout the day there is apple pressing – bring your own apples! There is also an apple bake contest and activities for all the family. Some of the highlights are a workshop on our relationship to money, a preview of local playwright Joanna Ryan-Purcell’s(Banba Theatre) adaptation of Children of Lir on the Cloughjordan Community Amphitheatre and a presentation and guided tour of the Ecovillage.(see the full schedule below) That evening from 7.30 there will also be a SpeakEATsy. This is a shared meal, live music, spoken word and a public conversation with professional surfer turned organic farmer Fergal Smith. Booking can be made here.…
Pasta With Butternut Squash And Bacon
-Boil a large covered pot of salted water for the pasta. -Peel and then coarsely shred 1 butternut squash on a box grater. -In 12-inch skillet, cook ½ pound of bacon on medium heat 8 to 10 minutes or until bacon is crisp. With slotted spoon, transfer bacon to small plate. -Drain and discard all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the skillet. -To same skillet, add the following: 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped ¼ tsp red pepper flakes -Cook 30 seconds, stirring. -Add butternut squash and ¼ tsp sea salt. -Cook 10 minutes, stirring and mashing frequently. -Stir in the following: 2/3 cup half-and-half 6 sage leaves, finely chopped -Cook 2 minutes. -Remove from heat. -Cook 1 pound of pasta according to package directions. -Reserve ½ cup cooking water. -Drain pasta well; return to pot. -Add chopped bacon, squash mixture and.. ½ cup grated Parmesan The reserved cooking…
Latest Update from EVS 2017
Find out all about what’s being going on on the farm from the EVS blog here: May on the farm: http://evs-cloughjordancommunityfarm.blogspot.ie/
Feeding Ourselves 2017 and SpeakEATsy – 8th & 9th April
Join us for the annual Feeding Ourselves gathering! We will celebrate the soil beneath our feet, the food it provides for our communities, and the agroecological farmers and growers who work the land!! 🌏🌱🌿🌏🔭🔬🌏🌱🌿🌏🔭🔬🌏 And, we’ll have ourselves a speakEATsy in the middle of it all – a community meal, poetry, music, compelling conversation! Feeding Ourselves 2017 will feature a soil symposium – including an introduction to a fascinating new citizen science project called GROW Observatory – with dedicated sessions on community gardens, sustainable farm diversification, community supported agriculture, and the launch of the Land Workers Alliance in Ireland. We’ll highlight inspiring examples of regenerative (agri)-culture activism – from farm hack to food policy councils. SpeakEATsy – The now infamous event where food, poetry, music and compelling conversation come together in a convivial setting. Art Exhibit – The Spicebox of Earth – An exhibition on soil and the ecology of…
Farm Newsletter – Issue no. 4
Click here to download This month is now showing hints of Spring: hedges and trees are starting to sprout buds, even some daffodils are appearing….and whilst it is not our most productive sewing and planting month, our peppers and tomatoes have already gone into the tunnels and large amounts of onions have been sewn into trays. Other mainstay crops will follow soon and the next issue will go into more detail on crop planting. A new Polytunnel is going up, to increase propagation and provide more planting room- see Goi’s update on this tunnel on p.5 ; recipes to use up our root veg before we move onto lighter recipes for Spring appear on p.10 and an article on our Pigs follows this. Getting to the Root of it: some facts on our Farm Pigs By Raquel Dafouz Last week, while some of our neighbours from Cloughjordan watched and with…