Features
The Accidental Farmers
Paddy and Geraldine Blackwell left Dublin in 1989 to become smallholders in the west of Ireland. Instead, they ended up owning a 51 acre farm on the northern edge of the Burren near Kinvara, Co. Galway. “It was really the house we wanted,” says Geraldine “and we intended to have a few acres along with it but the farmer wanted to sell the lot, so we bought it”. Looking out on the limestone hills of the Burren, it’s easy to see what attracted them to this scenic spot. “It’s just as well I took a sideways move into animal husbandry because I soon discovered I hated weeding,” she says. The Burren limestone, with a thin layer of topsoil, might not have been the most suitable land for horticulture in any event.
Organic Ethos
The Blackwells were early members of IOFGA, meeting informally with other members of the budding organisation long before an official office was set up. As parents of a young family, health concerns and the organic ethos prompted them to join IOFGA. “We were associate members to begin with and we had a lively city organic group,” Geraldine says. “There were a lot of associate members supporting IOFGA at that time. We had a ‘grow your own’ group long before GIY was heard of. We bought in bulk from growers, held talks in members houses and shared a seed order every year”.
Paddy, who works as a civil servant, seized the opportunity when decentralisation was offered and they moved from being associate members to fully fledged symbol holders in a couple of years. “Part time farming is not easy,” says Paddy. “You learn more the hard way when you don’t grow up in a place. Blackthorn is very invasive here so we cut it back but found that the stumps damaged the hooves of the cattle”. Geraldine agrees. “It’s beautiful here most of the year but when you’re out in the sleet and cold at a difficult calving, it can be bleak”.
Low Inputs
They ran sheep over the land to clean it up and bought their first cattle in 1990. “At the time, there was little organic stock available but we managed to get whiteheads from Joachim Hees. Dehorning was always an issue for us so we switched to Angus for easier calving and management,” says Geraldine. More recently, they have experimented with Angus/Montbéliarde crosses. “We had one whitehead/Angus that had eye problems and this was inherited by her calf as well. We are always looking for the right breed of animal for our farm conditions. As well as that, we were looking for a bigger animal, something closer to Limousin that would be easier to sell locally,” Paddy explains.
Selling directly from the farm is a big issue for the Blackwells. “We never go to marts for animal welfare reasons’” says Geraldine. “I would be concerned about stress on animals and the danger of infections and diseases. When we know we have a buyer, we prepare the animals for sale as best we can. We wean the calves and we have direct contact with the buyer so we can discuss feed and other issues when we sell”. They never have difficulty in finding a buyer and had an excellent relationship with Pat Lalor for many years and now sell regularly to John McLoughlin. “Dealing directly with a farmer allows you to build up a relationship which is very important within the organic community,” Paddy says.
Farming in such an extensive way means that the Blackwells have few health problems on the farm. Cattle are outwintered and have grass practically all year round. Paddy and Geraldine save hay which is made into square bales and fed to stock when necessary. “We fed hay during the cold spell last winter,” Geraldine says. “Once the snow melted, they had plenty grass again. Generally, about four to six weeks of feeding is all that is needed and the stock has plenty of shelter in our hazel wood”. Because of the high lime content in the soil mineral deficiencies can be a problem and cattle need copper injections from time to time.
Multi-Tasking
The Blackwells are very careful about the management of their land which is in permanent grass. “We have the original meadows which were never re-seeded and the pasture is species-rich,” Geraldine says. “There’s a great variety of wildflowers and clover. This year we have cowslips popping up all over the fields. We never use heavy machinery on the land during winter. Paddy wheels out the hay bales in a hand cart”. It’s easy to see why they are concerned about compaction when Paddy explains that periods of heavy flooding have left part of their farm under water on occasion.
In previous years Paddy and Geraldine had an extensive kitchen garden and kept poultry. “When you have family to help out you can do a lot more but we have had to cut back since the children left,” she says. Not that she is considering retirement in any way just yet – she runs her own wool and knitting shop in Kinvara village and is much in demand for knitting and sowing repairs. The ‘stitch and chat’ class she runs on Wednesday mornings is the social hub for local women interested in improving their craft skills.
As if that wasn’t enough, she has also taken up a career as a civil funeral celebrant. This involved a training course in the UK and is “somewhere between a humanist and a church service,” Geraldine says. “I give the bereaved family the service that they want and I’ve done a number of funerals throughout the country”.
Co-Operative Development
Paddy and Geraldine have seen a lot of changes in organic farming since they set out. “We are probably less commercially driven than some but farming has definitely become more commercialised and regulated,” Geraldine says. “Home cures and remedies that you could exchange with others can’t now be used. It is good to see more people involved and, in that respect, IOFGA has done what it set out to do – organic farming has become mainstream. The down side is that we have lost the sense of community that was there”.
“We have become too money conscious and too much in debt,” Paddy says. We are paying for the celtic tiger years. There is less volunteerism and without that there is no sense of community”.
“Organic farming will continue to grow as people become more conscious of what they consume,” Geraldine says. She feels that primary producers must develop some form of processing to add value to their output. “Co-operatives or small companies must be set up to develop sales. Livestock producers have a once a year window so I would dearly love to see a system set up where producers would have access to a list of available stock that could be bought directly from farms. Finishing is not an option for us here in the west. Anyone finishing cattle must be able to grow cereals”.
If she could offer one piece of advice to farmers what would it be? “Pick an enterprise that suits your land and be realistic about what your farm can produce; you can’t push it,” she says.
A Soil Association report in the UK finds that Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) offers many benefits to members,
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