ely Farm Trip 2014 by Aoife Carrigy

Thank you to Aoife Carrigy for sharing some lovely words and photos from the #elyfarmtrip we took on the October 23rd to the Burren, Co. Clare, to kick off the #ely15years celebration. A great day had by all!

I took a spin down to one of my favourite parts of the world today with a gang from ely to celebrate 15 years of business and to meet some of the people they source their food from.

We met Pat McCormack whose farmhouse doubles up as Father Ted’s house, and who supplies organic lamb to ely. We met Hugh Robson, Erik’s da, who supplies the organic beef and pork (one of the reasons their bangers & mash are so tasty). We met Birgitta Curtin of Burren Smokehouse and tasted her superlative kombu and Dillisk marinated smoked organic salmon.

We chatted with some fascinating women involved in conservation of local wildlife and heritage, were quoted John Moriarty about the Tuatha de Danaan being people who were shaped by the land they live in and were recited poetry about what we lose when we lose our connection to the land. We discussed the role of public art in healing communities, and the role of the humble spud in tackling global food security, and the role of grazing cows in preserving the fragile landscape of the Burren which has been farmed for over 6,000 years.

We drank fine wine (well you’d have to, wouldn’t you) and ate beetroot pickled eggs, and beef tongue with black truffle, and caraway seeded goats gouda, and perfectly roasted beef with pickled onions and horseradish, and porchetta rolled with local herbs, and the aforementioned umami-tastic salmon.

As rainy Tuesdays go, I’d say that was a pretty good day’s work all round.