This Farming Life - May in Castlefarm

What it means to be an organic farmer in Ireland today … Jenny Young writes about life and work on an organic mixed farm in Co Kildare - and selling its produce

We have kept 28 calves as replacement heifers for our dairy herd. We have also sent 30 to a contract rearer in Wexford. We plan to sell these female calves to other dairy farmers as soon as we are offered a good return on our investment.

On the farm it is breeding season. From mid April until the end of May we detect the cows in heat and artificially inseminate them. At the end of May we will put our Angus bull in with the dairy herd. Anything that has not gone into calf to AI will produce an Aberdeen Angus calf, later next spring.

We have drained, ploughed and re seeded 10 acres of boggy land at the bottom of the farm. We hope it will grow grass instead of rushes later in the summer for grazing. Investments like these are always needed on our farm.

In the Castlefarm garden, the vegetables are starting to grow at last. Onions, parsnip, and turnip are all peeping out of the ground. We are enjoying rhubarb and salad leaves. Cucumber, courgette, pepper and tomato plants are enjoying the hot climate of our polytunnel.

Castlefarm Shop is open every week normally on a Friday or Saturday but you need to sign up to facebook, emails or text alerts to keep up to date with opening days and farm specials. We also have a stall at Brooklodge food market, on the first Sunday of every month. To receive our newsletter and news of new products by email please sign up to our email, or text updates or like us on facebook.

Castlefarm Shop, Narraghmore, Athy, Co Kildare, Email jenny@castlefarmshop.ie, log onto www.castlefarmshop.ie or telephone 087 678 5269 Follow us on facebook or on twitter @castlefarmjenny