Tell us about the McNally Family Farm.
McNally Family Farm is a small, family-run organic vegetable farm. We specialise in seasonal produce from the usual to the not-so-usual vegetables, salad leaves and herbs. We grow and sell everything ourselves.
We are based in North County Dublin, in a place called the Ring Commons, about 20 miles from the city centre. We have been farming here organically for 15 years.
And what do you grow on your farm?
Because we are organic seasonal growers, we are constantly changing in what we grow. At the moment we have carrots (purple, yellow and orange), potatoes (sarpo, setanta and orla), cabbages of different varieties, black and green kale, collard greens, swedes, white turnips, leeks, brussel sprouts, sprouting broccoli, chard, spinach, beetroot, cauliflower, red cabbage, white “coleslaw” cabbage, fennel, pak choi, baby celeriac, mixed lettuce leaves, spicy leaf mix (mizuna, mibuna and mustard leaves), rocket, purslane, land cress, watercress, lambs lettuce, mustard leaves, dandelion greens, catalogna greens, wheatgrass, scallions and herbs.
During the summer months you will find a range of salads, as well as beautiful heritage tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, cucumber, French beans, gherkins, aubergines, tomatillos, cucamelons, blackcurrants, redcurrants, radish, basil, lemon basil and thai basil.
We do a large range in small amounts.
Who is in the McNally Family and how many of you work on the farm?
There are seven of us altogether. Pat and Jenny started retailing to the public in August of 1997 in Temple Bar Food Market and have grown from strength to strength since. Both are from farming backgrounds so it’s definitely in their genes! They work full time on the farm and attend the markets every week. Aoife graduated from UCD with a B.AgSc in Food Science in 2010 and has been working on the farm full time ever since, as well as producing our homemade yoghurt which we sell at our stalls too. It’s made from Irish milk and it contains no additives, preservatives or added sugar whatsoever. It’s just pure yoghurt full of delicious goodness!
Niamh is furthering her career in hospitality at the moment, but hopes to help build the business in a few years. I’m in my last last year of BSc Culinary Entrepreneurship in DIT, and I work at the 3 food markets that we attend every week. She hopes to work full time on the “business” side of the farm once finished college. The twins, Stephen & Patrick work full time on the farm weeding, sowing, growing and building new polytunnels everytime the wind knocks another down. They are the two who started the wheatgrass growing. Everyone pitches in wherever they can. Food and farming is something our parents are so passionate about that it was a bit hard for them not to pass their passion down to us!
In your stall in Temple Bar, you only sell produce you grow yourself on your farm and never imported goods. What are some of your favourite things to grow, eat and sell?
I think that being seasonal growers, we have the added advantage that everythings constantly changing, so we can never get too “bored” with any particular veg! Although our heritage tomatoes, particularly the Black Russian tomaotes, are one of our favourite things to grow eat and sell. The flavour in these tomatoes is exceptional, and our customers are well aware of this. We get a lot of early morning customers during the summer when these are in season!
When is your favourite time of year on the farm and why?
Spring. Every year without fail Spring brings with it the hope of new varieties, new vegetables. It is the prime sowing season (the tomatoes were just sown yesterday. It’s a bit like wiping the slate clean and starting from scratch again, hoping to not make the same mistakes again! We’re still constantly learning.
You are a certified organic farm. Why do you think people should eat organic?
Eating organically is something that has been under scrutiny over the past few years. We have been growing organic for so long and don’t believe in having to cover our food with pesticides etc. Food should be eaten straight from the ground and not have to be scrubbed first (once the dirts been knocked off!). A lot of our customers shop with us because we’re local and our veg is always fresh, it’s just an added advantage being organic for some people. We don’t like to dictate to people, it’s their choice.
What are the challenges of being an organic farmer in Ireland?
Weather! The biggest challenge for us personally is potato blight and weed control.
If you weren’t doing what you do, what would you like to be doing?
Pat would like to travel the world as a foreign correspondent. Jenny worked in a bank for 10 years, and has always said this is her dream job – although the weather has been testing that theory lately!
You’ll find The McNally’s in the Temple Bar Food Market every Saturday selling their delicious organic produce. It’s a one stop shop for cooking with local, seasonal produce. Find them on Facebook and follow Jenny McNally on @JennyMcNally7.
RECIPE
Chard & Leek Bake
Ingredients:
250g Chard
300g leeks
50 ml milk
50 ml cream
Knob of butter
Salt and pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
50g Breadcrumbs
50g Creeny cheese
- Stem the green chard, and finally chop the stems
- Wash leeks thouroughly and finely chop
- Put butter on the pan, sweat leeks and add chard stems
- Saute for 10mins
- Finely slice chard leaves and add to pot
- Add nutmeg, salt and pepper
- Add milk and cream, stir
- Transfer to ovenproof dish
- Sprinkle breadcrumbs and cheese on top and bake for 15 mins
