About the Holding
The farm is comprised of 9 acres that have been transformed from a green field site. Today there is around an acre for growing vegetables and another acre where there is a fruit and nut orchard along with chickens, ducks, pigs, horses, dogs, and a cat.
At present four acres are being converted into native woodland and pasture grazing for the horses and a 2-acre food forest is being created. Kate and Tom’s growing methods are a blend of organic, permaculture, and natural farming. Kate and Tom are also working hard to increase biodiversity and the ability of the land to support native wildlife by installing ponds and planting native trees and pollinator plants.
A Social Farming Day
- Sowing seeds, harvesting vegetables, building raised beds, digging drains, planting trees, weeding
- Feeding animals and cleaning out pens
- Care of the horses, feeding, and stables/field cleaning, grooming, and looking after their equipment.
- During good weather there may be an opportunity to have a campfire and cook up some delicious snacks. Learn to make rope from wild plants.
Local Interests
Kate volunteers with the local community centre in Ballymahon and runs the Youth Club there.
Something Special about the Farm
“After working in environmental education and conservation for over ten years, we wished to take on an action project that would make some change in the real world. We bought the farm in 2016 and set out to create somewhere that was beautiful and bursting with biodiversity while also producing a sustainable harvest. There is a huge increase in the number of birds, insects, animals, and plants that now call the farm home. We hope that this will be a calm and enriching place for humans and animals alike.” – Kate Egan and Tom Carlin