Autumn is always a lovely time of year on the farm and with the great weather all the farm work is going to plan.  Crops are harvested, fields reseeded, apples picked and blackberries in abundance, that’s if the birds didn’t get there first!

Our Aberdeen Angus (the girls in the picture) are almost at full weight and look great, we are happy with their progress.  You may be interested in getting your beef locally so keep an eye here…….

We can be sure it’s Autumn here when the turkeys arrive, they are here for a few weeks now.  Our big problem is ‘Mr Fox’ who managed to snatch 3 turkeys and not forgetting the 6 hens…… even though there were people around,  very clever!

You might like some of our Spring lamb,  it’s perfect right now especially with the apple and mint jelly all home grown.

Thanks to all our customers and we hope you enjoy  the lovely Autumn weather, it’s certainly going to make the winter seem short.

Keep tuned in for that Aberdeen Angus beef direct from us to you…..

At Bloom 2014  - Feeding the lambs

Five days filled with sunshine, fabulous gardens, happy people and great food. Our pet lambs Countess Markievicz, Brian Boru and Michael Collins came with us and enjoyed all the attention and the bottles of milk.   Four of our ewes were shorn each day and a great crowd gathered to see the experts at work.   The whole flock have since been shorn too.

Back home on the farm, our first batch of lambs available to customers will be selected in the next week or so and we have quite a number of orders to fill.  The mint is plentiful, so on with the  work of making the Apple and Mint Jelly!

The winner of the draw at Bloom is David Forde, Dublin, , so the Forde  household  can look forward to having plenty of lamb for those summer months to enjoy with family and friends.

The partridge are doing well, plenty of nests around, so hopefully lots of young partridge to joint the flock.

Come and visit us at our stand at the Flavours of Fingal Show in Newbridge House on 28th and 29th June.

Meantime, if you would like to order some lamb, we are taking orders now for early July.

From

Padraic  Brid & Lorcan

Well it’s a great winter on the farm, with the weather being so good.  All the crops are sown, way ahead of this time last year.  The fields are dry and we have had no rain for almost a week now…. thats amazing.

It’s almost time for the ewes (hopefully they are all in lamb) to come in.  They have not been scanned yet to see what they are carrying.  They will be in warm sheds and their feed brought to them. What more could they ask for?  The calves have just come into the sheds for the winter too.

Mostly it’s turkey talk here.   They are out every day and enjoying the lovely winter days, but most importantly they have to be in before sunset, the fox is always a threat.  Our two dogs, Chips and Stripe are great sheepdogs, but they are also great turkey dogs, and they herd them in just like they do the sheep.

Cranberry sauce is another big item on the agenda.   This year the cranberries are great, firm and perfect.  Over 200 jars to be made, so a long way to go yet.

Talking turkey orders at the moment and will be taking last lamb orders for this year over next two weeks.

Best wishes from Fieldstown Farm.

This weekend we had 13 customers for boxes of lamb direct from our farm.  Two boxes went outside of Dublin by Courier and arrived safely at their destinations.  It’s great to see so many people wanting to buy local and wanting to know the source of their food.

One lady who came to the farm to collect her box of lamb, Linda Harford, was the winner of our Flavours of Fingal competition for a lamb for her family to enjoy over the coming months.  That’s Linda and her children and Lorcan in the Picture.

Work is progressing well on the farm due to the great Autumn weather.  The potatoes were dug out last week and three days later the field was ploughed and sewn with Winter Wheat.   This could not happen last year due to the very wet condition of the farm.

The Turkeys are growing and out an about enjoying the sunny days.  The calves are growing well and also benefiting from the good weather.  The Rams are with the Ewes and we are expecting a good crop of lambs this Spring.

Follow us on Twitter ‘tweetingfarmers’.  This week we are the tweeting farmers so you can follow us for the week.  Should be fun.

Thats all for now from Fieldstown Farm.

Well after weeks of preparation ‘Flavours of Fingal Show’ finally took place on 14th and 15th September.  The weather was fantastic on the Saturday with sunshine all day and the crowds certainly came and enjoyed the sun, the animals the food stands and much more.  Newbridge House and gardens as always looked great, what a great location!

We chatted with losts of people, some old and new customers and had a great time.  We had a competition for a lamb from the farm and the winner was Linda Harford, Portrane, Co Dublin.  She will be calling to collect her lamb shortly and we are delighted that Linda was the winner as she tells us that she swam in the Broadmeadow River when she was young.

We know it’s Autumn on the farm when the turkeys have arrived, they are growing well and they are out and about on the farm daily  (of course the weather is a great help).  The harvest is finished and all that remains to do is pick the apples, collect wild mushrooms (perfect weather for these) and dig the potatoes.  Our lambs and calves are doing well and we have some Grey Partridge chicks on the farm.

Did anyone try the Bloom lamb recipes!

Our pet lambs came to Bloom and this is ObAAAma  going home with Lorcan.  The pets Eisenhower, Roosevelt, Bush and ObAAAma, were a great hit with adults and children alike all fighting to feed them.  It was a great event and well done to the organisers, of course the weather helped.  We met lots of people interested in our lamb and even got to see the wonderful gardens.

Hazel McFadden, Kitchen at the Castle, Howth, cooked our lamb ‘Fieldstown Farm Lamb Skewers with Fennel, Cucumber and Tabouli.  It was fabulous well done to her.  She used loin of lamb for the recipe, you will find it here with the recipes.  Brian McDermott, Community Chef, cooked Lamb Cutlets with Garlic Lemon and Paprika, I will put that recipe up too.  It was fantastic as well.

We had a draw for Fieldstown Farm fresh lamb and we have a winner.  The winner is Maria Quigley and she is top of the list to receive her lamb towards end of this month.  Well done to her for taking the time to fill up the form.

Our spring grass fed lamb, the first of the season will be available towards the end of June, and we expect to be busy filling orders, so if you want some come on line and order.  Great meat for that summer barbeque!

Episode 4 – 27 February 2013

Episode 5 – 06 March 2013

Episode 6 – 13 March 2013

Episode 1 – 08 February 2013

Episode 2 – 14 February 2013

Episode 3 – 21 February 2013

The confused ewe!

It’s been a busy February and early March at the farm.  The ewes started lambing end of January and thankfully the new borns are now out in the fields with their mothers.  It was quite wet at start of lambing so we kept the lambs in for a few days until they were stronger.

The TV3 crew have been here following the lambing and other happenings on the farm. You can see the episodes on TV3 player or live on Thursdays around 11.00 on the Morning Show.  We have received good feedback and you will see from the clips we have all sorts of weather.

We have signed up to facebook and twitter and you can follow us there too.

Lots of interest in the farming world these days, with talk of ‘burgers’, Cap reform and we paid a visit to the Young Scientist Exhibition and were amazed at the number of agriculture  related projects.

Have a look at some of the lamb photos!

After months and weeks of preparation the weekend of ‘Flavours of Fingal’ arrived. Hard to believe, but the weather was great.  Padraic was busy with the livestock section, Lorcan had his ewe Whitey, and Brid and Katie were promoting our lamb at the Fieldstown Farm stand.  The show was great and what  a great showcase for all the producers in the Fingal area.

The location, Newbridge House, was excellent, and the walled garden was perfect for Music, food, picnics, ice-cream and much more.

We had a very busy two days at the Fieldstown Farm stand, Katie and Brid met lots of potential new customers, and some long time friends of Fieldstown Farm.  Eimear Dunne  was  the winner of  our draw for a lamb for her freezer, and she will have it shortly to enjoy with her family and friends.

Padraic and Lorcan both won prizes for their sheep, Lorcan got 1st Prize for his ewe Whitey… that’s him in the picture.  Padraic got a 1st and 2nd, no picture of him!

Hazel McFadden from ‘The Kitchen in the Castle’ cookery school was there on Saturday and she cooked Fieldstown Farm Lamb Kebabs with finnel Tsatsiki and Tabouli. She used lamb rump marinaded.  I will put her recipe up on the site shortly. You can find Hazel at www.thekitcheninthecastle.com