In the heart of Cork city, on the banks of the River Lee, I kid you not, our photographer and I are walking around looking for a farm. A first, I know.

Down the quay, up Cornmarket St and still no sign. Slightly lost (I think our sense of direction might be better on the backroads) but we’re sure this is the right place.

We haven’t lost the run of ourselves post-lockdown, and no, there isn’t a secret, concealed plot of land in the city centre. This farm is on a roof.

Cork Rooftop Farm's chickens. \ Donal O’Leary

One quick phone call and the man himself appears in a doorway, beckoning us to follow him. Up a couple of flights of stairs, through a courtyard, more stairs and a little, hidden piece of Cork appears before us.

The roof is slightly lower than the buildings around it; a couple of rows of adjacent red-brick houses, a carpark on the far side and the apartments to which it’s attached, which rise ever so slightly on one side.

These structures surround it not in an ominous way, there’s plenty of sunlight, but more so giving it a feeling of exclusivity. A tiny oasis in a concrete jungle. On the roof, mixed leaves, vegetables and herbs grow in raised beds, towers and a greenhouse. Flowers are dotted around, both for decoration and pollination. Chickens cluck in the coop.

Cork Rooftop Farm is a new venture for friends Brian McCarthy and Thayane “Thay” Carlos. They only commenced the project at the start of lockdown, more to occupy themselves than with a business in mind. But in a short few months they’ve transformed this space astronomically and increased business steadily.

Brian McCarthy and Thayane Carlos, Cork Rooftop Farm. \ Donal O’Leary

Lockdown life

While growing veg may be a new undertaking for both Brian and Thay, for Brian, business is not. He runs his family’s business, Central Floral Supplies, with his father Kevin. Kevin set up the business nearly 50 years ago. Its shop front used to be under the roof we’re on (they own the building) before it moved out near the airport.

At the beginning of the pandemic they had to temporarily shut the fresh flower business, and like many, Thay, who had been waitressing, was out of work. With their new-found time, Brian and Thay decided to try their hand at growing veg for their own consumption. Kevin has a vegetable patch at home in Bishopstown and it was something Brian was interested in emulating.

However, Brian doesn’t live in the suburbs anymore, he lives in a city-centre apartment with access to this roof. Thay lives in an apartment just around the corner.

Initially, they were going to grow veg in the courtyard beside Brian’s apartment, but Thay suggested the roof, as it was a bigger space – 6,800 sq ft. Sceptical to begin with, not wanting to damage the roof or cause any issues, Brian checked out the logistics. He came around to the idea wholeheartedly in the end and threw himself into it with Thay.

Raised beds on Cork Rooftop Farm. / Donal O' Leary

“Only for the lockdown I don’t think this would have happened, because I would still have been working my regular job. Thay would still have been working her regular job and neither of us would really have focused our time on driving it the way we did,” says Brian.

“I think for any start-up you have to give a huge amount of energy to it in order for it to succeed. We’ve literally both been working on this seven days a week for months now. My day has changed slightly since the floral business reopened, but Thay is still out here at six in the morning. We wouldn’t get off until 9pm when we fall in a heap basically.”

Jumping hurdles

Once they decided to give growing on the roof a go, the pair became captivated with the idea of what was possible. It’s a relatively new concept in Ireland, with one other previous commercial attempt in Dublin.

They built raised beds themselves and bought a greenhouse. And, while they had a lot of time to give to their passion project during lockdown, it also posed some issues.

It was much more difficult to source what they needed, such as seed and seed trays, as they were in high demand. So they had to improvise, covering boxes from the supermarket with cling film and growing in there until they got proper equipment.

Twenty cubic metres of topsoil was delivered from Middleton also. Trying to spread it around the roof, two hand-trucks broke, so they had to lift it by hand.

As well as the greenhouse and raised beds, they also use grow towers for their herbs and greens; verticality being optimal in smaller spaces, obviously. It’s a soil-less system, where seeds are planted in rock-wool cubes in a tower. Nutrients are placed in the water, which circulates around the tower and directly onto the roots, allowing the plants to grow.

In terms of red tape, they’ve been working with Cork City Council from the outset on fire certs and access points. Weight on the roof is something Brian is very mindful of, but thankfully the building was constructed initially with the option to add on six more stories.

New directions

Although neither expected to get involved in something like rooftop growing, both Brian and Thay have been enthralled by the experience.

Thay is from Minas Gerais in Brazil. She moved to Ireland two years ago and to Cork last October.

Her home place in Brazil is in the countryside, but she was never involved in anything like this before and can’t believe how she has taken to it. Laughing, Thay explains she was never really an early riser, but now, she’s on the roof at 6am.

From his side, Brian admits that growing up he really didn’t know what he wanted to do, so he was always aware he could end up anywhere.

“Sure I hadn’t a clue what I wanted to do. I did a year of law in the University of Limerick (UL) before I did computer science in University College Cork (UCC). Then I went into supplying fresh flowers, now I’ve got a farm on a roof. So you know, there’s no joining the dots there,” he laughs.

At present they’re growing a wide variety of veg. To name but a few, there are carrots, parsnips, peas, lettuce, 20 different varieties of tomatoes and about 12 different herbs.

The plan at the moment is to sell the produce directly to market, both delivering to local restaurants and an online “click and collect” service for the public. Recently, local restaurant #51, just a stone’s throw away on Cornmarket St, not only started using their produce, but named a salad after them, The Rooftop Salad.

Cork Rooftop Farm. \ Donal O’Leary

Going forward, the bigger picture is to facilitate tours of the rooftop and have a linked shop and juice bar where the flower shop was. Also, Brian is looking at buying a plot of land just outside the city, which could complement the rooftop offering.

Their story has been gathering traction too. This Friday, 31 July they’re going to feature on garden designer Diarmuid Gavin’s new TV show, Gardening Together with Diarmuid Gavin on RTÉ One. Filming for this, they say, was a super experience.

Highs and lows

Reflecting on the initial few months, Brian is of the belief that the best thing you can do with any new project is throw yourself headfirst into it.

Thayane Carlos watering the raised beds. \ Donal O’Leary

“I wouldn’t really have had much carpentry experience for example coming into this, but everything we did here, the beds, the chicken coop, everything apart from the greenhouse, was built by myself. It’s all just about backing yourself and giving it a go. We made loads of mistakes, but you just try to learn, figure it out and move on.”

As well as the triumphs of starting Cork Rooftop Farm, over the past few months there has been very difficult times also. Sadly, Brian’s mother Eileen passed away in May. Brian says it was beneficial to have a project like this to be able to channel energy into.

With a lot of ground covered, this writer is particularly curious about one thing, was there any nerves in terms of setting up a new business in such a volatile and changeable landscape?

Brian McCarthy. \ Donal O’Leary

“I had the other business, which I was very apprehensive about, that had two months of trade wiped out. I think what I was most concerned about was, should I put my money into this project or should I really be putting it away in a rainy day fund for myself? Because God knows what’s down the track,” reasons Brian.

“Really, we could see from the feedback on social media and just in general, there was definitely a market there. That what we were doing resonated with people. So if we could figure out a plan to make it sustainable and financially viable, the other bits were going to take care of themselves, hopefully through sheer demand for what we’re doing and the uniqueness of the idea.”

As we head back down the flights of the stairs and out into the city centre, we leave behind what might be Cork’s best-kept secret at the moment. It mightn’t stay that way for long.

Brian McCarthy and Thayane Carlos, Cork Rooftop Farm. \ Donal O’Leary

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