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In 2005, Kenneth Keavey and his wife Jenny returned from working abroad and set up Green Earth Organics on Kenneth’s grandfather’s farm in Caherlea, Corrandulla, Co Galway.
They started out with a quarter of an acre of organic field-scale vegetables which has since expanded to 41 acres (23 acres owned and 18 acres leased).
The business now includes 14.75 acres of field-scale vegetables, polytunnel and fruit production, 20.5 acres under green manure and 3.5 acres devoted to habitats wood and buildings.
The polytunnels are used to extend the growing season of vegetables and enable Green Earth to grow a wider variety of crops for market.
These include tomatoes, lettuce, scallions, celery and cucumbers.
There is a wide range of field crops grown, including brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kale), carrots, parsnips, leeks, beetroot, spinach and courgettes.
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It is also interesting to note that of all the land use on the farm, 50% is for the production of green manure.
To produce green manure, ground is planted with a mix of red clover and perennial ryegrass.
This will be cut several times per year and left to mulch into the soil for two years before being planted with field vegetables.
As vegetables are extremely sensitive to soil fertility conditions, soil tests are regularly taken.
These are then used to see where corrections in the pH and NPK levels need to be made.
Pest and disease control techniques are also very important on the farm.
Fleeces are used to protect field crops from flies, caterpillars and pigeons. Pyrethrum insecticide, which is directly extracted from the pyrethrum daisy, is a natural insecticide that is used only in the polytunnels.
Weed control is also one of the big facets of the farm and can be labour-intensive at times.
A flaming technique is used to control emerging chickweed in fallow land.
Several mechanical implements are used on the field crops, such as a disc-weeder and intra rotovater.
Manual labour is also still utilised through a combination of hoes and hand-weeding.
Almost 100% of the farms products are sold online, through their direct home-delivery service, or in the on-farm shop that opens on Wednesdays.
Kenneth Keavey (left) with JP McMahon (right), who gave a cookery demonstration on the day of the farm walk. clearskiesahead.com-martin
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