Farm Notes 16th December
A note about these Farm Notes
Our weekly WhatsApp update now has a permanent home on the Bare Acre Farm website. Each week we’ll post a slightly longer version of the farm notes, along with box contents, recipes, and seasonal ideas, so nothing disappears after a few days. Over time this will build into a useful archive — somewhere you can come back to for cooking inspiration, reminders of what’s in season, and a clearer picture of what’s happening on the farm and why. The short WhatsApp message stays the same; this is just a place to go if you’d like a bit more detail.
It’s been a heavy week’s work already and we have plenty more ahead 😜 — but with that said, we do have a week or two off over Christmas and New Year to look forward to, and we’re very ready for the break.
The early part of the week has been taken up with maintenance jobs and a proper tidy-up of the yard, pack-house, and coolers. All of that is in preparation for what will be a larger-than-usual harvest on Thursday and Friday for our regular veg boxes, followed by a further mammoth harvest on Sunday and Monday for our Christmas boxes.
This is an important week for us. It’s the point in the year that brings in the income that allows us to take care of our staff at Christmas and keeps the farm ticking through the skinny months of late winter.
We’re incredibly lucky to have the customers we do. Thanks to your support, our Free Range Bronze Turkeys and our Hams are now completely sold out.
Along with some tips for Christmas veg prep, Jesse will also be sharing advice on cooking your ham and turkey below.
Christmas Veg Boxes
We are still taking orders for our special Christmas Veg Boxes, available in Large and Medium sizes. These include all your Christmas vegetables, fresh herbs, and 5kg of potatoes. They must be ordered online and are for collection on 23rd & 24th of December in the Farm Shop.
You can order here:
👉 https://bareacrefarm.ie/product/bare-acre-farm-christmas-vegetable-box/
A Word on Potatoes
Thanks to our brilliant local growers, we’re also able to offer 5kg bags of Rooster potatoes as an add-on to this week’s orders.
We’ve been given genuinely great prices and are passing that on to you. That means you can buy potatoes this weekend that are cheaper than Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, or Dunnes — while knowing that the farmer growing them is getting around 50% more for his produce than he would from those big retailers.
That feels like something worth supporting.
This Week’s Veg Boxes
Full Box
- Leafy York Cabbage
- Carrots
- Brussels Sprouts
- Salad Leaves
- Parsnips
- Garlic
- Leeks
- Onions
- Irish Apples (small punnet)
Half Box
- Carrots
- Parsnips
- Leafy York Cabbage
- Salad Leaves
- Garlic
- Irish Apples (small punnet)
Jesse’s Christmas Dinner Hints & Tips
Rather than full recipes this week, I thought I’d put together a few simple ideas to help make Christmas dinner that bit more special without adding stress.
Have a wonderful Christmas
♥️ Jesse
Roast Potatoes
A lovely twist comes from this simple trick: add the juice of a clementine or mandarin to the roasting dish just before your potatoes go into the oven. It adds a subtle citrus note that works beautifully with crispy edges and fluffy centres.
Brussels Sprouts
Sprouts get a bad rap due to there once bitter taste, that has now largly been bred out of them, as modern sprout varieties and sweeter, however, sprouts still meet with some resistance so here is a simple way to convert your family to them.
Pan-fry sprouts with pancetta or streaky bacon until golden, then finish with a drizzle of honey and a splash of vinegar or lemon juice. Sweet, salty, and properly festive.
Turkey (this sounds wrong, but is so worth while)
Roasting a turkey upside down is a real thing. Cooking it breast-side down for most of the roasting time allows the juices to run into the breast meat, keeping it far more moist. Turn it right-way-up for the final 45–60 minutes to brown the skin.
It looks wrong. It works brilliantly.
Christmas Opening Hours & Collections
As we head into Christmas week, here’s a clear outline of opening hours, collections, and food van plans.
Farm Shop Opening Hours
- Thursday 18th – Tuesday 23rd December:
Open daily from 9:30am – 4:30pm - Christmas Eve (24th December):
Open 9:30am – 12:30pm
(Please note: the shop will close at 12:30 sharp.)
After Christmas Eve, we’ll be taking our annual two-week break.
The farm shop will reopen on Saturday 10th January.
For January and February, the shop will be open Saturdays and Sundays only, returning to our normal schedule in early March.
Food Van
Chef Ger will be in the food van this coming Saturday and Sunday.
After this weekend, the food van will close for the remainder of 2025.
Christmas Collections
Collection of turkeys, hams, and Christmas veg boxes will take place on:
- Monday 23rd December
- Tuesday 24th December (Christmas Eve, morning only)
To help spread the workload and reduce waiting times, we’re asking (where possible):
- Customers whose first name (as it appears on the order) begins with A–L to collect on 23rd December
- Customers whose first name (as it appears on the order) begins with M–Z to collect on the morning of Christmas Eve
We fully understand that this won’t suit everyone.
If you need to collect on a different day, that’s absolutely fine — just come when it works best for you.
