Don't Push Me Cause I'm Close to The Veg
Dave Kavanagh on farming, sustainability, climate change and other annoying truths we'd rather not think about
This Isn't a Food System. It's Supermarket Hegemony.
Alfred Henry Lewis once warned that we are only nine meals from anarchy. That's not a historical truth, it's a warning.
Build A Raise Garden Bed For Your Veg
A couple of bank holidays incoming, so if you want to get an immediate start on your garden, here's a simple plan for putting a raised bed together.
The Math That Forced Me To Change My Diet
Our small holding, as it is currently farmed feeds a village - but farmed for livestock, it would struggle to feed just me.
Whole Milk Directly From The Farm
Buying Whole Milk In North CO Dublin
Right. If we're going to talk about milk, let's talk about milk properly — not the white water we've been trained to think of as "healthy."
Loving Winter Veg
This is food for proper hunger. Food that sustains, comforts, and rewards attention. And in the right hands, winter veg becomes anything but dull.
January Vegetable Gardening
January: When Doing Nothing Is the Hardest Job in the Garden
Even with heat mats, cosy kitchens and propagators, seedlings sown in January are fighting a losing battle. The daylight hours are short, the sun is weak, and plants grown without enough light stretch desperately towards it.
Long Before Christmas, There Was Feasting & Gathering
Across Ireland and much of Europe, pre-Christian societies marked the final stretch of the year not with quiet reverence but with noise and excess: food and drink, storytelling and song, generosity and confrontation.
We all need reassurance and the winter Solstice is a great place to find
Finding reassurance on the winter Solstice
The question wasn't 'Will spring be good?' It was 'Will it come at all?' That may sound foolish now. But when elders had lived through prolonged winters, late springs, failed sowings — the fear was real.
Mid Winter & A Nod To The Green Man
He's older than Christianity, yet he turns up in sanctified places, tucked into corners and arches, as if the pillars of the church tried — and failed — to erase him.
On Taking Risks
From the very first week, it became clear that the farm meant more to people than we'd expected. The shop wasn't just a place to buy vegetables and coffee.
the season of samhain
When Exactly Is Winter Anyway?
Persephone and the Greeks had it right — winter isn't punishment, it's permission. A time to slow down, rest, and prepare for the next busy growing season.
How Farming Almost Lost Its Soul
Most farmers knew something tragic was occurring. They didn't need a scientist to tell them that the soil was dying.
Food addiction is not only an illness, it's a marketing tool
Supermarkets, our modern-day pushers who often aim their most addictive products at children.
A slowly unfolding horror story
The Beans on Our Shelves
a slowly unfolding horror story. Chlorpyrifos was banned in the EU because of its links to brain damage in children and developmental disorders. Yet, beans treated with Chlorpyrifos are found on supermarket shelves 12 months of the year.
Irish Baby Leaf Salads:
You very seldom see Irish grown baby leaf salads on supermarket shelves, why is that? The problem for Irish growers is that the multiples have built their system to suit high-volume, factory-farmed, often hydroponically grown greens.
A Bad Food News Story
DOUBLE DUTCH
The supermarket model is built for low-cost, high-margin produce. Taste, nutrition, and freshness don't count. Cheap food is never really cheap — someone always pays — and for too long that has been the Irish grower.
A Good Food News Story
A Good Food News Story
Perhaps there was always that memory of real food, buried somewhere deep in our subconscious, a fragment of childhood, of food cooked by our grandmothers or vegetables grown by an ageing uncle, and it has taken us a long time to realise what it was we were missing.
5 Reasons Why A Veg Box Might Change Your Life
Have you ever wondered if a veg box might be right for you? Many people don't realise just how much it can simplify and enhance life, making it easier to eat well and support the environment while still being easy and convenient.
Right now, the biggest risk to your health is what you are eating
Our diets have changed — and not for the better. We're eating more ultra-processed foods: ready meals, sugary cereals, sweetened drinks, heavily refined snacks. These foods are quick and cheap, but low in nutrients and high in additives.
Greenwashing: The Art of Sustainable Lies
Greenwashing is when companies exaggerate or fabricate their environmental credentials to make their products look more eco-friendly than they really are. It's usually—but not always—outright lies. Often, it's clever marketing that leaves out the unpalatable details.
Learning to grow 101
Why Your Own Patch of Earth is the Best Teacher
There's a certain wisdom that only the seasons can teach. Like seeing your first tulip push through wet spring soil. Or losing a row of lettuce to a sudden warm spell. Or a bed of carrots to the dreaded root fly. It's messy, imperfect, and sometimes maddening—but it's real.
A Quiet Revolution in How You Eat
It's a familiar feeling. You walk into a supermarket with the vague idea of buying 'something healthy.' You're greeted by rows of spotless, identical produce — all of it wrapped in plastic. All of it sprayed with toxic chemicals.
Why Our Salad Mix is More Than Just Delicious
So why does our salad taste better? It's not just the freshness. It's the slow, steady growth in a healthy soil ecosystem. It's the deeper roots, the wider nutrient palette, and the lack of chemical interference.
Life on the Veg with Bare Acre Farm's Produce Boxes
Supermarkets have made us accustomed to year-round availability, but eating seasonally brings food back to its natural rhythm. Our set veg boxes are planned a season in advance to ensure minimal waste and a steady supply of interesting, high-quality produce.
Fresh, Seasonal, and Thoughtfully Curated: A Look at Bare Acre Veg Boxes
What's inside our boxes changes throughout the year, but the principle stays the same: everything is Irish-grown and as fresh as possible.
Working Less to Get More Done
When we started this journey back in late May 2022, we envisioned a peaceful, semi-retired life, tending to our little farm and serving a handful of customers each day.