Small-Scale Farming as an Extreme Sport

Some folks skydive. Some run marathons. Others ski down slopes with reckless abandon. But if you ask us at Bare Acre Farm, nothing quite matches the adrenaline rush of running a small-scale farm and farm shop in Fingal providing just in time products and services to our customers who have become a willing and supportive audience to our antics

While we might not be jumping out of planes, we two retirees behind Bare Acre Farm are certainly clocking up our own kind of air miles—flying, metaphorically at least, from the polytunnels where organic vegetables and flowers are grown, to the farm shop stocked with fresh produce, and finally to the kitchen where much of the Bare Acre magic happens.

When you run a business as niche as ours, you have to offer customers a great experience when they visit. This means Dave has to grow a wide range of crops to ensure we always have a good selection of our own organically grown produce on our shelves. This need must be balanced with the demand for fresh cut flowers, which also occupy tunnel and outdoor bed space. With one crop following another during the growing season, it’s not unusual to see beds flipped in a single day—with beans harvested for the last time in the morning and seedling cosmos occupying the same space by the afternoon, Dave & Joe harvesting, clearing, composting and replanting at a furious pace to get the job done.

Our version of extreme sports? Juggling the needs of our flourishing vegetable beds with our blossoming floristry enterprise, all while Ber is making sure the shelves are stocked with jams, preserves, and her legendary Guinness Treacle Bread, all ready for our lovely customers.

It’s also about racing against time and the weather—will the frost hold off long enough for the last tomatoes to ripen? Can Robert get those delicate flowers into bouquets before the wind picks up? How early can we plant potatoes to get a jump on the season? How late can we plant Zinnia to prolong our flower season. What is the ideal date to plant Paper White Narcissus so it will flower on our customers tables on Christmas Day, and what happens if we get any of it wrong! There’s really never a dull moment on the farm or in the kitchen.

In the midst of this controlled chaos, we’ve added our food truck which adds to everyones workload but in particular to Ber’s. From breakfast to lunch, she’s there, serving up hot meals with a smile a joke or a kind word.

Every day on the farm is different. Will it be the kind where everything runs smoothly (Hardly ever) and we get to chat with our regulars about their week? Or will it be the sort where a sudden influx of customers turns us into short-order chefs, preparing spuds and wraps faster than you can say, “extra salsa, please!” We love every day, we cope and we smile as we continue to be amazed at the support our customers offer.

And it’s not just about keeping up with the day-to-day. Every season brings new challenges and new crops. Winter involves the steady harvest of hardy greens and polytunnel cultivation, while summer sees us up at the crack of dawn, racing the sun to harvest flowers when the heat is at its gentlest. In between, there are jams and preserves to be made from whatever fruit and veg the farm and our wonderful suppliers have to offer, there are weeds sprouting that need to be dealt with, there are crops growing faster than expected or growing slower than required.

Despite the hustle and the occasional heart-stopping moments (like when a batch of bread goes awry, or there’s a sudden shortage of lemon basil for our aromatic salads), we wouldn’t trade this life for any other. Why? Because of our customers. We have the kindest, most supportive group of folks coming through our gates—whether they’re popping in for a quick coffee, grabbing their weekly veg, or just stopping by to say hello. They’re the fuel that keeps us going, even on the days when we feel every one of our years.

Running Bare Acre Farm is a wild ride. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but it’s for those who believe in hard work, good food, and the joy of growing something from seed to table. It’s for those who find a quiet satisfaction in knowing that every flower bouquet wrapped, every loaf of bread baked, and every lettuce leaf harvested has been grown and prepared with love, passion, and a bit of a daredevil spirit.

So, while we might not be donning ski gear or strapping into a bungee harness, we’re out here, in the kitchen, the fields and the farm shop, living life at full throttle. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. Who needs adrenaline-fuelled extreme sports when you’ve got small-scale farming?