The Leonard's Castlewood Organic Farm Shop in Laois

Dominic and Ali Leonard’s 250 acre mixed farm in south east Laois is something of a model farm. It has been used as a Teagasc demonstration farm, and is likely to be visited even more frequently, with the opening of a shop and tea rooms earlier this year.

Oliver Moore: Tell me about your background Dominic.

Dominic Leonard: 15 years ago I moved from Dublin, when my uncle wanted to retire. He was alone, farming for 25 years, 30 years, and he asked if I’d take over.

In Dublin, I’d worked with Focus Ireland and trained in psychotherapy. I’d always had an interest in environmental issues, being an active Green Party member, shopping in the Dublin food co-op and so on.

My Uncle wasn’t necessarily into organic, he thought all the animals would die. But the farm was never pushed hard. It was gentleman farming beforehand, in a way.

OM: Tell me about the farm.

DL: We’re between Durrow and Abbeyleix, close to Kilkenny. Its 250 acres, including woodland, and some boggy areas, though its mostly good land.

When we took over it was dry stock - cattle and sheep - as well as tillage. Now we've also got pigs, a reasonable sized orchard, hens as well as cattle, sheep and tillage.

It’s our own stock there’s no buying in. We like this and a closed system.

We have 30 suckler cows at present, but we’ll be increasing this. We finish all the cattle here on the farm, and sell to Slaney meats. Our cattle are a Simmental cross with an Angus bull.

OM: Why Simmental?

DL: Simmental adds a bit of size. But it’s hard to source stock at the moment. We used to go to marts, but the stock isn’t what I tend to want. It’s a fair trek to an organic mart in the west or north, only to find nothing.

It’s hard to find nice Simmental animals in organic system. So we’ve been using AI which isn’t always successful. There are lots of Angus crosses out there, but I want something a little more growth potential than just Angus. Recently John Purcell (Good Herdsman) is buying up weanlings for veal and export, which takes stock out of system.

OM: So what do you do? Import?

DL: No, we have the occasional conventional breeding heifer, with a derogation. The cows don’t go into org system, but the stock born from them can be organic. There’s no market for organic cows anyway.

OM: How are the other aspects to the farm doing?

DL: We have 130 ewes, and about 300 sheep on the farm in total. They are all finished here too and, thankfully, we get to sell most of these into the organic system: our lambs go to Irish country meats in Camolin.

They are Belclare ewes with a Texel Lamb. Our tillage is 40 acres a year at the moment, its limited by the rotation. We supply oats for Flahavans, the rest is for ourselves, for the animals on the farm.

We did a lot of pork before the recession, but the market just hasn’t been there since then. The organic feed for pigs is expensive, this in turn makes the product dear, and people won’t buy it.

We have sold at farmers’ markets too, but they have decreased too since the recession. So we’ve sold frozen meat - lamb, pork, bacon - from the house here.

OM: This direct selling seems to have tweaked the Leonard’s interest in upscaling this side of the farm enterprise. As and from March of this year, the couple run a farm shop and tea rooms, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“It was never just the shop.” Dominic tells me. “It was also incorporating the whole farm: we were a demonstration farm for a long time, we’ve held lots of other walks, so it was using the farm to the best of its ability really. To make the place a day out for people. So it’s also about diversification. We're lucky, as the location is scenic, beside the river Nore, with lots of old trees and woodlands.”

While both work in the shop, which opens Friday to Sunday, Alison does the Lion’s share of this part of their overall enterprise.

OM: When does your farm cafe working day begin?

Alison Leonard: It depends, but usually I’d be up at the shop at 7.30. That’s when I start baking the day’s fresh cakes, scones and bread, as well as making the soup. We open at 10 AM, except on Sundays, when we open at 11.

Dominic may help at 10 if he’s available, but it really depends on what he’s doing on the farm. Last Friday he was up at 6 making burgers and sausages from our own meat, before he started on the farm work. So partly it depends on what’s on the menu, as to who starts and what they do. There is the shop and tearooms’ requirements, but there is also the farm’s requirements. That said, I’m here all the time when we’re open, he comes and goes.

So what happens from 10AM?

AL: We do a mid morning tea, lunch and an afternoon tea at the moment. From 10, we have regulars who go for walks in the woods, and drop in for a cuppa afterwards. We bake our own cookies, cakes and scones here. It’s similar for afternoon tea. Then at lunch it depends, it might be carrot and courgette soup with bread we bake. Friday tends to be our busiest day for lunch. People are also always dropping in for our fresh meat from the shop, and the other local and organic products we sell. The shop also sells a local ice cream and honey, Kate Urwin’s local organic flaxseed, Kitty Colchester’s organic second nature oils.

OM: Is it all your own produce from the farm?

AL: The meats are all our own and are organic. We have the whole meat preparation area certified organic. The kitchen isn’t in the organic system, and we use a mixture of our own produce, local produce and organic produce. By not certifying the kitchen, I can buy local or Irish rather than imported organic.

OM: Did yourself or Dominic get any training to prepare for this?

AL: I did a short course with Blathnaid Bergin - Darina Allen’s sister - in the School of Restaurant and Kitchen Management, nearby in Abbeyleix. Dominic did a butchery course, while LEADER also helped with funding.

OM: Has anything unexpected come up in running a shop?

I suppose I’ve found that regular customers came quite quickly. You get to know them and what they like – that was a suprise. You get so caught up in building, the regulations and so on, it’s actually been nice to develop a relationship with people who come in. People can also ask about the farm, about organics, as it’s a family business. They know I’m here and I’ve made the cakes! People also ask for recipes, so that’s been good.

OM Future plans?

AL: Here, we may add a Sunday Brunch soon, using our own sausages and bacon.

Castlewood farm

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