Is organic worth it asks Polly?

In recognition of National Organic Week 2009 yesterday's Irish Times published this article which makes interesting reading:

Is organic worth it?

Despite the recession and a belief that they’re more expensive, sales of organic food are up 16 per cent on last year – and that’s on top of price-cutting and increased competition, writes CONOR POPE

IT’S BEEN a tough year for organic food producers. As if convincing people to spend a little more on food in the middle of a full-blown depression wasn’t hard enough, they’ve also had to combat a headline-generating scientific report which was published this summer casting doubt on the nutritional benefits of their produce[...]

Polly Pierce Welcomes National Organic Week 2009

Welcome to National Organic Week! A little bit late perhaps, but as that famous saying goes: "It's better late than never!" Okay, I know it should have been said yesterday, but hey this is Polly we're talking about...

National Organic Week: September 14th – 20th 2009

National Organic Week has been held annually since 2005. Funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and co-ordinated by Bord Bia, the week aims to raise consumer awareness of organic food, how to recognise it when shopping and where to buy it. Cooking a tasty meal for friends and family with in-season organic ingredients is an ideal way to treat your loved ones and enjoy the freshest produce sourced in your local region.

National Organic Week provides an ideal opportunity for organic producers and processors to organise events at a national and local level to increase consumer awareness of locally produced organic food. This year there are almost 60 events taking place throughout the country to celebrate National Organic week including, organic farm walks, cookery demonatrations, barbeques, educational events, in-store tastings and much more. It promises to be a great week.

Click here to see the full list of National Organic Week events by county.

Amanda's Amazing Nettle Pesto...

A very good cyber friend of mine recently attended a cookery course and came home with a lovely recipe for Nettle Pesto. This is certainly something which I intend to try, as looking out of the same window as yesterday I can also see an abundance of nettles!

No matter how much Nettle Soup, Pesto, or nettle anything else for that matter, that I make this will not deal with the problem! Luckily I don't mind the view and can now fully appreciate where the famous "forty shades of green" come from!

Offalian's Triumph

This morning I checked into Microsoft Outlook to see what delights had landed in my inbox and was not disappointed to spot the Offaly CEB December Ezine. My attendance of events organised by this group is unfortunately infrequent; due to previous commitments clashing. I keep an eye on things though; just in case...

In the wake of a whole swathe of award ceremonies it was a natural progression to publish some of the Offaly success stories; many of which had to do with food. Some; admittedly, in a somewhat round about way, but nevertheless come under that category!

Strangely enough this accolade must be awarded to Agetek who are based in Tullamore. Their stange name belies the fact that this company won the 2008 OCEB Enterprise Of The Year Award; but how is this connected with the subject at hand, ie Food? Well, simply put these guys manufacture doors for kitchen units and I'm sure we're all agreed that they are an integral part of the food preparation area...

On a much larger scale the Silver Award for cheese making was presented to Ralph Haslam of Mossfield Organic Cheese for his cow’s milk cheese with garlic and basil at the 2008 WORLD Cheese Awards which were held in Ireland for the first time this year; featuring over 2,400 entries from around the globe.

This award winning farm is situated at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains some six miles from Birr, County Offaly. Having undergone organic conversion in 1999, Mossfield began production of award winning organic cheeses in 2005 and are hoping to expand into the field of yoghurt and ice-cream production in the future.

On a National Scale; the overall winner of any success story has to be Glenisk the overall Winner of National Organic Award 2008 for their Glenisk Irish Organic Butter. Glenisk Irish Organic Butter was judged the best of more than 100 entries in the 2008 National Organic Awards, organized by Bord Bia in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture.

The Cleary family business has been based in Killeigh, Co Offaly producing a range of organic yoghurt and milks for over twenty-five years. Sourcing quality organic milks from fifty farms across the island of Ireland; harvesting 90% of all organic milk produced, this company has gone from a dream to Award winning reality.

Another notable winner; the 2008 OCEB Enterprise Of The Year - Artisan Award was presented to Ballyshiel Artisan Foods who lovingly create a deliciously tempting range of speciality confectionery and chocolates; hand made using authentic family recipes. Their range includes Toffee Dulce de Leche (used in making Banoffee pie), exquisite Chocolate Sauce, Karina Handmade Chocolate's which include old time favourite; Macaroon Bars.

Ballyshiel Artisan Foods promise is that all their quality products are gluten, preservative, artificial flavouring, hydrogenated oil and fat free making them suitable for coeliac's and vegetarian's.

Also included in the list of Offaly CEB finalist's was Yvonne Carty of Hey Pesto! Who specialises in making entertaining a stress free adventure of the culinary variety. Catering for corporate and domestic customer's Yvonne has her craft down to a fine art and having sampled some of her wares I can heartily agree!

I'm sure we can all agree that the above list makes interesting reading for us Offalian's! It's nice to hear of anyone in the region succeeding in business but to be honest it's even better when this applies to food. At a time when there's less money available to splash out on expensive treats it's good to know that we have some award winning products right here on our door step. What's even nicer is that the quality of these products is assured...

I hope you enjoy checking out the links as there are some terrific products and companies to be found. Be thankful that Polly didn't launch into one of her famous rants about the dangers of eating 'normal' foodstuffs...

Polly Pierce

Fine Hand-Crafted Wedding Stationary & Greeting Cards For All Occasions: Affording You The Gift of Time

How Amanda Made Polly Feelgood!

As you may already know by now I love to promote products that I believe in and I have a great interest in Organic and Free-Range Food. For some time now I have been following Amanda Webb's business Feelgood Organic Hamper's with great interest.

I first met this lady at a joint networking event being held at Castle Durrow, Co Laois. This was quite some time ago; my first time at anything like it and I was very unsure of myself, as did several of the women I spoke to that evening. I took her business card and a copy of her brochure; I'd good intentions but little cash to spend.

Amanda's special interest is in everything organic and the environment; which led her to offer Ireland's only organic hamper service. Some eighteen months later I placed my first order with Feelgood Organic Hamper's and was delighted to learn that I had qualified for a free bottle of organic champagne too!

With its recently extended range Feelgood Organic Hampers looks set to take off just in time for Christmas; offering luxurious packages of organic food and drink, pamper packages and so on. I just wish that I could justify the expense of sending one to myself with Christmas in mind! Organic wines served with delicious plum puddings, luxury chocolates, and so on. Yum!



You know what? Why not visit Amanda's website and see for yourself, only then will you be able to see how much hard work has gone into making Feelgood Organic Hampers the business it is today...

...By the way Amanda has a lovely food blog as well! It's called Organic Yum-yum!