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Posts Tagged ‘Christmas Ham’

What would you think?

Posted in Business & Work, tagged , , , on December 28, 2016| 2 Comments »

Most of you who follow on Facebook etc. will be aware that these past few months have been challenging on the health front here.

Alfie had a heart attack at the end of September which among many other factors hit us with regard to supplying hams to our usual Christmas customers. When we realised that we were faced with possibly disappointing our regular customers, I contacted them all, explained the situation to try to establish what their needs were.

Everyone was so understanding, and for once luck was on our side… a lot of our regulars were travelling for Christmas and would not need hams. Therefore, what little hams we had we could share among those staying at home.

We chatted with some other producers to see how they were fixed for supplies, because we knew we would have calls all the way up to Christmas.

One producer came up trumps and said he had plenty and would be delighted to supply.

We duly recommended him to many ….. mostly new to us, so we were going to miss out on possibly supplying them beyond Christmas  He was being handed new customers on a plate as such.

Then, we got the call from family (we’d forgotten to ask them if they needed ham!!!). Yes, they wanted a ham….. and ‘NO’ we did not have one.

Rather than disappoint family, we contacted said producer, explained that it was for family and could he help? He’d be delighted to…. no problem…. although delivery would be Christmas week.

Oldfarm Christmas Ham

Sorted.

Money paid …. full price paid.

And, yes, you’ve guessed it….. NO HAM ARRIVED.

Despite endless text messages, phone calls, emails, over several days ….. this chap did not answer a single call.

Now what would you think?

Alfie suggested that maybe he’s been in an awful car crash or something?

I feel…. he’s excuse better be along those lines.

He has disappointed me as a customer.

He has embarrased me to my family.

He has totally embarrassed us to potential customers…… did they get their hams? Do they think we operate our business like this?

What would you think?

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That was the week that was….

Posted in Home, tagged , , , on November 30, 2015| 2 Comments »

well it was more a case of 8 days, rather than a week!

Autumn leaves

Autumn leaves

Just to give you a flavour of how a week can pan out here….

  • I had occasion to wear make-up FOUR times this week!  A very unusual happening, and most especially so as 3 of those occasions were for social events.
  • I’ve discovered it takes me twice as long to recover from a late night/early morning!  Getting old or out of practice?
  • I’ve been saving all my duck eggs for a neighbour’s sickly calf…. we’ve also contributed garlic powder and home-made cider vinegar to help with his treatment.
  • We’ve been to Dublin once and Galway twice….. again a very strange occurrence.
  • The Christmas ham list must be on draft no. 20 at this stage, it has been edited and re-edited so many many times.  All very head wrecking.
  • We’ve been working on a new 3 day bee-keeping course we will be bringing to you next year.
  • I’ve finally got back on track with making Christmas gifts – Limoncino and Cointreau are in the making.

All of the above are on top of the usual taking care of the animals, shipping out orders, shipping calendars and generally trying to keep the house going.

And the rain and the wind continue!

How’s your week been?

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The trouble with labels

Posted in All things food, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 11, 2014| 9 Comments »

And yes, there is ‘trouble’ with labels.

There are the ‘labels’ we attach to certain people, and there are the labels on our food. Here comes my rant about the food labels.

Do you read your food labels?

There are so many terms that are abused here in Ireland.  What’s it like where you are?

We use the word ‘artisan’ for so many things, and I’m sure most people have never even looked the word up in a dictionary.  Here’s the definition from the Oxford dictionary : Artisan (n) – skilled manual worker or craftsman.  So can a large factory-type set up, employing 100 people plus, running production lines, be producing an ‘artisan’ food product?  I guess you could say that the machines are being run by skilled workers, but is it not an abuse of the word?

Freerange hens, pigs and dog :)

Freerange hens, pigs and dog 🙂

Then there is ‘organic’.   Now this is much clearer – or is it?

I’ve often asked people what their perception of ‘organic’ is, and often times they are just so wrong.  While there are strict guidelines with regard to feeding and caring of the animals…. organic does not necessarily mean ‘free-range’.  Depending on the breed of animal, they can be raised indoors, but must spend some part of their life outdoors.  However, not necessarily all of their lives.

Some will say, that in winter it is better for the animal to be indoors.  Let me tell you, in the case of pigs, they are damned clever, and will not go outside if it is freezing, wet and cold.  Would you?  Especially if you’ve got a silly human who will bring you food!

Anyone who has read my post about the process and procedures we had to go through to receive the QMark for our free-range pork will be aware of the hoops that were jumped.  You will also be aware that we are completely and utterly anti-gmo’s in this house.

And here’s a very scary fact ….. if you go to the co-op to buy your animal feed, it is labelled as containing gmo.  However, although that feed has been fed to an animal whose meat will end up in the food chain, there is no legislative requirement to label the human food as containing gmo.

After months of negotiations for the Q Mark, here’s what was agreed as the free-range definition:

Free range farmed:  a type of animal husbandry where pigs have free access to fields/woodland with defined boundaries for all or most of their natural life.  They receive their nutritional needs from prepared natural feed or from pasture or forage depending on the season.

And, again, while there are producers out there that are termed ‘free-range’ and then spoil it all by feeding gmo contaminated feed.  You need to check what they are feeding their animals.  Well, if you care you will.

Another thing, some producers say their animals are free-range.  They perhaps allow some of their animals access to the outdoors – just to portray the right picture.  However, the majority are locked up in sheds.

And the biggest offender of all????

The word ‘natural‘.  You’ve got to watch this video…. it may be a little exaggerated, but then again maybe it is not.

So my warning to you all folks?   If you really care what you feed yourself and your family, check what the animals are being fed.

Do you know how your Christmas turkey has been raised?

Do you know what the pig that died to provide you with that Christmas ham was fed?

Do you care about how these animals lived their lives?

Ask the questions, folks.  Ask can you come see where they live, what they are fed?

Go shake the hand of the farmer and find the answers to the questions.

 

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Friday Photo

Posted in Friday Photo, tagged , , on December 27, 2013| 2 Comments »

Someone had ‘hidden’ a ham…. so we could have some over Christmas.  It would have been a disgrace I guess for us not to have some Oldfarm Ham 🙂

Oldfarm Christmas Ham

Oldfarm Christmas Ham

 

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Friday Photo

Posted in Friday Photo, tagged , , , on November 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Oldfarm Christmas ham…. we had some last night – for quality control purposes don’t you know 🙂

Christmas Ham

Christmas Ham

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