History of the farm
Right up until the late 1950’s, the farm at Ballinreeshig operated as an independent family business. Workhorses did most of the hard labour and the farm grew a wide range of produce, both for the family and its customers. Employment was created for the community of Ballygarvan, especially during the harvest.
The farm would have operated in a self sufficient way, which today would be described as “sustainable”.
For all his life, Sean O Halloran has been responsible for the development of the farm, with the long term aim of developing techniques for sustainable living, organic food production, ecological restoration and education.
Work on the farm includes;
- Fruit, vegetable, grain and herb production
- Traditional farming methods
- Sustainable woodland management and development
- Beekeeping
- Habitat restoration
- On farm composting
- Animal husbandry
- Eco building
To help people understand where we are going with the project, we have created a vision which covers the many possibilities that can be achieved, for the good of ourselves, and our environment.
- To promote organic farming, permaculture and biodynamic agriculture
- To preserve the heritage of the local area
- To promote agri-tourism
- To educate people on sustainable living
- To provide a resource for people who are interested in passing their skills on to others
- To create employment
- To create a sustainable living farm
- To educate everyone in a fun and interesting way about nature, health and life
- To re-connect people with the source of their food
- To show by example, the true value of bio-diversity and eco-system services, i.e. clean water, pollination, disease control, fertile soil etc.
- To better the local community
- To increase biodiversity
By creating an area of biodiversity at Ballinreeshig Nature Farm, we give future generations the opportunity to learn from nature and benefit from its services. The ecology of the farm is vital to its success. We want people to see, that if you work with nature it will be rewarding for ourselves, our community and our environment.