Laurelbank Farm

Laurelbank Farm Laurelbank Farm is a 7-acre organic farm just outside Saintfield, County Down.

Happy Spring Equinox everyone. The rhubarb is exploding out the ground, salad bags are back in the farm shop and what a ...
20/03/2026

Happy Spring Equinox everyone.

The rhubarb is exploding out the ground, salad bags are back in the farm shop and what a fab couple of days of sunshine we’ve had to help us celebrate the turn of the seasons.

Big thank you to Ben at Treeple for the wood chip delivery. Perfect timing! Give them a shout if and when you need some tree surgery.

And of course a big thank you to Cat for growing a few thousand seedlings in the last few weeks…

What a glorious time of year!

Kale florets are here! Come to our wee self-service farm shop on Saturday for the best organic veg that February has to ...
27/02/2026

Kale florets are here! Come to our wee self-service farm shop on Saturday for the best organic veg that February has to offer.

Kale florets are my favourite (eat them just like purple sprouting broccoli)

In other news, this week there has also been willow weaving (thank you Joanne, Alison and Amy) and hand-cut noodles (thank you Alan). And potato cakes with sorrel mayonnaise!
A good week.

Farm shop open as usual this Saturday. Self-service from 11am to 2pm for tasty, seasonal and certified organic veg. All ...
19/02/2026

Farm shop open as usual this Saturday.

Self-service from 11am to 2pm for tasty, seasonal and certified organic veg.

All the usual winter Irish veg plus Jerusalem artichokes - fresh out the ground!

Rainbows are not guaranteed. Rain is a safe bet.

And a accidental photo of my wood burning stove and a load of ash. Because I thought it was lovely!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
24/12/2025

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Willow Club is one! 🥳 We celebrated by making wreaths and eating festive bites. What a brilliant first year it’s been. I...
21/12/2025

Willow Club is one! 🥳 We celebrated by making wreaths and eating festive bites. What a brilliant first year it’s been. I’m so looking forward to more willow events at the farm, including our annual harvest and Brigid’s cross workshop at the start of next year! 😊

To keep up-to-date with all that’s going-on and to be first in line for tickets - make sure you’re signed up to our mailing list - linked in bio! 🖊️

Love Jo 🌱

Last week’s organic veg for our veg box members included: Squash, kale, beetroot, baby red onions, garlic, baby turnips ...
07/12/2025

Last week’s organic veg for our veg box members included:

Squash, kale, beetroot, baby red onions, garlic, baby turnips & rosemary. And carrots, sprouts, and potatoes from And cooking apples (from my neighbour Jack) 🥬 🎃 🧅 🧄 🫜 🥕 🥔 🍏

🎃 Squash - A mixture of red kuri (the orange one) and black fustu (the green/orange one with deep ridges). I reckon a squash risotto would be lovely for our members to make with their box full of goodies.

🥕 Carrots, golden beetroot and tiny turnips- These all feature in the recipe of the week - a wintery and very orange stew! (Linked in bio) I know the turnips are very small but they’ve finished growing for the year so our members may as well eat them while the leaves are still green and happy. The leaves can be treated like kale or mustard leaves. I suggest making champ with them.

🥔 “Orla” potatoes - Talking of champ… These are a nice multipurpose potato - good for roasting, baking and for mashing!

🧅 Red onions - The last of the Laurelbank Farm red onions for the season. Don’t forget that pink pickled onions are awesome on everything! (Recipe linked in bio)

😊Thank you again to our harvest volunteers and CSA members. None of this would be possible without your support.

Love Jo 🌱

🥕 This week’s organic veg for our CSA members included: Salad, coriander, fennel, carrots, potatoes, red onions, beetroo...
21/11/2025

🥕 This week’s organic veg for our CSA members included: Salad, coriander, fennel, carrots, potatoes, red onions, beetroot and radicchio. And Brussel sprouts from

✂️ Members Pick-your-own: Sloes (Prunus spinosa) are tiny little plums - native to Irish hedgerows, also known as blackthorn (the timber used to make shillelaghs!). The classic thing to do is to make sloe gin. But there are plenty of other things you can do too. Have a look at ten interesting ideas linked in my bio.

❄️ Fennel - Our Autumn fennel this year is beautiful but very small. Unlike almost everything else in the ground at the moment, fennel isn’t very hardy - it will die if there is a serious frost (where temperatures go below freezing). I was never a big fan of aniseed-flavoured things but I have grown to love the mild and delicate flavour of fennel. Try it raw in this week’s recipe (linked in bio) - I promise you it’s delicious! Or if you really don’t like it, use it in the base of a recipe alongside onions. You won’t really taste it but it will add a wonderful depth of flavour… and soon you’ll be a fennel-fan like me!

Thank you as always to our amazing harvest volunteers who braved a very frosty morning to get all our veg out of the ground and ready for our members to collect. And to for the pics! 📸

Love Jo 🌱

It was with mixed emotions that we finished our first Farm Therapy programme Happiness, joy and satisfaction at the lov...
17/11/2025

It was with mixed emotions that we finished our first Farm Therapy programme Happiness, joy and satisfaction at the lovely feedback we received from participants and sadness that we’ll no longer be gathering every Thursday morning for our sessions, which were, I think, as rich and enjoyable for the team as they were for participants.

We had suspected that bringing my work in Compassionate Inquiry together with the work that Jo and Cat were already doing with volunteers would be a success. Like cooking up a beautiful organic meal, if you start off with good quality ingredients, you can be pretty certain it will turn out well.

We spent a little bit of time during our last session gathering feedback and questionnaire data for our funders and all being well, we hope to run more of these programmes in 2026. We learnt a lot about what worked and what we would change or do better next time....so, if you think you or anyone you know would benefit from Farm Therapy, please do get in touch and we will let you know when applications are open for the next programme.

Aisling

This weeks harvest for our veg box members included: Salad, celery, kale, mint, onions, carrots, beetroot, romanesco & r...
05/11/2025

This weeks harvest for our veg box members included: Salad, celery, kale, mint, onions, carrots, beetroot, romanesco & red cabbage, (from Laurelbank Farm) And broccoli & brussel sprouts from

✂️ We’re getting to the end of pick-your-own season... this week it’s lemon verbena. These are tender perennials & will die back over the winter months. That’s why they are looking rather sad at the moment. Very soon I’ll cut them right back & put them to bed (tuck them in an outbuilding somewhere) until next Spring when I’ll bring them out into the light & start to water them again… And they’ll spring into action again.

🪴 I love lemon verbana as a homegrown substitute for lemongrass in recipes. I also love it for making tea. Just put a sprig in some boiling water. It’s so delicious.

🥦A really brassica-heavy week this week - Brassicas are all part of the cabbage family - & this week you have an impressive FIVE brassicas in our member’s weekly boxes. Red cabbage, romanesco, brussel sprouts, broccoli & kale are all basically the same plant!

📖 Brussel sprouts - When I saw that Beechlawn’s brussel sprouts were being harvested this week I couldn’t resist. Our brussels are a way off… But I love them a lot. Check out my favourite way to eat them - (recipe in bio)

🥣 Beetroot - This week’s variety is Cylindra. I had lovely beetroot soup this week. 1 part potato, 1 part onion, 3 parts beetroot & about 5 parts veggie stock. So simple & so delicious. I didn’t bother with a single spice or herb - just some salt & pepper.

🧑‍🌾 Beechlawn Organic Veg are back! - Another sign that the seasons are changing. For the first time since May, we’ve ordered some vegetables from our friends to include in our veg boxes.

🚜 This is the first winter of continuing our weekly veg boxes throughout the year - & it’s brilliant that we are able to buy beautiful Irish, organic veg from Beechlawn (still small, still organic, but bigger than us - with a few tractors & lots of space for storing all those winter root crops) to see us through the hungry gap.

Love Jo 🌱

It’s been a good year for squash and we’ll be hoping to store lots of these beauties for eating over the months ahead. T...
31/10/2025

It’s been a good year for squash and we’ll be hoping to store lots of these beauties for eating over the months ahead. Tips for storing pumpkins…

1) cut the stem of the plant to harvest the squash - not the stem of the fruit - otherwise the stem rots and doesn’t store for so long

2) pick them up holding the fruit (not from the stem as this causes tiny amounts of damage and they will rot quicker)

3) pick them and cure in a greenhouse, polytunnel or windowsill for a few weeks. The skin will dry off, thicken up and they will hopefully store well.

4) eat the less mature ones or any damaged ones first! The ones that have a nice thick mature skin will last the longest.

Happy Halloween from me, Wednesday & the Grim Reaper!

Love Jo 🎃

We’d a great day yesterday at farm therapy despite the terrible weather. We gathered in the big polytunnel to lift out ...
31/10/2025

We’d a great day yesterday at farm therapy despite the terrible weather. We gathered in the big polytunnel to lift out all of the old tomato plants. We weeded and prepared beds, and sorted through the last of the tomatoes. Jo will make chutney out of the green ones.

At lunchtime we came inside to The Gallery where the fire was roaring for a hearty veg stew filled with carrots, onions, beetroot and potatoes all grown here on the farm, and of course a side of champ. For dessert we enjoyed chocolate brownies served with creme fraiche - delicious.

Next week is our last week! I can’t believe it. I have so enjoyed getting to know this group over our 8 weeks together. Week 1 started with lots of nerves and understandable shyness about speaking in a group. By week 7 there was an ease and familiarity that made working and eating together a real joy. It was lovely to witness and be part of this evolution.

I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone again next week and hearing how the programme has been for them. Fingers crossed for better weather.

In the meantime, stay warm and cosy.

Aisling

Address

121 Middle Road
Ballynahinch
BT247LS

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Laurelbank Farm posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Laurelbank Farm:

Shortcuts

Share

Category