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EAR TO THE GROUND

(02)Ear to the Ground presenter Helen Carroll with Kevin Scully of The Merry Mill(prog nine, Thursday January 11th) Image Name: (02)Ear to the Ground presenter Helen Carroll with Kevin Scully of The Merry Mill(prog nine, Thursday January 11th)
(02)Ear to the Ground presenter Darragh McCullough and Fahy family(prog nine, Thursday January 11th) Image Name: (02)Ear to the Ground presenter Darragh McCullough and Fahy family(prog nine, Thursday January 11th)
(02)Ear to the Ground, Thursday January 11th.Sin+®ad Moran and Nathalie Markiefka (Foodture story)_ Image Name: (02)Ear to the Ground, Thursday January 11th.Sin+®ad Moran and Nathalie Markiefka (Foodture story)_

(02)Ear To The Ground (Series 25, Programme 9)
Thursday 11th January 2018
RTÉ One
8.30pm

The Merry Mill

For years organic farmer Kevin Scully grew oats to feed his cattle, but one day when his youngest daughter Niamh asked him if they could make porridge with the oats, an idea was born for a new business – The Merry Mill.

Now Kevin, his wife Jenny and their 4 daughters grow oats which are harvested with their own combine harvester – ensuring that they are gluten free. They are then milled for porridge and ground for flour.

Helen Carroll went to the Scully farm in Vicarstown in Co. Laois during the summer to see Kevin harvest the year’s crop and even helped mill and pack some oats and flour.

Linalla Farm

Seventy cows walking on water is an unusual sight in Ireland. But for the Fahy family of New Quay in Co Clare its regular occurrence as they bring their cows to fresh pasture on their island farm.

Like a lot of farmers in the West, the farm is fragmented, with fields scattered a long way from their milking parlour. But the Fahys are determined to continue their family’s tradition of farming in this beautiful part of the Burren. Roger and Brid’s eldest son has returned home in recent years to expand the dairy herd, while Brid has developed a coffee shop and ice cream parlour to capitalise on the growing numbers of tourists attracted to the Wild Atlantic Way.

Darragh McCullough went to Co Clare over the Summer to pay a visit to this little patch of the famous drive.

Foodture

Urban living generally means sourcing your groceries in whatever supermarket is closest and the handiest. Does that mean, however, that you don’t know and don’t have much say in where your food is coming from?

Two women in Dublin decided they wanted to do something about that and set up a website called Foodture.  Sinéad Moran and Nathalie Markiefka met in NUIG in 2015 while they were both undertaking a Masters in Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. It was through this friendship that the two like-minded women came up with the idea for the venture. Their premise is simple – they are the middle-man between consumers who want fresh fruit and veg from a supplier they know and trust and the farmers who supply them.

We met the two women in Dublin to learn more about their ever-growing community.

Ear to the Ground is produced by Independent Pictures for RTÉ.

Press enquiries:
TVPR Ann Coughlan 00 353 87 6778045
Pauline Cronin 00 353 87 2629967