DERRY and Donegal have gone pumpkin crazy and a local organic community farm has scooped a winner with its bumper crop of the popular autumnal vegetable selling out in the lead-up to Hallowe’en.
White Oaks Acorn Project operates on the same complex as the IOSAS Centre and White Oaks Rehabilitation Centre at Muff, facilitating therapeutic work for residents as well as supplying the general public, local restaurants and shops with fresh, chemical-free vegetables and herbs.
The Sooty Olive restaurant and Pyke ‘n’ Pommes in Derry are among the award-winning local eateries that work their culinary magic using organic produce from White Oaks, coinciding with Northern Ireland Year of Food & Drink 2016.
The programme is supported by Derry City and Strabane District Council, and is celebrating its Harvest theme for the month of October.
Maire Gormley, Programme Co-ordinator at White Oaks Acorn Project which is located at Lenamore Road, revealed it is now supplying up to 100 vegetable boxes a week to customers in the Derry and Inishowen areas, as far as Buncrana.
The project, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, was inundated with demand from pumpkin-lovers after harvesting its best crop this year and hundreds of the iconic orange vegetable will now be carved into Jack O’Lanterns or cooked in pies, stews and soups.
White Oaks, which doesn’t normally open on Saturdays, hosted a special three-hour event last weekend, even providing a harvest-themed backdrop for squash selfies!
Maire explained: “We don’t open on Saturdays but there was so much interest from the public we decided to do a one-off opening with some of our other produce for sale too, and we set up an area for families to take their own photos with the pumpkins they had chosen.”
White Oaks’ home delivery scheme has also been a huge success, keeping the project’s ten full-time and part-time staff busy making sure there is enough seasonal produce available to dispatch each week.
Customers can avail of a large box of vegetables or a juice box for healthy and nutritious drinks packed with essential vitamins.
Maire continued: “We send out around 100 vegetable boxes three times a week to the Derry, Muff and Buncrana areas.
“People like to know that it is grown just up the road and they are getting it really fresh. Our customers tell us that it tastes so different from what they get in the supermarkets.
“Our hens are also fed on organic vegetables and they can hardly keep up with the demand for their eggs which are also really popular.”
A group of placement students from Italy based at the Foyle International language school in Derry as part of their horticultural studies, have also been pitching in with the staff at White Oaks, while residents from the Rehabilitation Centre help out on the farm twice a week as part of their therapeutic duties.
Mary Blake, Tourism Officer with Derry City and Strabane District Council, praised the White Oaks Acorn Project for providing local foodies and food businesses with a regular supply of seasonal organic produce that is “grown here, not flown here” over the past decade.
She added: “White Oaks supply locally grown organic produce both to the general public and some of our leading chefs and restaurants, all of which has helped contribute to Derry’s success as one of Ireland’s top Foodie Destinations.
“White Oaks’ field of pumpkins was a joy to behold this year and will be enjoyed by families across the North West during the annual Hallowe’en celebrations this weekend.”
For further details visit White Oaks Facebook page, Whiteoaks acorn organic farm, and for more information on Derry City and Strabane District Council’s events to celebrate NI Year of Food & Drink 2016, seewww.derrystrabane.com/food
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