We were over in Ovens recently looking at patio “toppings” in Irish Aggregates. On the way back I finally decided to check out Waterfall Farm Shop. I’ve known about it for more than two years and passed it a few times but just never took the extra few minutes to have a look.
The farm also appears to have a food distribution business as they had several branded vans parked in the yard. A few tired old labradors gave the perfect welcome. The shop itself is basically the corner of one of their barns where they store veg for the other side of the business. So it was coats all round.
At this time of year I didn’t expect much apart from root vegetables but they had a good selection of fruit n veg. I’m guessing the banana’s are not grown on the farm. The lady running the place was really friendly and pointed me to a few of her favourites. I grabbed one of those apple juices made near Cahir and some jams that are made on the farm. Then I spotted her relishes. A sweet beetroot pickle looked lovely as did the ratatouille-style chutney.
I picked up a few more bits n bobs like eggs and went back over to her at the register. It turns out that it is her farm and she makes all of the jams and relishes herself. As she was totting up, I grabbed a few beetroot and she gave them to me for nothing!
I then realised I didn’t have any cash and told her I just had to pop out to the car to get money off my wife. Her response? “Shur you can catch me the next time”. Wow. I really thought that world no longer existed in Ireland. A world where trust is the default position and you assume good of people. I was deeply impressed but I also insisted on getting her the money.
I can’t recommend her jams and relishes highly enough. They are all stunningly tasty.
If you live or work anywhere around Ballincollig, Waterfall or Ballinhassig, you should be giving these fine people your business. I’m really looking forward to heading back for the early summer produce.
It is surprising that there are not more places like this in West and Mid-West Cork. Apart from the fantastic farmers stall at Halfway where you can get corn cobs and a ton of other fresh veg for three quarters of the year and the odd place advertising “farm fresh eggs” near Clon, I’m not aware of anywhere else near me. If you know of any, please let me know as I am happy to do a detour (or shortcut as I call them) to give them my business.
[tags]Waterfall, Farm Shop, Halfway[/tags]
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