There’s certain trigger words that elicit ooohs and aaahs in flower circles. Peony. Sweetpea. Chelsea. Bloom in the Phoenix Park is Ireland’s version of Chelsea, and Bord Bia have done a good job developing this into a major event pulling in well over 100,000 visitors every year. But Chelsea still carries more cachet, and this […]
June Update – Blooming At Chelsea Flower Show Read More »
Charity Begins At Home We are delighted to be supporting Julianstown Youth Orchestra performing at the City North Hotel, with a donation of two of our beautiful bouquets to present to their conductors on the night. Every month we make a contribution to a local not-for-profit organization. Last month we were delighted to supply bouquets
Peony Season In May we’ll be flat out harvesting peony roses from our 16,000 plant orchard. The first variety is always the cerise Flame. We have experimented by planting peony in one of our tunnels for the first time to see if we can get earlier production at the start of the season, but Darragh
Updates From The Farm – Spring 2024 Read More »
Why don’t more Irish farmers host open days? This was the question I was asking myself after throwing our own gates open to the public last spring. Admittedly, I was anxious about how things would work until the day itself. The public’s expectations can be daunting, especially in an era when farmers are questioned on
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When I was in my teens I was mad about showing cattle. We had pedigree Holsteins and the herd had a registered prefix called after the farm itself, Elmgrove. When I started dabbling in buying a few fancy calves and embryos of my own I dreamed of setting up my own world renowned prefix. I
It took a while for the penny to drop over the last couple of months. As soon as I started construction on my farm shop, people were asking if we’d be serving coffee. I would nod enthusiastically and mutter something inane about us heading that direction. But all the while knowing that I was really
Our Journey Into The World Of Coffee Read More »
Over the last century, the McCullough family have combined innovation and hard work to create a thriving business at Elmgrove Farm. Pat McCullough (pictured above) was the first generation of McCulloughs to take up residence on the farm. “Grandad first turned to milking cows during the Economic War in the 1930s, when Dev refused to
How the McCullough Story started Elmgrove Farm Three Generations Ago Read More »
The advent of silage making was an unheralded revolution of sorts in Irish agriculture. The concept that you could pickle grass in its own acids suddenly opened up the prospect of a reliable source of quality feed for all farmers. This was a game-changer in that it allowed farmers to consider increasing their milk output
How society, technology, genetics and ambition shaped the development of Elmgrove Farm Read More »
While Elmgrove Farm is a mixed farm enterprise, it’s core focus is growing flowers. But it wasn’t always that way. “My grandad grew gladiola back in the 1960s or 1970s, probably because he was so innovative and always looking for new ways to earn a living from the farm,” says Darragh. Elmgrove Farm, by virtue
How Flowers Became Part of Elmgrove Farm’s Story Read More »
On the last day of March, 2020, Darragh McCullough dragged himself out of bed heavy with the knowledge that he had tulips and daffodils and all kinds of other lovely flowers piling up in his tunnels and fridges with no prospect of sale. COVID had hit. The previous 25 years had been spent slowly building
Elmgrove Farm’s Online Odyssey Read More »
