Taken by Storm

How Jane and Derek are trying to recultivate a more sustainable farm

It was half 10 in the morning when they walked up to the gate and saw the devastation.

“It was unusually bright,” remembers Jane Carolan walking from the house past the still swaying willow trees, blocking the view from the house to the forest. Or more accurate, where it had been. Like dominoes, 20 acres of Sitka spruce had collapsed on top of each other. With the most dramatic effect, Storm Éowyn had proven the couples’ point: non-native trees are not sustainable.

Forest Hill Farm in Bailieborough is the home of Jane Carolan and her husband Derek Lynch. In 2022 they were given the modest farmstead and the already established sitka forest. They decided to turn it into a regenerative farm. Inspired by the internationally renowned agriculturalist Richard Perkin’s ‘4 Fundamentals of Making Small Farms Work’, they are slowly converting the fallow land and forest into a sustainable environment.

“I come from a health care background I can see the correlation between lack of good food choices and chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, depression and Parkinson’s,” Jane reflects on her reasons for supplying non-processed meats and food products.

Just outside Bailieborough driving towards Cavan Town, the sight is quite striking.

The slanted hill is now light brown; a thick carpet of pine needles dotted with tree stumps lined up in orderly rows. The conifers so densely planted “didn’t stand a chance,” says Jane.

Before January 24, the Oxford Sandy and Black pigs roamed freely in their natural environment out in the forest.

They feed the pigs a diverse diet of nuts, fruits, and plants, “resulting in meat with a unique and robust flavour”, they say.

“It speaks for itself, the food quality is good. You can taste the difference”, says Jane. Also, the pigs roaming freely in what was the forest play an important role in woodland conservation and regeneration by managing undergrowth. Their rooting behaviour can break up dense vegetation, preparing the ground for new growth, while reducing the need for herbicides.

In a way it goes back to “the old way of farming”, describes Derek. Less intensive, smaller flocks, less animals, more coexisting with plants and contributing to natural growth without chemicals or pesticides. Regenerative agriculture aims to restore soil fertility, increase water quality, improve animal welfare and biodiversity.

While the couple didn’t agree with the industrialised, dense plantation - “there weren’t even spiders in this forest”, they still find it “heartbreaking” that all vanished within a few hours.

Their steady approach to re-cultivate the monoculture of the dark spruce forest with native tree species and the help of their pigs has been brought to a complete halt.

“We are starting from scratch.”

If it was up to them, this would mean contacting initiatives such as “Trees on the Land” who provide landowners and small farmers with native tree mixes – as well as letting nature take its course: “There are seeds everywhere”, says Derek pointing across the carnaged acres at the lonely Scots Pine and the few deciduous trees in the distance.

The idea is to create proper irrigation with streams, ponds and walkways for the public, all the while creating a natural habitat for the pigs. Within five years a nice forestry area would have grown, so they reckon.

Currently they are still waiting for the outcome of a meeting with Teagasc and the stipulations on what needs to be replanted. They know there is a lot of uncertainty among forest owners at the minute, because of the unprecedented storm damage and number of clear-felled woods.

Changing weather patterns make a shift towards climate resilient forests necessary. But for the couple, a forest should have much more value than just based on the monetary value of a chopped down tree.

“There are so many different ways you can derive economic value from a forest rather than clear-felling it. I just think there needs to be a wider lens approach to it, rather than saying, no, we have to cut it and make firewood out of it, because that’s what we did the last time.”

For now, Jane and Derek are keeping the pigs on the pastureland and the clear-felled space.

“It’s not ideal, but the pigs actually seem quite happy,” Jane comments on the pigs in a paddock set up around the remains of trunks - digging their noses into the soil, scratching their backs on branches and scampering through the humps.

In terms of conventional farming, it is a small enterprise. They have 250 to 300 hens, 10 ewes with lambs and four breeding sows, aronia bushes and apple trees all on 10 acres of pasture and 20 acres of forest area.

The couple acknowledge the constraints conventional farmers are under.

A change to a potentially smaller economic output is not often an option. Especially when the business has to pay off the tractor debt or a shed upgrading.

“Our only bit of machinery is an old, thankfully reliable 4x4 with a small trailer,” Derek says with a grin.

It pulls the portable chicken shed that is moved every couple of weeks, following the flock of sheep.

This way, the poultry work the manure into the soil, naturally fertilising the ground.

“With us not coming from a farming background with no obligations to the market it was easier for us to think outside the box.”

While there are not too many of them in Ireland, they are not the only regenerative farmers in Bailieborough. Jane and Derek don’t see the Séan Nua Farm based at the foot of Loughanleagh mountain as competition.

“I think it’s good”, says Jane, seeing the bigger picture and the shift that needs to take place in order to change eating habits and food production.

The uptake so far has been huge. Their free-range eggs are constantly sold out.

On Saturdays, Jane and Derek open their foodtruck in Bailieborough for a couple of hours to sell burgers, breakfast buns, pulled pork and jams.

“It’s nuts,” comments Jane of the truck’s success.

Currently they are renovating the old farm building. In months to come they want to open a cafe and farm shop. They are also hoping to find an artisan baker to compliment the fresh produce.

At some point, once the forest has regrown, they could set up cottages for vacations, enhance conservation efforts, and invite schools and scholars to talk about regenerative farming.

Many labour-intensive ideas, but “definitely worth it”, the two are convinced.