Nestled near the foot of Bruse Hill in Co Cavan, you’ll find the Johnston family’s 3ac smallholding, bustling with activity, as their three young sons grow up amidst colourful produce and 40 hens.
Owned by Therese and Philip Johnston, who work in the HSE and the civil service, respectively, the smallholding has made avid gardeners out of the Johnston boys, James (10), Emmet (8) and Jude (6), since they moved into the home three years ago.
“We hadn’t really done any gardening or cooking until we started growing here. We’d done a lot of eating, but we didn’t know anything about gardening before that,” says James.
Once they moved into the house in Cornafean, Co Cavan, Ballymaloe-trained cook Therese decided she wanted to start growing vegetables for herself and her young family to enjoy. The boys, to their credit, jumped straight in.
“The more and more Mum grew, the more the boys and I wanted to do it too, which led to everything you see today,” says James, the eldest. “We all have jobs we do around the garden. We feed the chickens and collect their eggs, help Mum grow stuff, and then help cook the food too. The stuff we grow is magical. It tastes better than other vegetables.”
Help around the garden
Jude, the youngest, looks after all the compost, which is then used for planting, while Emmet, who Therese says is a natural, likes to help around the garden wherever he’s needed, as well as emptying the dishwasher after their kitchen escapades.
“I like cooking best because, after you cook, you get to eat it. We made a courgette brownie recently and it was really tasty, just like a normal brownie, but a bit healthier,” explains Emmet. “We’re growing all sorts of stuff now, like chard, strawberries and potatoes.”
The three list kohlrabi, cucumbers and cabbage as their favourite vegetables, not exactly typical for their age group, but when they’re exposed to good produce from such a young age, it makes sense. They wax lyrical about how they love the vegetables and helping their mum, learning from the gardening group she founded, and picking vegetables to have for dinner with their friends.
Many of the boys’ friends’ parents have remarked that they haven’t been able to get their own children to eat the likes of peas for dinner. However, something about picking them fresh, helping to prepare them and then eating the fruits of their labour with their friends was enough to change their young minds. Such is the power of homegrown produce, remarks Therese.
Speaking about the hens, James says, “We started with six hens, but now we have 40, and we get about 35 eggs from them every day. They’re really good. They’re not pets, but they kind of are. We love them.
Our grandad was a farmer too, and I think when I grow up, being a farmer would be my second choice. My first choice would be to play football for Liverpool. But if I am a footballer, I’d still be a farmer on the side
“We have a dog called Marshmallow too. We got her last year. She’s really good at keeping the foxes away from the chickens,” adds Jude.
With the eggs that the boys collect from their chickens every day, they fill up an egg box at their local church to sell their wares. A dozen goes for €5, while you can get six eggs for €2.50. Occasionally, they might include other items from the farm, like chutney made from their vegetables or bags of potatoes, but the eggs are their main draw, and they’ve been selling out.
“We only pick what we need. Then we make pickled cucumbers, chutneys, ketchup and that sort of stuff with the extras. It’s amazing,” explains Emmet. “Our grandad was a farmer too, and I think when I grow up, being a farmer would be my second choice. My first choice would be to play football for Liverpool. But if I am a footballer, I’d still be a farmer on the side.”
According to Therese, Emmet attends all of her gardening club meetings, mostly for the cake they get to enjoy afterwards, but she says he has impressed her with how involved he gets. She says Jude, the youngest, isn’t quite sure what he wants to do when he grows up, other than keep eating the lovely food they grow, but that James, the eldest, is very clued in on the science side of things.
“I’d really like to be a gardener. It’s a lot of fun, especially exploring different crops and how to look after different animals. Knowing we get to eat the vegetables at the end is great fun too,” says James.
Well-known
The trio has become quite well known both in their locality and further afield thanks to the Instagram page (@johnstonboys_smallholding) in which Therese documents their adventures. With almost 1,000 followers, the page has videos of the crops being harvested. It also showcases the recipes they make with the produce and documents one of their favourite events of the year, their trip to Bord Bia Bloom.
There, Jude says proudly, he even got to meet President Catherine Connolly, while James says some of the people they met were already following their page.
“The boys wanted to be on social media themselves, but I said no. This page has been a bit of a win-win for both of us, because it lets them have a little bit of social media, but in a controlled environment where we can show off the no-dig growing we’re doing,” says Therese. “With the page, we’re just showing how easy it is to be sustainable. I haven’t bought garlic at all since we moved in here. The boys are so invested in learning more, and I love seeing them celebrate the food they’ve grown. They all eat really well and the garden has become a hugely positive thing for them.”
As for the future, it’s onwards and upwards for the Johnstons. Recently, Emmet was a runner-up in the Young Circular Star category at the Full Circle Awards for his work with the chickens, ensuring people bring back egg boxes and encouraging them to bring old pumpkins for the hens to eat. The plan is to continue growing and learning as sustainably as possible, with the boys as involved as they can be around school and other activities. As for the eggs, they’re so popular locally that the Johnstons might just have to expand their flock to keep up with demand.
“If there are no eggs in the box, people come to the farm looking for them. So we might just compost our homework in September so we can stay out on the farm,” jokes Emmet.
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