Patricia Ryan grew up in Dublin, where she trained as a nurse at Jervis Street Hospital. She later travelled to Scotland to complete her training in midwifery. Patricia practised midwifery for several years in London, Dublin and Saudi Arabia – which proved to be a huge cultural shock.

She married Pat and moved to Birr in 1988 and had six daughters with him. Four are currently at university and two are attending secondary school.

When she moved to Birr it took her a while to establish roots, but she feels that it is a great place to raise children.

She says her daughters will “have a great sense of time, season and place, which will ground them no matter what life presents”.

Patricia passionately believes in lifelong learning and studied at TCD, RCSI and NUI Maynooth, while rearing her family and pursuing a career as a healthcare tutor. Patricia’s husband Pat bought her some Rhode Island hens, initially as a hobby. However, she expanded her flock to include Khaki Campbell ducks and decided to dip her toe into the market by erecting signage to promote farm gate sales and to supply farmers’ markets with hen and duck eggs.

This was an exciting venture for Patricia who was used to the hierarchical environment of hospitals.

“It gave me a creative license and the freedom to make my own decisions.”

In 2010, they decided to change from conventional farming to organic farming and gained full organic status from the Organic Trust in 2012.

They now grow their own organic oats on the farm, which they feed the poultry and livestock with.

Patricia also uses organic natural remedies, such as pumpkin seeds as a de-wormer and seaweed as a mineral nutrient to strengthen the egg shell.

Patricia has loyal customers who call weekly to the farm and stall holders of farmers’ markets in Birr, Mullingar and Limerick.

Rossewood Farm Organic Duck Eggs can also be purchased at the organic store in Birr. The eggs are “flying out the door”, they cannot keep customers supplied.

Patricia is considering expanding the hen flock in the future, but this will require packaging, grading and stamping of eggs in a new purpose-built facility.

Recently, Patricia purchased day-old chicks from a supplier in Monaghan and to comply with organic regulations they must be under three-days-old.

Through research, Patricia decided to buy Lohmann Browns because they are friendly, prolific layers and the eggs are a lovely brown colour.

The family are also busy preparing lambs for market and are considering supplying organic lamb from the farm gate to customers in the future.