Nowen Rock Farm in Dunmanway is a model sustainable enterprise with full organic accreditation. Its owner John Kingston is passionate about connecting people around natural food, friendship and community to create an effective operational and farmer-support model that rediscovers the power of unity and sharing among food growers.
Understanding the vital role of healthy food came into sharp focus for John when he became a dad. He bought his first goats when his daughter developed an intolerance to the A1 casein in cow’s milk. The A2 casein in goat’s milk proved to be the perfect medicine. From there began an educational journey into finding, and making available to others, the very best natural foods.
Now father to three young girls, John’s commitment to growing and educating has only deepened. “Nothing quite compares to healthy food when it comes to supporting a great life,” he believes. “At Nowen Rock Farm we strive for integrity at every level of the supply chain. No chemicals are used anywhere and we use closed loop, zero waste principles. We are meticulous about our life-force soil-regeneration to grow foods that transform people’s health and zest for life.”
Front and centre is the raw goat’s milk from his herd of Toggenburg goats. This breed comes from the Swiss Alps and, when raised in humane, natural conditions, produces a nutrient-rich, creamy milk that is the foundation for a variety of delicious artisan cheeses, crafted using traditional methods.
Also on the shelves are eggs and chicken from the farm’s open pasture flocks, honey from resident bees, and free-roaming lamb, beef and bacon.
“All our meat comes from very happy and loved livestock who graze on wild herbs and natural wild flower meadow,” John confirms. “The turkeys are lovingly raised by my mum.”
A huge range of fruit and vegetables are grown on the farm and available to purchase in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes and in the farm shop. Each vegetable box is brimming with a diverse selection of seasonal vegetables; kale, tomatoes, squash, lettuce, spinach, radishes, cucumbers, herbs, beans and more.
“Historically in Ireland, people either grew their own food or personally knew the farmer who produced it,” John says. “Today this relationship is broken. Minds are misdirected by big budget advertising and knowledge of what qualifies as health-giving food is lost in translation.”
John is passionate about regenerative farmers regaining their role as educators, by sharing knowledge around their kitchen tables. “On the farm at Nowen Rock we have built a Community Pod where we will begin hosting regular educational Dinner Club events, beginning in early summer 2025.
“This Dinner Club will be organised with the help of a passionate local food ambassador who will engage with the local community and invite people along to taste the delights of organic produce at Nowen Rock.”
John will lead a farm tour where guests can see how the animals live and how the food is planted, nourished, cared for and harvested.
Around the Dinner Club table there will be a number of experts who will collaborate to bridge the knowledge gap: A local nutritionist will detail the health benefits and science behind each food; a guest college academic and a food industry expert will share their expertise on planting, soil biology, natural pest control, composting, seed sourcing, harvesting, preservation, permaculture design and the latest farming updates.
The guest chef will also come to chat at the table, discussing the food menu, seasonal food patterns, food combinations for digestion and how best to cook to preserve flavour and vitality.
“The Dinner Club will be both an educational and social event to bring the community together – to reclaim the joy of sharing time and conversation over great food,” John says.
John has been building a support structure around the Dinner Club, and his enterprise as a whole, with the help of vision architect and strategist Sean O’Leary.
“So many people in the organic food space don’t have a unity success mindset, personal support structure or effective strategy. I believe that we must first be sustainable within ourselves as individuals before we can create a sustainable enterprise that will support our community.
“Most natural food farmers are like myself: passionate and working in isolation. We can often be brow-beaten from watching our community drive past our farm shop, unaware of the difference between chemical laden foods and our organic life-force produce.
“We also have a second, private Dinner Club at Nowen Rock, bringing fellow growers together to collectively up-skill and support each other in very real and practical ways – with knowledge sharing, compliance, peak season labour support, labour holiday cover, combined buying power, and so on,” says John.
“Natural food farmers often have a limited skillset in marketing, sales and distribution, so coming together in grower clusters has potential for timesaving and great new sales opportunities.
“We upskill and shift mindset to avail of the enormous opportunity we collectively face by restoring trust and trading through direct farmer-customer educational connection.
“To serve as a test model Dinner Club site, which can be replicated to benefit others, well this makes me jump out of bed in the morning,” says John.
For further information WhatsApp John on 086 331 1139 or follow him on Instagram: john.kingston.nowen.rock. Email john_kingston@hotmail.com. www.nowenrock.ie
