Malone Fruit Farm in Co Carlow has been bringing consumers delicious homemade jams, juices and preserves since 1997. Farm owner James Malone told more to Irish Tractor & Agri when we caught up with him recently.
In 1988, husband and wife Tom and Elizabeth Malone purchased two acres of land in Closh, Ballon, Co Carlow to provide employment for their teenage family. The rest, as they say, is history.
The pair had been following the advice and support of the local Teagasc office and it was decided to grow strawberries on the two acres to supply the jam factory in Bunclody and locality with fresh strawberries.
Now, almost 30 years later, the business has swollen up to 12 acres and provides a wide variety of soft fruit and other products to the general public, retail, hotel and restaurant trade.
Happy where they’re at, current James Malone explained that the family run company won’t be adding to those acres any time soon but did reveal the fluctuation in their staff numbers when it comes to this time of year.
“We’re in Ballon, Co Carlow and we’ve been growing for over 30 years here,” James outlined.
“Our staff numbers grow from four in the winter time to as high 15 in the summer, but all year round there’d be four of us here. There’s myself, my dad (Tom), and two other part-time staff – I’d have taken over the shop four years ago.
“We also have a farm shop here that we started 10 years ago and it’s been going strong for us since.
“Basically, what we do is grow 13 different fruits here between berries, strawberries, cherries and peaches. We make a range of our own jams and jellies, six marmalades, brandy sauces and we’re cropping on seven acres of land – 40 per cent of which is covered.”
Frozen fruits are also available all year round for smoothies and desserts; jam making and jellies, which can be purchased from the Malone Farm Shop in Ballon.
In 1999, the Malones started to produce their own jams and jellies and six years later they constructed a purpose built kitchen and now produce a wide variety of jams, jellies, marmalades, chutneys, fruit tonics and cordials. They also have a variety of hampers and gift ideas for special occasions.
It’s a far cry from when Tom Malone first started out growing strawberries for jam all those years ago.
A Carlow man through and through, Tom married his wife Elizabeth and the two took the decision together to begin growing fruit and as the years passed by Malone Fruit Farm began to grow more and more successful.
“My father was an electrician by trade and I guess he decided after having seven kids that he needed to keep them busy,” James joked.
“Now my kids are starting to get involved at this stage, so it’s coming full circle for us and, thankfully, he’s still involved to this day.”
The produce from Malone Family Farm is available at the farm shop and also at local farmers markets such as Carlow Farmers Market – Potato Market, Kilkenny and Clonmel Farmers Markets and Castletown House in Celbridge.
The product can also be purchased online as well as other outlets such as Supervalu Tullow.
“A lot of our stuff would be going through direct sales and we have one or two Super Valus that we sell to as well,” said James.
“This year business has been pretty good. We could do with a bit more rain right now but we won’t complain about that. The farm shop and farmers’ markets keep us going all year round and our jams are at the markets all year as well along with the frozen fruits for smoothies.”
Selling a large selection of artisan food and gifts with particular attention to local and Irish products, Malone Fruit Farm has fresh fruit available mid-May to early October and frozen fruit and a full range of homemade products are available 12 months of the year.
The farm store stocks strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, loganberries, tayberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, white-currants and rhubarb.
The Malones are immensely proud of their traditional homemade recipes and quality soft fruit which have proven very successful in the market.
So what has been the recipe to their success so far? James feels there are a couple of different factors but one thing stands out in particular.
“Our stuff goes into the shop that day and we feel that it’s fresher than others. Freshness is the key for us and there are no additives in our stuff,” he said.
“I should also mention that we have bees on site here and we produce our own honey and there are great health benefits when it comes to the real stuff for people with allergies.”
The Malones we are great believers in the art of home cooking and have put together a few recipes using our fruit and veg that you can see on their website – malonefruitfarm.com.
Opening hours at Malone Fruit Farm are (May 1st-October 31st) 9am to 6pm from Monday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm on a Sunday and from November through April 10am to 6pm Wednesday to Saturday and from 1 to 5pm on Sunday.
Malone Fruit Farm
Address: Closh,
Ballon,
Co. Carlow
Tel: (059) 915 9477
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 7, October/November 2017
