We had a wonderful trip on Sunday 9th December to Broighter Gold RapeSeed Oil farm and production facility in Limavady. This is part of a series of walks and events to highlight the journey from Field 2 Fork, and Leona's set-up in Limavady is an innovative example of farm diversification and the local food message all in one....
The Broighter Gold farm is famous...firstly its the site where the Broighter
Hoard was discovered, when one evening in February 1896, two local ploughmen, (Tom Nicholl & James Morrow), working in a field at Broighter, stumbled across a hard object. Later, this find revealed several gold objects which included an ornamental collar, a little boat with oars, a bowl, two bracelets and two necklaces. This treasure is presently housed in the National Museum in Dublin, however visitors to Limavady can view a hologram of the objects in the Tourist Information Centre and view their intricate beauty, and secondly the World Ploughing Championships were held there in 1991 - hense the 'Prospect Ball' at the entrance to the farm...
Pictures from Gerry Temple
The Broighter Gold farm is famous...firstly its the site where the Broighter
Hoard was discovered, when one evening in February 1896, two local ploughmen, (Tom Nicholl & James Morrow), working in a field at Broighter, stumbled across a hard object. Later, this find revealed several gold objects which included an ornamental collar, a little boat with oars, a bowl, two bracelets and two necklaces. This treasure is presently housed in the National Museum in Dublin, however visitors to Limavady can view a hologram of the objects in the Tourist Information Centre and view their intricate beauty, and secondly the World Ploughing Championships were held there in 1991 - hense the 'Prospect Ball' at the entrance to the farm...
Pictures from Gerry Temple
 100 tonnes of rapeseed drying in the shed |  learning about moisture content |  the sheer investment in machinery is staggering |
 learning about crop rotation |  cold pressing in action |  the pellets, once the oil has been removed, this is used as a high protein animal feed |
 young jacob showing off the pressing machine |  leona talking through the bottling process |  the level of investment in this bottling facility is just staggering, this is a food production area so naturally we weren't allowed in |
 leona demonstarting the bottling process |  old picture of the farm house gives an insight in the families history and longevity in the area |  we were joined by chef Emmett McCourt to rattle up some dishes using the rapeseed oil |
 i'm an attentive student!! |  sloe gin by the stove...just the tonic after a farm walk!! |  using rapeseed oil to polish wood??...unusual but it worked! |
 making a raspberry and rapeseed oil vinegerette |  3 bird game terrine with raspberry vinegerette and tossed salad |  bernie well tucking in! |
 a dry roasted seed and spice combo with oil making a marinade for local goat meat |  looks great, folks took some of this home with them (leonas rosemary put to use!) |  tastings of different flavoured rapeseed oils |
 emmett and leona making up 'left over specials' using tortillas and rapeseed oil |  couple of the show dishes.... |  such an adorable family leona has |
richard and young jacob
we had a wonderful tour around a very busy farm, but everywhere there are reminders that this is not a multi-national operation, its a family business offering something unique and different, winning awards along the way, buts is a 2.5 person operation.....with Richard Kane doing the farming, hundreds of acres of rapeseed, barley and potatoes under cultivation (and yes there was about 15 tractors around the place...and richards is the only man who drives them lol!!), leona producing this award winning Oil, and being a busy mum to 2, with granny helping out with the labelling and to add to this Leona is now opening a shop and a new 'food tour' opening in 2013...a busy lady!
you can check out Boighter golds website here and their facebook page here
you can check out Boighter golds website here and their facebook page here
