When Siobhán Sloane established Essential Food Trails Farm to Fork Experiences in east Galway the only mode of transport she considered was the coach to bring visitors to the farms and restaurants. Now she has temporarily swapped coaches for couriers as her food tour has become an online farmers' market store delivering produce such as farmhouse cheese and wildflower honey.

Established in 2019, Essential Food Trails is a road trip food tour that brings visitors to on-farm food producers for tours tastings in the Sliabh Aughty region of east Galway. While it takes some effort to coordinate, the concept is quite simple, as Siobhán says, “I saw a need to connect people with the source of food and alongside the excellent urban food tours in Ireland I came up with the idea of a road trip food tour. I describe it as being a bit like a wine tour but with bees and cows”.

While the current lockdown has pressed pause on tours, Siobhán has come up with a Farm to Fork Box delivery service. “While we can't visit the farms, markets and restaurants, I wanted to find a way to continue to support local food producers and keep some focus on the region for when we travel again” says Siobhán. The Farm to Fork Boxes have a range of produce from some of the farms and farmers' markets we would visit on our tours. These include wildflower honey and spiced honey from Sliabh Aughty Beekeeping, Kylemore Farmhouse cheese and Gran Grans Foods chutney. As well as food there is natural skincare including beeswax and lavender hand cream.

Siobhán says, “For many of the farmers I work with, the main outlet for their produce is farmers' markets and the food service industry. Welcoming visitors come to their farms to see the milking parlour, cheese house, beehives and orchards is another source of income. With the temporary suspension of farmers' markets, travel into and around Ireland, the tourism sector is one of the hardest hit. I asked myself how can I redirect the energy intended to run the farm to fork experiences this summer. I decided to coordinate with the producers to organise range of Farm to Fork boxes”.

Siobhán is hopeful about resuming the on-farm tours in the future and believes that it will begin with people looking for activities in their locality, saying, “We have almost been too modest about our food story. I hope the Farm to Fork Box will in some way support the farmers and producers and encourage people to explore closer to home when we travel again.”

Taste of Sliabh Aughty box priced at €35 contains Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese, Sliabh Aughty hot honey, Gran Grans Food chutney for cheese, Irish whiskey marmalade, rosemary and garlic infused olive oil and Foods of Athenry multi seed toasts. The Honey & Herbs Natural Skincare box priced at €20 contains beeswax and lavender hand cream, beeswax, peppermint and orange foot cream and beeswax lavender and orange lip balm. Standard delivery within Ireland is €7. 

Farm to Fork boxes available from here