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Farm Manager at the Nano Nagle Centre in Killavullen, Noreen O’Brien with two of the people who took part in the bread baking workshop on Friday last. Photo: Sandra Quinn

Twenty years ago, the smell of freshly baked bread and hands covered in flour would have been common place in most homes, but now, bread, more often than not, comes from the shelf in a supermarket and flour is no longer a cupboard staple in every kitchen. 

This is the kind of thing that Noreen O'Brien, Farm Manager at the Nano Nagle Centre in Killavullen, is trying to change with her bread baking workshops and demonstrations. For the past three years, she has been developing workshops, courses and demonstrations to build on the idea of farm to fork, self-sustainability and organic planting. 

Originally from Donnybrook, just a few miles outside Doneraile, Noreen grew up on a farm where they grew their own vegetables, had fruit trees and kept hens, ducks and geese. 

"From a young age, gardening and farming were always part of my life - I grew up in the wilderness and was always outside. In my house, we went to school with brown bread sandwiches and everything was homemade, but I'd see my classmates with chocolate bars in their lunch box. 

"I wanted to be the same as everyone else with their Mars bars and packet of Taytos," Noreen explained. 

She explained that the world is changing now and she referenced Coca Cola buying the Innocent Smoothie product range and water replacing carbonated drinks on the top shelves of supermarkets and shops. 

"In McDonald's, you can get a salad, water and juice now. Schools have gardens instead of shops filled with sweets and bars. I think it's down to a distrust in the Government and the 'big guys'. People aren't buying from the multinationals, they want to get their produce from people on the ground who are honest. We are losing that fragmented approach to food, but there's now more of an appreciation for home made and home grown things and people are turning back to their roots."

Noreen's passion has always been in food and horticulture and she also completed the Ballymaloe cookery course in 2006, a diploma in Special Food Production from UCC and she has worked with food and experienced the culinary culture in places like Sydney, Greece, Perth, Spain, New York and San Francisco. She is currently doing a Masters in Organic Horticulture to compliment the work she is doing in the Nano Nagle Centre. 

On Friday last, Noreen hosted a workshop, where she demonstrated how to make various types of bread and she said that it's vital to have things like this, so that people can learn a skill that they can carry with them through life and pass onto their children in years to come.

"Being able to bake bread is a fundamental basic and it's a thing that people love to do. Bread is a staple we buy every day and now that people are seeking more control over their food, it's empowering to bake your own bread. For bread, you can use any type of flour, but I always say that if you take the time to bake your own bread, then buy the best flour that you can afford."

Noreen added that the people who do the half day workshops come in with varying levels of knowledge, from people who know how to make certain types of bread to those who have never baked, so every workshop begins with her assessing what base every person is working from. 

"When people leave they can bake bread and I say to them 'go forth and bake'."

In the future, Noreen hopes to develop the workshops into more interactive experiences, like what she does at Christmas. She also operates an open classroom policy, so questions are encouraged and there is no such thing as a stupid question. In terms of other courses, she added that the events are dictated by what's in season and what is available from their own garden or polytunnel. 

For more information, visit www.nanonaglebirthplace.ie or visit Nano Nagle Birth Place on Facebook. 

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