Rathcormac man’s wildflower business and connection with Kinsale Mead
John Howard’s wildflower meadow business which he runs from his base in Rathcormac, came about because of his great interest in shooting and conservation which John says, he inherited from his late father.
“I started off experimenting with various game crops here on my own place many years ago. Game crops are basically seed bearing crops that are sown especially for winter feeding for game birds, but thousands of other birds also benefit for these,” John told The Avondhu this week.
At that time, John was writing monthly articles for the Irish Shooters Digest and was also the Chairman of the Federation of County Cork Gun Clubs, a post he held for 13 years.
“I sourced all these ingredients from Bright Seeds in the UK and invited the owner David Bright, over to give a talk at one of our county meetings. That was the beginning of game crops in Cork and probably most of Ireland too,” he recalls.
“I wanted a crop that would attract bees and butterflies all summer and, one that would stay standing and provide feeding all winter. I added in some wildflowers to help achieve this balance and also added Phacelia, which is an absolute magnet for bees and pollinating insects.”
John found that this attracted not only game birds but also hundreds of finches, yellowhammers, linnets and many other species.
AGENT
“I then wrote about this crop in the Digest and got a huge amount of queries about it which I passed on to Bright’s. Bright Seeds wanted somebody to sell for them here in Ireland but I had no interest as I was too busy growing fruit at the time and so, I put them in touch with Dingle Poultry to market if for them. However, they could not reach a deal so David Bright, a true and very honourable gentleman if ever there was one, asked me to re-consider. He said he had named the mixture John’s Delight after me and so, that was how our partnership was developed.”
John is now their sole Irish agent and supplies many county councils, local communities, OPW and large companies here with both game crops and wildflowers.
“Bright Seeds is now managed and owned by David’s son, Christopher and we still have a great partnership and friendship. Before Covid19 they used to invite me over to their place in Salisbury every year for team building, training days and discussing new development in the industry and we hope to continue this when the pandemic is over.”
ROUNDABOUT
As time went on, John added various wildflower meadows to his product list. He has adopted the Cork Marts roundabout at Corrin from Cork County Council and commenced sowing that last year with two different mixes.
“The other half will be done in the next few weeks,” he says. “The half that is done was sown with two different mixes. One quarter is sown with Sunnyside Wildflower Meadow which is mainly annuals that will flower within 6 to 8 weeks after sowing and some of them will go on flowering until Christmas. This meadow will last a good few years if it is managed well.”
John went on to explain that the other quarter is sown with a permanent wildflower meadow from the species that you would normally associate with the traditional old fashioned Irish hay meadows.
“This one, called ‘ a native species perennial pollinator meadow’, takes two years before it flowers because it is recommended to mow it back a few time in its first year so it builds up a good crown, but it then lasts a lifetime if managed well.”
Although the seeds all come from the UK because they cannot be
sourced here in these volumes, they are all native species.
“Apart from the first year with this particular permanent meadow I never recommend cutting back your wildflower meadows until February/March because they will provide feeding and shelter for finches and small birds all winter.
“With the annual meadows in particular the seeds that the birds don’t eat will fall to the ground and regrow again if you give the plot a light tilling or deep raking. The ground preparation, maintenance, and management guidelines are all on my website www. rathcormacgunclub.com which I use to market the wildflowers and sell online - also on Facebook (Wildbird Cover Crops).
NOT THE END
But the story doesn’t end there. John is also selling a pre mixed crop which he makes up especially for the GLAS farming scheme. The mix contains the exact ingredients recommended by the Department of Agriculture and has proven to be very popular all over Ireland, especially in the West of Ireland.
“It contains triticale, linseed, mustard and a tiny amount of phacelia to attract some bees. I will be very busy from now on travelling all over Ireland every day delivering to customers as far away as Donegal.
“This mix has triticale as its main ingredient, instead of oats. The oats tends to attract vermin in huge numbers and also lodges very easily whereas the triticale stays standing and does not attract the vermin as much. Triticale is the Department’s preferred cereal for the crop anyway.
“McDonnell Bros are retailing this GLAS mixture in these parts and Creamery Farm Supplies in Croom are covering the Limerick side,” John concluded.
KINSALE MEAD
John also has a close connection with Kinsale Mead, a business founded by Kate and Denis Dempsey in 2016. Their meadery is understood to be the first one in Ireland in 200 years.
Their vision was to rediscover the ancient art of mead making and to create a worldclass range of light and refreshing drinks and their range of meads include melomel or berry meads, historically known as wine of the berry, which are fermented from honey and different berries.
They source the best natural ingredients and to this end, John supplies them with frozen fruit for their Mead and through his conversations with Denis, the owner, they both discovered that they shared a passion for wildlife and conservation.
“The fact is, the company need bees to produce the honey for the mead and in turn, the bees need flowers for the nectar. It all makes the story more interesting,” John explained, adding with a quip: “And we were both sober when we discussed coming together to do this.
“Denis and Kate have a lovely set up there in Kinsale and they do these virtual online ‘tasting’ events, for want of a better word,” John said.
‘EVERYONE CAN SOW THEIR OWN PATCH’
Speaking with The Avondhu, Denis said that in the Kinsale Hazy Summer Mead, the fruits supplied by John are used to create the berry mead with generous strawberry and raspberry aromas and a subtle honey finish.
“We wanted to find local suppliers as much as possible for our mead ingredients and John has been the perfect partner for us over the last 4 years since we started the meadery,” Denis said.
In a new initiative, Denis said that the company are now going one step further with John to help raise awareness about the lack of pollinator spaces for our honey bees by including a free biodegradable pack of Wildflower seeds with each order of their Wildflower Mead and Virtual Tasting sets, with the seeds courtesy of John Howard.
“We had talked with John about his amazing rewilding project and his seed side business and thought this was a great opportunity to collaborate on something we’re both passionate about,” Denis added.
Kate continued to note the impact this could have on local pollination and biodiversity efforts.
“Everyone can sow their own patch of bee-friendly paradise and make a difference for our pollinator friends. We are delighted to be part of this rewilding movement. Plant your own 3sq metre wildflower meadow in your garden or in your locality and help the bees,” she said.