P reparing and serving food that has been grown in the shadow of a restored stone barn overlooking the windswept cliffs of an offshore island is a labour of love for US-born Ciara Cullen. Certainly, culinary creations such as beetroot borani, stuffed courgette flowers, fermented Jerusalem artichokes or wild garlic pesto, all washed down with a wine from a boutique French vineyard, did not feature on typical menus when she moved to the Co Mayo outpost of Clare Island in the 1980s.
This outbuilding was still thatched when she first joined the late island elder and philosopher Michael Joe O’Malley to help run Macalla Farm.
O’Malley, who died in 1988, had hosted a colourful caravan of visitors and volunteers over the years with his cottage door – in the village of Ballytoughy Mór and on the road to the lighthouse – always open, and his array of home-made meads and wines providing a perfect cocktail for communality and late night conversations.
This open ethos impressed the young Cullen who had grown up in a very private family setting in Ohio so it was natural for her to carry it forward when she inherited the farm. It would inform the subsequent development of the yoga retreats she established in 2001 with her now ex-partner, Christophe Mouze. Indeed, it was the popularity of these retreats and the need to feed the participants and the many Wwoofers (volunteers through Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) that led to the genesis of the organic farm and ultimately the Stone Barn Café. It’s a hive of activity in one small part of the 4.8km by 8km island.
“The importance of the food we served at these retreats was paramount for us – its quality, where it was to be sourced, how it would be prepared. Christophe and I were both vegetarian, and food enthusiasts – he is French after all. How the food was grown was equally important and in the beginning it was difficult to source organic, chemical-free produce in this part of Mayo. So we began growing it ourselves and had the great fortune of having experienced growers who volunteered or worked for us during the early years,” says Cullen.
There was no distinction, she says, between what the couple ate with their children, Theo and Maude, and what they served to the students who came on their yoga retreats.
“The project became much bigger than we ever envisaged as awareness grew of the reality of interrelatedness and connectedness between humans, non-humans and the planet. Thus, everything involved with the sowing, harvesting, composting, fermenting, preparing and then eating that which nourishes us is totally relevant,” says Cullen.
By this stage, Cullen and Mouze had built a Scandinavian-style house with a yoga studio and renovated the cottage – where she had lived with Michael Joe – for guests, who are still welcomed today.
“Then in 2006, we started renovating the stone barn, with no deadline and a vague idea to turn it into accommodation for volunteers at the farm. For the restoration, we used only natural materials – lime and hemp for the walls and limecrete for the floor. The result is a very comfortable and unique space that some old islanders reminisce about – familiar but transformed,” says Cullen.
Serendipitously, the island builders also happen to be musicians who play at pop-up cultural evenings in the Stone Barn.
While the daytime cafe has opened for four days each week over the summer season since 2018, the five- and six-course vegetarian and vegan evening tasting menus…