Ted and Kay MoleTed Mole, from near Oxford, England, has grown herbs for many years in between a varied career of factory work and driving trucks.
"I initially got into growing them because of my interest in wild plants and conservation," he says. Since moving to a small farm near Strokestown, Co Roscommon, he and is wife Kay have focused all their energy on raising pigs and sheep and growing medicinal herbs. The pigs and herbs are an important part of their income, he says.
Most of the plants - red clover, skull cap, sheep sorrel, oats and sage - are grown in horticultural beds, while the hawthorn, meadowsweet, horse chestnut and nettles are collected from around the organically-certified land. Harvest time is from May to January as the root crops such as burdock are harvested in the winter. The bulk of the work is weeding's all done by hand, a chore which has turned a few prospective growers off the idea, he says. Kay does 80 per cent of this tedious work.
So what do the neighbours think of them selling nettles?
"Bemused! People ring me up occasionally to say I've got this patch of weeds, will you come and dig them up? For example one man had a very impressive stand of a common weed which grows on dung heaps, but it wasn't of any use to us.
Imelda and Sean Daly
In 1996 Imelda and Sean Daly moved into their dream home - an almost 700-square metre late Georgian house at Rathaspic, Co Westmeath on 40 acres and in need of much restoration.
While Sean is a Garda at a one-man station at Ballinacarrigy, they have set about restoring the listed building to its former glory, and to reflect their commitment to ecologically-sustainable living.
In addition to replanting the original oak wood, rearing sheep, cows and poultry and growing their own vegetables, the Dalys also grow echinacea (purperea), valerian and sage to supply Irish Organic Herbs. "It's lovely work; very therapeutic but very tedious. I can be out there and the hours are gone."
Their commitment to herb-growing has been boosted by the discovery than their home, Rochfield House, was also home to two herbalists, Miss Eva and Miss Lucy Battersby, in the mid 1800s.
The sisters had a walled herb garden planted in the pattern of one of the house's ornate ceilings, and according to documents from the national library, and local knowledge, many people availed of their herbs and herbal tinctures.
"In fact the Battersby sisters wrote an encyclopedia but we don't know where it went. Perhaps Australia," says Imelda.
While they do not envisage turning all their land to medicinal herb cultivation, they are keen to restore the walled garden as an educational resource, much as internationally-renowned herbalist Alfred Vogel has done in Switzerland.