Sister Julie Newman and Sister Marian O'Sullivan are two of the unlikeliest environmental activists you could come across.
The two Dominican nuns spent a lifetime as educators in Ireland and South Africa, but instead of retiring, they have thrown themselves into a new venture, running an organic farm and shop in Wicklow town.
Just 30 miles from Dublin, and right in the heart of the town beside the order's primary and secondary schools, the 72-acre farm was rezoned for residential use, making it one of the most valuable tracts of land outside the capital.
Instead of selling it for an eight-figure sum, the Dominican Order decided in the early 1990s to hold on to the land and use it as "an educational resource".
Sister Julie proudly shows off the convent's organic shop, with its abundant display of vegetables in baskets, most of which were grown on the farm. "We grow 58 types," she says.
Organic eggs are set out on a table in the shop, while the organic beef from the nun's herd of 30 cattle is for sale, bagged and frozen in the back of the shop.
The farm also has a few pigs to supply pork.
Ten acres of the farm have been transformed into a nature reserve, with a pond, nature trails and 8,000 new trees.
The two schools are now run by the lay community, while Sister Julie, a former principal of the secondary school who took early retirement, works full time on the farm.
Sister Marian, who spent most of her life in Africa, has been concentrating on developing the farm as an educational resource.
This week, the sisters applied for planning permission for an ecology centre, and are organising tours around the facility for other schools.
"We were aware of the devastation being caused to the planet by pollution and intensive farming," says Sister Julie.
"It took a number of years to clear a vision on what we wanted to do, so in 1998 we went organic."
The sisters say that support from the State for this environmentally-friendly form of agriculture is very limited.
"We're in the REPS scheme [Rural Environment Protection Scheme\], and when we were converting to organic, we got a higher amount per acre," says Sister Julie.
"We've had to put a lot of money into this. We restored the farmyard, we've employed a farm and shop manager, although we have had help with a social economy scheme through FÁS."
"Religious tend to go where others can't go or won't tend to go, and the State has not been very supportive," says Sister Marian.