Out of the gate and over the starting line – farming life is a go!
By 2022, I had been brewing for 11 years, had passed my Certificate in Brewing (Craft) Beer from the Institute of Brewing, and was in need of a bigger space in order to expand the nano-brewery! The kitchen just wasn’t going to cut it anymore, and sharing the space with a hungry family on brew days was getting tricky. Husband Steve had recently retired from his Executive IT role in the company he founded, and was keen to become a farmer. We knew that a life of farming was the way forward for us.
After a number of searches, we found Patson Hill Farm; our dream home, near Sherborne and just a dog walk away from where we had been living in Corton Denham. Or rather, very good friends of ours alerted us to the possibility of a nearby farm going on the market. Those friends were to become an intricate part of the poultry development on the farm amongst other things, more about which later.
It was big enough not only to call ourselves farmers (just), but to house the new brewery. We adapted to farming life pretty quickly. We had years of experience with our wonderful greenhouse in Corton Denham as well as raised beds and a chicken pen in the garden. On the farm I sowed many seeds for the yet to be erected polytunnel and kept them in the farmhouse living room window sill until they were ready to be transplanted. They shared the room with a huge cardboard box containing our first chicks, hatched from our incubator. The sunshine streamed through the large windows, so it was ideal for the chicks. They stayed until they were ready to move into a stable – their halfway house before upgrading to the big wide field earmarked for them.
Shifting gears and gaining speed – Red Devons & Mangalitzas
We knew we wanted cows and to our delight, Bagnell Farm near Ham Hill agreed to sell us some Red Devons – they'd won Best in Show at the Royal Bath & West Show in 2024. Pretty soon, we had a herd of 9 very chilled girls aged around 2 years, who enjoy being moved around the farm to fresh pasture, encouraged by the sound of cow nuts being shaken. They now come to the call 'Hello Girls!'.
We then bought 11 Mangalitza piglets from two litters after an agronomist friend recommended them, and have all three varieties – red, white and swallow-bellied. Mangalitza means 'hog with a lot of lard' and they are renowned for producing excellent quality charcuterie. The breed nearly fell into extinction in 1993 (in fact the fourth variety, black, was lost in the 1970s) and we are very proud to be helping maintain the breed in the UK. The other crazy thing about these pigs is their thick pelt of woolly hair. If you squint from a distance, you might mistake them for rather fat sheep!
Cock-ups & curing
Our boys and girls are nearly ready to go to the great woodland in the sky and by now, we can’t wait to see how good they taste. For more information on these unusual pigs, see the British Pig Association.
Needless to say, as soon as they arrived... they escaped. Cue hilarious YouTube video of Farmer Ferris attempting to round them back up. After a brief spell in the stable next to the chicks (the chicks survived, thankfully) we moved them into the first woodland enclosure secured by husband Steve (yes, the one and only Farmer Ferris) and our friend Dave. Our neighbour Mike, who has a tractor banger for putting in fence posts, helped too. Although very hardy creatures, Steve and Dave built 2 magnificent pig arks for their comfort. Farming life at its best.
We thought we would be kind to ourselves and not get animals on the farm whose main aim in life is to escape and die. Hence the decision NOT to have sheep! We did, however, allow our friends to have their sheep on the farm, for free. They gave us a lamb carcass to thank us so it was a win win. This also inspired me to learn how to butcher. I have butchered 2 lambs so far and attended a charcuterie course at Bray Cured, where they taught us how to handle a venison carcass and make sausages. The course is excellent, and Bray Cured is interested in buying some Mangalitza meat from us.
On the home run
We definitely wanted to upgrade from our greenhouse in Corton Denham, plus I needed a home for the multitude of veg I'd grown in the living room – it was starting to look like 'The Day of the Triffids' in there! First Tunnels, a UK firm that has been supplying commercial and domestic poly tunnels for over 34 years, supplied us with all the necessary parts for assembly. Suitable explanations and pictures for all the assembly instructions are available via online videos.
But first, we had to level part of Upper Home field to site the poly tunnel. The much missed Steve Rose, whose grandfather used to own Patson Hill Farm, used our digger to do this, then he dug holes for concrete foundations for the poles. Steve, Dave and I erected all the supporting poles in a morning, then Steve and Dave put together all the other parts including overhead watering for the three raised beds constructed by Fred and his Dad, John.
In early summer 2023, we transferred all the seedlings to the poly tunnel and we soon transformed the farmhouse living room into a pool room with vinyl record player for much needed R&R after busy days.
'Boys toys' for the win!
More hilarity was in evidence as Farmer Ferris bought his first tractor. Will, the cameraman, filmed the first outing which is now viewable on YouTube. Needless to say, it also didn't go quite to plan... Then, of course, there were the trailers, the JCB tele-handler, the hedge cutter and other mechanical delights, all of which Steve needed to learn how to use. The latest must-have is a cherry picker. We can then safely reach the heights needed for maintenance on the guttering, security, and electrics around the farm buildings, which are currently being erected.
So, we'd found perfect Patson Hill Farm, had moved in, and had immersed ourselves in farming life. But there was still so much to learn, and so many more farm projects I wanted to get to grips with. And apart from all that, I still had my first love to think about – the brewery! I now had a lot more space to expand from my initial set-up and could start trialling new recipes again. What with the brewery build and farm life, I definitely had my hands full.
