Well! What can we say about the last 4 months?? …in a word? ROLLERCOASTER!
We have had tremendous highs of new team members and the isolation of others, the farm family pulling together yet feeling more apart than ever, laughs and cries, great ideas starting to take off before crashing back to the ground…it’s been tough yet shown us what we are capable of!
The lockdown really gave us local producers chance to shine and show the wider community what we can do by pulling together as a team and reacting positively to what life throws at us all…
The meat business is usually ran by Farmer Al’s wife, all on her Read More
Introduction
This we have a guess blogger, one of newest meat hero team members
Emily.
Before you read what she has to say about Mutton let me explain the difference between Spring Lamb, Hogget and Mutton. This is a question often discussed in our butchery room with customers.
For easy Spring Lambs are born in spring and can be up to a year of age. Hoggets are once 1-2 years. Mutton is over 2 years old.
There are all kinds of ways to age sheep but at ballakelly for ease we say spring lamb born in March so from May to Dec, then after Christmas we call it hogget and Mutton is Read More
This week we received a lovely email from Resa, for her home school work she had to learn something about Manx produce and chose to learn more about Ballakelly. She has created a brochure and we think it is brilliant!
Below is what Resa had to say:
“Hello my name is Resa , for home school work one of my tasks was to do some home learning on Manx produce. I knew instantly what I wanted to do it on, the most delicious thing in the world. “What is that?” I hear you say, well obviously Ballakelly farm meat. My dad used to go to school with the owners Alan and Read More
Hi guys I hope you are all OK, big smelly farm hugs from me and the team.
Wow!! What a world we are currently living in, I am a key worker!
Not much has change for me, I don’t like to leave the farm so it has suited me to stay home, Harvey loves social distancing and wearing his noo noo jarmies, Tinky has been cartwheeling herself about the farm helping me, but best of all Rach has started cooking!
Lambing is all over – the less said about it the better – it has been the worst lambing I have ever experience in over 30 years of lambing sheep at Ballakelly Read More
This week it has been all about sheep at Ballakelly.
We had the first of the pedigree batch lamb, we scanned the commercial sheep to get them on the correct diet plans ready for lambing, and have started to set up the ‘Farmer Al maternity unit’ down at Ballasteen.
My sleep is restricted these next few months: so too is my blog writing flow!! So I thought I would let you guys do the work and see what your Ballakelly sheep facts are like:
If you get 100% then you can enter a prize draw to get VIP tickets for the live lambing tour!!!
Please remember that the WhatsApp gang will get first Read More
Hello FB family, bet that got the gossip gang reading!! Congratulations this week’s ‘Farmer Al’ bongo drum was the best ever, just to be 100% clear:
- For the idiots – I was not found in bed with Jason
- For the fools – shame on you
- For the haters – get a life and let other people live theirs
- For all people who have no idea what this is about let’s keep it that way!
Back to this week’s blog about what Farmer Al really did this week:
As Chairman of the Manx Grassland Society, I was lucky enough to spend 2 days touring some of the best Manx farms with Leo from Mayo Health Care, he Read More
Ballakelly Farm 2019
What a year!!! Thanks Callum, for the photos to help us all remember.
The big question that the team have been discussing over the holidays: ‘Do we carry on with ‘Ballakelly’ in 2020’.
I will always farm in some form but do we continue to do it so we can all enjoy the journey together! If we do continue, then in what format? There are lots of cards on the table, January is our time to reflect on the last 3 years and decide the next path we shall follow.
Yesterday I was outside feeding the cows and I realised how lucky I was to be doing something I loved Read More
Hey there!
Sorry I have not been blogging for a few weeks, things on the farm were crazy busy in October.
The big event being the Hop Tu Naa Open Day, amazing day thanks everyone.
£100 was donated to both Crossroads Care & Autism in Mann from our cake sale
After showing everybody the farm, it was then time for our annual family holiday. Phone off – book out and relax!
The weather was rainy, so H Boss and I have seen all the PG films that the Odeon Cinema had to offer! We discovered that on the back of our tickets there was 50% off pasta and pizza in the Italian down at Read More
Thursday 10 October was World Mental Health Day, so I thought I would share my own mental day:
I was listening to Radio 2 in the tractor, they were discussing the signs of a burn out, in particular for men, for the first time since dad died I sat there and cried. Once I had my cry, I felt really strange, calmer, clearer even dare I say it happy.
I sat there for 2 minutes; relieved no one saw me! Then I started to think about what made me happy. When you look for positive things it is easy to see them. I text Rach told her I loved her, and asked Read More
