I spent a day with Darina Allen at Ballymaloe's new school — here's how I got on
Darina Allen at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, Shanagarry, Co Cork. Included are Hugh, David, Eva, McKinley and Kate. Picture Dan Linehan
Which came first? The chicken or the egg?
Standing as I was, inside the little hatchery beside the Palais du Poulet at Ballymaloe, just as a chick broke its way out of its shell, cemented the day’s philosophical position as Team Egg.
I’m learning How to Keep Hens, a half day course that’s just one of many on the year-long schedule at Ballymaloe Organic Farm School.
More than 20 eager students today are learning about this traditional skill; the lucky ones that got in before it booked out. It’s also a course Darina Allen really enjoys teaching, so we’re in for a jam-packed afternoon.
Then, I find myself thinking: which really came first? Ballymaloe Cookery School or Ballymaloe Organic Farm School?
The cookery school is a great leveller.
Would-be students from across the globe come to learn how to cook, be they Hollywood actors (Kate Winslet was there in 2024, actor Andrew Garfield has Ballymaloe on his bucket list, while Richard E Grant visited at Christmas), or an Instagram sensation (Ballerina Farm, with 10.1m followers, is currently doing a 12-week course at the school).
Anonymity is paramount; the school never comments on any of its students, which means the rich and famous rub shoulders with the not-so-rich and not-so-famous as they all share the same experience, which starts with an introduction to the 100-acre organic working farm that surrounds the cookery school.
Ballymaloe Cookery School captures the imagination of all who travel from all over the world to this corner of East Cork to learn in its kitchens, classrooms and gardens, and immerse themselves in the school's Slow Food philosophy.
From half-day demos to the legendary 12-week immersive residential programme (prices range from €105 to €16,795), Ballymaloe magically changes lives.
Inspirational teachers – co-founders Darina Allen and Rory O’Connell, Rachel Allen, pastry maestro JR Ryall, drinks expert Colm McCann, and Pam Black who has taught at the school for well over two decades — showcase the natural bounty of the local larder and how tradition at the table and on the plate has never been more relevant.
The Bread Shed, Fermentation Shed, micro-dairy, acres of organic fruit, veg and herb gardens and glasshouses, all act as living classrooms encouraging the natural curiosity of every student.
Ballymaloe Cookery School has one of the most successful alumna communities Ireland has ever seen.
The hashtag #learnatballymaloe is found in social feeds of foodie hot spots from community cafes to Michelin restaurants, from social food enterprises to organic smallholdings.
The school has created award-winning sommeliers, front of house gurus, food writers and activists.
Its legacy, which builds with every passing day, has been enormously influential on progressive attitudes to how Ireland feeds itself.
And now, that same mentality has been put to work in the creation of the new Ballymaloe Organic Farm School.
There is an inseparable symbiosis between the two schools.
The cookery school’s own ethos was behind the farm transitioning to organic by 1998; and from the farm, cookery students learn the importance of sowing a seed, nurturing plant and soil health, keeping chickens and pigs, and the good food cycle of soil, plant, animal and human health.
In 2023, as the cookery school celebrated its 40th birthday, Allen was embarking on a new project — the Ballymaloe Organic Farm School.
Working alongside Karen O’Donohue, formerly of RTÉ’s Grow, Cook, Eat, the school’s mission is to “educate and empower people in sustainable food production, regenerative farming, and climate-positive living, fostering equitable and resilient food systems”.
Be in no doubt, this is not your typical farm school. It is, however, what’s needed to create an alternative to the business-as-usual of conventional farming practice and policy.
And so, at the age of 75, instead of retiring, Allen launched into this new start-up.
“Being retired is not something that appeals to me, so having a project, something I can get my teeth into, was very important as I drew back from the day-to-day running of the cookery school,” explains Allen.
“Over the last decade or more, I noticed a lot of cookery students were asking more about how food is produced and where it comes from.
“People are really craving to learn these things; you’d be asked the most fundamental questions sometimes, and I feel I have a responsibility to pass on what we know.
The farm school is heavily influenced by the necessity of good food and food education that has been fundamental to Allen’s work over decades. In this crusade, there has been a meeting of minds between Allen and O’Donohue.
“My real introduction started when I did a master’s at University of Bristol and began to learn about the critical importance of the nutritional value of good food,” says O’Donohue.
“Coming home and working with GIY and Change X, which were the most transformative periods of my career, I understood about the power of community and how, when people come together on a common purpose, we are powerful way more than we believe ourselves to be.
“Moving on to work with Darina at Ballymaloe Organic Farm School, any knowledge or appreciation I had for soil, grew. I had always come at it from the community perspective, yet now I understand how, until such time as the stewards and farmers of the land and the producers of good food are unequivocally recognised as one of the most critical components of a healthy active resilient society, then we are at nothing, and we have come very far away from that.”
Despite Ireland’s reputation as being “the food island”, its population is facing a health crisis of epidemic proportions with Ireland on track to become the most obese country in Europe.
Over 45% of the average weekly grocery spend goes on ultra processed foods (UPFs). These are foods with five or more ingredients, many of which would not be found in a domestic kitchen and made in a way that wouldn’t be possible at home.
Allen says that much of the decision making around what we buy and eat should be based on choosing to prioritise good food.
“Food keeps us alive, healthy and full of vitality, but in our busy lives we just grab, gobble, and go. We don’t even concentrate on what it tastes like, and we certainly don’t give time to consider the consequences on our health, the environment, on nature.
“Considering so much depends on dinner, do we really think it’s a priority to spend time and money going out of our way to get real food to feed our families, rather than edible food-like substances?” The data clearly shows that most of us don’t.
But rather than pointing the finger of blame at time-poor households, Allen and O’Donohoe point to a lack of leadership at government level.
Without a considered approach to creating a holistic food policy for Ireland’s citizenry that puts food education — or “food fluency” as O’Donohue calls it — embedded into the national curriculum, central to the provision of food in public institutions (schools, hospitals, healthcare settings, etc), and creating healthier food environments where nutritionally deficient food is not the de facto option for people, we are storing up chronic problems for the future.
“Ballymaloe Organic Farm School teaches people how to take back control over their lives, to realise they can, and to get even a little taste of what it feels like to be self-sufficient in food, and the joy that comes from it,” says Allen.
Much like the chicken and egg debate, food — the growing, making, shopping, cooking, and eating of it — has become infuriatingly complex, and there is extreme inequity built in.
For those without access to fresh, local, seasonal produce, the knowledge of how food gets from field to fork, or the skills to cook a balanced meal, what remains on supermarket shelves is a Hobson’s Choice — the brightly packaged and promised convenience of a meal offering no real choice at all.
“I firmly believe everybody can do something,” says O’Donohue.
“Every day, people make decisions around food, whether it’s from a policy level to what to have for your dinner. If the noble purpose of our food system was about feeding people with healthy and regeneratively produced food, we’d be grand. But instead, it’s all about money.” However, change is in the air. The farm school was established in response to a movement that is happening en masse, particularly in the US, called Homesteading.
“I had heard about these tens of thousands of people leaving the cities to go homesteading — young people desperate for land and to learn how to grow, keep chickens and pigs, and about the soil; but where to go? I realised, we have all of this on the farm, and we must share it,” says Allen.
The flagship six-week Sustainable Food Programme and the week-long Practical Homesteading courses have been in high demand since the school first opened.
“We’ve had people from Norway, Netherlands, Ireland, UK, Australia, Finland on the Homesteading course so far, but my biggest market is America. People are prepared to travel, and I’m in no doubt there is a fundamental change going on; I heard it described as a tsunami of homesteading in the US with how many people are leaving the cities,” says Allen.
“Something magical happens when you put your hands in the soil; when you sow a seed and watch it grow. It’s life-changing. Some of our students really lean into it and they leave ready to live their lives in a different way,” says Allen.
O’Donohue says the transformation in people is apparent, even over a few hours. “It’s the physical change we see in people — I mean, talk about a glow-up. Particularly with our one and six-week courses; people arrive tired from work and life challenges or suffering from eco-anxiety. They can often be a lone voice in their community or family, especially those coming from farming families with no interest in farming regeneratively,” he explains.
“But by the end of the week, not only have they spent all their time with their hands in and boots on the soil, they’ve been surrounded and fed good nutritious food and literally plugged into everything they believe in. They’ve had the life-changing experience of meeting your tribe and realise the values and the principles you have are true, and there is a way.”
Courses aim to strike a balance between theory, discussion and practical activity with subject matter experts brought in from across Ireland and the wider international regenerative food community.
From planting and pruning an orchard with Chris Troy to a 10-day course teaching the principles of organic growing with Klaus Laitenberger; seed saving with Madeline McKeever, bee keeping with Niall Coffey, rearing and curing heritage pigs with Martin and Noreen Conroy, and much more besides, the schedule covers a variety of skills and knowledge needed in creating a smallholding that embraces polyculture and biodiversity.
“Someone might come and do a week’s course with us at the farm school, but when they leave, we hope they won’t just hang up their wellies after having a lovely time in East Cork, but to go forth knowing this is week two, week three and four, because you’re changed,” says O’Donohue. “People leave with clarity over what to do and where to go next, personally and professionally. They’re ready to go and put it all into practice.”
Allen is leading by example saying the farm school has reinvigorated her with renewed energy.
“I love the reaction we’re getting from people; they are so grateful for the sharing of knowledge. We are probably working harder now than we have ever done in our lives, but we love what we’re doing. It’s a blessing to get up in the morning and look forward to the day.
“I could be teaching algebra, but it’s not the same as showing someone how to make a loaf of bread and them taking back control over the food they eat. I have so much that I want to do still and so much I want to share, that I feel so grateful, and long may I continue to have some bit of energy to keep teaching.”
- Ballymaloe Organic Farm School is supported by National Organic Training Skillnet (NOTS) which subsidises some course fees up to 30% for those eligible.
- For full information on courses, see ballymaloecookeryschool.ie/farm-school
