Saturday with Farmer Phil: We work from dew to dew

'We saw a huge increase in views and engagement in our content during Covid. I think people these days want to reconnect with the outdoors and with nature.'

Farmer Phil and Liv Stewart on their farm. Picture: Bowl of Corks Photography

07.00

Every Saturday on the farm is different, depending on the time of year. At this time of year, the harvest is a big thing for us, so we’d be up at 7am sometimes earlier depending on the workload for the day.

07.30

If I have time I’ll go look after the livestock — the cattle, the calves, the chicken, pigs, geese, turkeys, guinea fowl, peacocks, and emus — and then we’ll get ready for the day’s harvesting. We’ll prepare the equipment — changing the implements, greasing, oiling, sweeping up the grain shed — preparing everything while we wait for the dew to lift. Depending on the time of year we also have the Maize Maze, the Sunflower Trail, Pumpkin Patch and farm shop to attend to.

12.30

If we are going combining at 1pm, we’ll have dinner or sandwiches and tea beforehand so that we don’t have to stop while we’re working.

13.00

The dew lifts whenever the dew lifts and when we can start harvesting depends on whether it has rained during the night. We are lucky that our farm is on heavy land, so a dry summer suits us ideally — a wet summer would give us more issues. We are currently two or three weeks ahead of when we normally get the harvesting done.

In terms of how long we’ll be harvesting, how long is a piece of string? We work from dew to dew unless it rains in between, so, for example, one recent Saturday we started at 12 and finished the combining at 9.30pm when the dew fell, finished baling the straw at 10pm, got the grain in and the straw home around 1am or 2am. That would be typical of this time of year.

When it comes to our content, I do the videoing and drone footage, and my wife Liv does the editing and the social media. It is not without its challenges — I recently crushed the drone with the combine. I film around working; I don’t work around filming.

We saw a huge increase in views and engagement in our content during covid when people were locked inside. I think people these days want to reconnect with the outdoors and with nature. People also enjoy the dynamics that go on the farm — whether that’s between myself and my wife or my father, brother or others working on the farm. We don’t take it too seriously — whatever we’re at we film. Sometimes it can be hard to get over how popular the content is. At the National Ploughing Championships, for example, hundreds of people will want a photo and it can be pretty overwhelming, but there’s nothing special about what we do, we are the same as a lot of families up and down the country. Myself and my wife Liv have written the new book. It tells the story of our history and our family connection to the land told through each field. I think the book will have a reach beyond our online followers. I think it’ll appeal to people with an interest in farming and the outdoors, but also to people who are maybe only one or two generations removed from the land.

18.00

Because my wife is from the UK we often have family visiting. If we had a night off we’d go to the local pub for a meal but on a winter’s evening when the sun goes down we’ll generally take to the workshop to work on the machinery. Sunday is our day of rest so on a Saturday we keep going. We never finish work before 10pm.

Farming is no more a job than it is a way of life. I couldn’t sit down for the evening at 5pm, I’d have itchy feet thinking about all the work I could be doing. I’d be bored out of my mind working in a nine-to-five office job — I’d probably have to have a second job in the evening to keep myself occupied. My commute is a walk down the avenue and into the farm. Farming is not without its challenges but it’s a lovely way of life.

22.00

We’ll keep working to avoid losing precious time but when the combines stop around 9.30 or 10pm my wife and mother will arrive with food for us and we’ll eat it with the machines in the background. That’s one of my favourite things about harvest — at the end of a hard day’s work when we eat food off a straw bale, with the birds singing, watching the sun setting before digging into another couple of hours work – it’s idyllic for a farmer.

02.00

If I’m working till two in the morning I’ll hit the pillow until six or seven but I generally wouldn’t be a great sleeper. I’ll be lying awake thinking of all the things I could be doing. I can exist easily on very little sleep — there are plenty of times when I’ve worked through the night. When you enjoy what you do it’s nothing.

• An Irish Family Farm in Twelve Fields by farmer Phil and Liv Stewart, published by Gill, is available now. Visit the Maize Maze, Sunflower Trail, and Farm Shop on the Stewart Family Farm in Longford.
• stewartfamilyfarmlongford.com