大象传媒

Having suppressed her inner farmer for as long as she can remember, in November 2020, Verity Sharp and her family took the decision to rent a farmhouse in north Pembrokeshire to explore whether a farming life is really for them. Although an incredible opportunity, testing the water during a Welsh winter and a national lockdown has had its challenges. At 77 acres, the farm is owned by former sheep farmers Val and Eddie Kirby, who, in more recent years, have been reducing their livestock and handing the land back to nature. Wildflowers now flourish in every field, marshland supports an abundance of insects, and increased hedgerows and trees are proving a draw for birds. For this edition, Verity and Patrick look back over their first six months on the farm, and wrestle with issues such as whether going into farming in their fifties for the first time is really a good idea, how a farm like this might generate an income in the future, and the ethics of scaling back on a farms food producing capacity in order to better serve nature.