Ailbhe Gerrard jumped from building to artisan farming. She has never looked back, writes Louise McBride
Nine years ago, Tipperary woman Ailbhe Gerrard was working on Dublin building sites as a project manager. Little did she know that she would soon be far from the concrete and cranes of Dublin and instead running her own farm in her native county – where she would become an expert on bees and organic farming. Gerrard founded Brookfield Farm, which is based on the shores of Lough Derg and specialises in artisan food, about six years ago.
Brookfield Farm honey is a wonderful raw Irish honey gathered by bees from the large range of seasonal Irish wildflowers and tree blossoms. What could be nicer than honey from your own hive? We offer Brook- field Farm Hiveshare – you can get a share of our hives and enjoy your honey straight from the beekeepers!
Ailbhe Gerrard’s family farm is by the shores of Lough Derg in Co. Tipperary. Despite the idyllic setting, an urban life lured her away from home and countryside, and a successful career in construction project management kept her away for many years to follow.
Ailbhe Gerrard took the leap from construction to farming six years ago and hasn’t looked back since, writes Laura Roddy. Six years ago there was nothing here – I had just bought this. I still didn’t know what I was going to do with it,” Ailbhe Gerrard recalls of the start of her journey at Brookfield Farm in Coolbawn, Nenagh, Co Tipperary.
Ailbhe Gerrard produces lamb and honey on Brookfield Farm in Tipperary, and her unique concept, Hiveshare, is getting attention for all of the right reasons, writes Klara Heron.
I think it’s our responsibility as farmers to build a place for the environment and nature to thrive, because if we don’t, where will they go?” says Ailbhe Gerrard, as we drink tea at her kitchen table. Ailbhe bought Brookfield Farm in Coolbawn, north Tipperary, five years ago, having previously worked as project manager for construction in London.
Going back to the land promotes sustainability and is living feminism – writes Ailbhe Gerrard
What do you think of when you consider farmers? Is it a macho guy smelling of pig shit and covered in engine oil? Our in-built expectations about gender keep women relatively under-paid and disempowered in Ireland.
As our countryside is no longer the wildlife haven it once was, now the busy bee is moving to the city. Tara Corristine finds out more…
It is late August and the golden swatches of rapeseed have been cleared from the fields. Tractors putter down lanes and backroads, cutting back hedges and briars. It is a scene playing out across Ireland and it may be why our bees are finding solace in the city.
Ailbhe Gerrard is certainly enterprising. A former project manager, she studied sustainable development and organic farming and has now been farming at Brookfield in Tipperary for a number of years, developing skills from forestry to tillage; she sells lamb direct and cold-presses her own rapeseed.
In Tipperary, a former project manager has returned to her hometown to start a hive sharing farm that connects people to food production. We visited to hear more …
Some 20 years ago the idea that candles, and in particular the fragranced kind, would be a booming business was laughed at, quite loudly by some. Modernity poopoohed the idea that a light source that is as old as time itself would become a fashion item.
