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Our Farm A Giy Story S01E03
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00:07mmm life's good as a fruit grower
00:13that's the second time that's happened
00:20the vegetables don't plant themselves out here on the farm it takes a dedicated crew to keep
00:26things growing so meet the real workers Gary and Anya now Gary might look right at home in the soil
00:33but this wasn't always the case yeah six months ago I had a pensionable job for like good money
00:39everything was nice and secure and I just said Asher why not so you do that by suppose when you
00:44get a bit older you just kind of go like why not do that just take us six months out
00:48at least or
00:49maybe more so we end up coming and you know I'm working with nature working with your hands I
00:54think I was mentally born in a hot country though like the polytunnel my role in Curranmore I'm an
01:02intern so I'm basically do what I'm told to do which is the simple way I put in the book
01:07it's a
01:08great team and it's a very honest kind of team as well like there's no errors or graces with it
01:13you
01:13just get on with it like you know which is beautiful so I'm actually I feel blessed to
01:16be working with a lot of them to be honest so happy out with them yeah couldn't be better I
01:22would say
01:22the old me looking at me now would be very proud of me to be honest I'd say because the
01:28jump to go
01:29from what I've done to to this is actually huge like when you think about it no I'm enjoying my
01:40internship I have officially three months left but I'm I'm quite happy here for three months and
01:45who knows after that like yeah don't want it to end yet anyway like you know maybe when the rains
01:50fall
01:51or the snow falls it could change then like but uh so far um yeah keep it going the way
01:57it is happy
01:57out when you see the veg boxes you could have x amount of veg boxes going out and you know
02:02they're
02:02going to a family of I don't know a couple with kids and that and they're eating such healthy food
02:07it's just like it's just that that's the sense of achievement that's kind of there as well like
02:12you know you're just spreading something good you're doing something good like and I got to grow it
02:16had the team of three or four of us here and we've grew the whole lot and fed hundreds and
02:21hundreds of
02:21people like amazing and next up in the growing team it's Anya and she too used to have a completely
02:30different career proof that it's never too late to try something new for 25 years I worked with
02:36horses and in the equine industry from racing yards to show jumping and mares and foals I was the
02:44assistant gardener and in Cormor house for two years for Lord and Lady Watford and I also took care
02:50of the care of some of their horses this is my first role as growing vegetables like so I'm look
02:57I'm
02:58learning day to day and I'm kind of embracing the whole journey of here like so yeah but it's it's
03:04a great interest and like I couldn't be in a better place for me personally anyway like me being autistic
03:11this is just super environment for me because like Colm is amazing and Gary we've got on really well and
03:17Richard of course when he's not off high flying when movie making for them but yeah I love it a
03:23small
03:24groups it's quiet everyone gets on and and we all just pitch in and we have the laugh and the
03:29crack
03:29the wall garden it's just it's so vast the space and like what we're growing it's just there even
03:36we could do it more room do you know what I mean but it's super the way everything grows and
03:41the land
03:42is so rich like in vertile it's brilliant the hardest part is keeping on top of the weeds to be
03:48honest with
03:48you as you can know what weeds you're saying but uh but yeah look it's all part of it they
03:53just grow
03:54and grow and grow and of course when the weather is sunny and warm they love it like and they
03:59just
03:59appear but when I feel comfortable in an environment and the people I'm around I can be myself and I
04:07can let that guard down and then really just embrace the whole environment and the journey then
04:21it's early May on the farm and the Sun is splitting the stones down in Waterford it's great weather for
04:27sunbathing but not so great for some of the vegetables that have recently gone into the ground with no rain
04:33on the horizon and pheasants on the loose Richard is out checking the crops to see what's thriving and
04:38what's struggling strawberries are flowering that unfortunately the very dry hot weather means that
04:48the quite a few misses with ones that haven't taken
04:59presents they make life twice as hard as it should be here I shouldn't have to net strawberries until the
05:07fruits are formed and you can just leave the bees to come in and out there he is sitting on
05:11the net
05:12waiting for me probably to take it off so they can feast on strawberries oh well I'm gonna have
05:19to learn how to cope with pollination and pheasants but every year is a learning year next Richard is
05:25looking at the onions who if you remember had an early visit from rabbits when they first went in
05:30so let's see if the crop has bounced back see the rabbit damage there and they're sending out new
05:36leaves and going through which is fantastic looking good hopefully we'll get a nice crop of onions
05:41so I'll cover them over just to keep the rabbits and pheasants off them and leave them to it
05:49while out in the field the radishes and salad leaves are hanging in there though the heat is
05:54starting to crank up but for now Richard seems happy with what he sees maybe a quick taste test is
06:00required to confirm lovely radishes there I give my gardeners wash apparently a small amount of soil good
06:07for you mmm delicious they go well in the boxes the only worrying trend now is that with no sign
06:19of
06:19rain will some of the seeded crops survive the hot weather they've already lost a sowing of carrots and
06:25right now it's not looking good for the second sowing you see the top inch or two there is bone
06:32dry and
06:34that is where your seeds are going to live and it's very hard to get seeds to germinate particularly fine
06:42seed like carrot and you can see here the deeper down there's lots of moisture so for transplanted crops
06:52that's fine they'll grow into that and they'll mine the soil as the roots are growing we've got a month
06:58or so but for the seeds they need it now what's the solution the only way really to get the
07:06seeds
07:06germinating is irrigation if we don't get any rain the next week or two we won't be able to manage
07:11with
07:12our salad sowings and our carrot sowings really give us a poor range of produce and unfortunately that's
07:21expensive if you're going to buy something that can scale up and be part of an irrigation program
07:26here then we're talking to quite a bit of money and if you buy cheap stuff then it's no use
07:31for future
07:31years so have to have a conversation with make if there's no money in the kitty then we just have
07:36to scrub carrots and possibly salads from the menu if we do a bit of money for irrigation then we
07:43can keep
07:47that moving after weeks of dry weather and rising temperatures the rain finally arrives on the farm
07:53it's a welcome relief for the crops but also for the growing team who've been doing their very best
07:58to keep everything alive with the ground now getting soaked the pressure eases well at least for now
08:07and look at it now that really is soil that's as moist as can be we've had two weeks of
08:15really good
08:15rain and now that has as much moisture as it can hold I'm a very happy bowler and I think
08:25I'd probably
08:26told Meg that it was brilliant deduction on my part but it's just look it's like betting on the horses
08:32really betting on the Irish weather is not going to make anybody ready
08:37earlier in the series we saw Jen panicking when she first arrived at bloom and nothing was built yet
08:43but after all the setbacks late nights and last minute panics they finally have the garden ready
08:48the plants are in Mick has arrived on site and the GIY team is ready to show what they've been
08:54working on
08:54but is it going to help sell veg boxes is it a brilliant opportunity for veg box probably probably
09:00not like don't tell Jen that because she's already a bit pissed off with me about about that
09:05so I have a plan to maybe to try and increase a few veg box numbers and I'm not sure
09:10if Mick's going to like it
09:12so Jen's idea is Mick heads out and about in search of celebrities to get selfies with
09:17and then convince them to promote the veg boxes on their social channel I mean what could go wrong with
09:23this idea
09:23oh like I'm freaking terrible at this stuff like I'll be slobbering over my words what's the result here
09:29like a picture of me with Donald or Nevin or Rory O'Connell
09:38shameless being the operative word like I actually feel kind of queasy in my stomach
09:43because that's how cringy this is no I'm not good at this at all okay so like I guess this
09:52is my hit list
09:53of famous people because all the famous people are the cooks right waiting waiting waiting waiting
09:59for celebrities to walk past like a doorstep so I'm just going to go over and see can I like
10:05muscle in
10:06here what love needs I need a whole social media campaign I can give you a movie Eurovision song for
10:14now a photo okay photo let's do it we've got Donald anyway in the bag the torture continues for another
10:25little while I think I've spotted Kitty and column from homegrown great show hi guys how's it going
10:35how are you well John long time no see on mission today to doorstep celebrities okay you must keep
10:43looking so I got my people to talk to your people Rory O'Connell is over there so that might
10:54be a bad
10:55one how big is Rory's following on social media wonder mind that be right absolutely even though
11:02I'm slightly embarrassed by how dowdy I look by comparison to you but you probably beat your hair
11:07and make obviously exactly okay yeah I think Dermot Gavin would be cool so it's not all just cooks
11:15chefs sorry but I know did you see I've just had the side eye I know yeah well it was
11:21more aggressive
11:22than side eye but anyway like it was all going very well we were building momentum with Donald and
11:28but Neven is Neven it's like a fucking mystical presence off somewhere in the distance like like
11:34where's Wally but like Neven's the mother load the money shot so Mick heads off Neven is nowhere to be
11:47found or was he look who the crew bumped into it's the elusive Neven better look next time Mick
11:57it's been three weeks since soil expert Mike Walsh visited the farm and today he's back with his lab
12:03assistant Patty to start gathering soil samples never been here before and it's very interesting
12:09to go to just be able to see the soil and take it in we'll bring be bringing it to
12:14the lab to test
12:16so the soil hasn't been touched in 50 years I think Mike say okay so this is it the last
12:23day was a
12:24first visit and it was really just having a look at what we see on the surface so we'll just
12:31get the
12:32heat out get going today is more about taking the samples back and looking at the micro at the biology
12:40in the soil the organic matter and getting into the actual life in the soil we'll do the normal the
12:47standard W pattern for our soil samples and have a look at what they've got here and for sure we'll
12:55be
12:55right down on top of a rock okay that's not a bad core it's nice in uniform all the way
13:05down okay so
13:13it'd be great to see microbial communities what way the chemistry of the soil is so the nutrients the
13:18phosphorus potassium and then do soil textural analysis as well and the organic matter is a big
13:23thing too so then we'll be able to do DNA extractions as well on the soil and we'll look at
13:29microbial
13:30communities which is fascinating for something not touched in 50 years plenty of work ahead of me
13:41it's another busy day on the farm and everyone is working away and Richard has invited Katie from
13:47the marketing team to help with the pigs the primary reason we have the pigs here is to clear
13:52land obviously we will use them as pigs are used for but they're excellent at clearing vegetation I've
14:01never touched a pig before in my life look I'll give it a shot clearly the land without the pigs
14:06would be a lot harder work I don't know about this we're gonna move those pigs onto a bit of
14:13fresh
14:13ground that I'd love to know what's down there I'll have you walking behind why do I have to go
14:19behind
14:20um I guess I'll find it more amusing okay okay and are they strong yeah they they knock me over
14:28yeah
14:29well they could and they can give you the odd nip but they're not they're omnivores no carnivores
14:34you'll be grand come on pig pig pig we're going to some new pastures come on Katie jump over
14:42oh come on big big big big big big big we're losing one behind that big big big come on
14:49he's not
14:50interested drop that one down and like Hansel and Gretel oh it stinks Richard one two three four five six
15:00we got six come on come on oh yeah here we go have a look this is a pig heaven
15:08Richard I'm struggling here so let's take the food out here then okay guys come on come on come on
15:17why aren't they eating my food uh you just haven't got the touch so I've brought the pigs the whole
15:22way
15:23down here and now they're not oh they are eating my food well I've just got it takes to attract
15:28pigs
15:28really hi there we go they're calm down now and we can back the fence up bring the house down
15:34so
15:34this is going to be their new home they're going to be chilling out here for a while yeah have
15:39a look
15:39where they've got that acre to clear they'll be busy pigs don't need the food it's different than
15:50sitting on a laptop all day now it's kind of some real work my hands are extremely dirty my jacket's
15:55dirty and very different what I'm used to but I actually really enjoyed it Richard said their
15:59teeth aren't actually that sharp they just have strong jaws I told her that pigs teeth weren't
16:04very sharp because they can take the odd nip that's actually not true but she believed me anyway and so
16:10she had lots of confidence they weren't going to remove any flesh in case they nipped
16:18from herding pigs to selling produce there's lots of moving parts on this project and meanwhile back
16:24at the GIY shop there's one place for all that hard work in the fields ends up the GIY shop
16:30it's a very
16:31small shop but at the heart of it is Cloda I've taken over into this whole section this was all
16:37completely new we'd never we'd like had a little kind of gift shop but there was no kind of grocer
16:42there
16:42was no larder there was no weighing things there was no anything in this side so it was all new
16:47so
16:48it was great to kind of try and build it up as best we could like Claude is amazing you
16:52know she's she's
16:53brilliant customer service she's so like customers absolutely lover I know about their kids I know
16:58about what they did the weekend I know their favorite color their favorite food what foods they come in
17:03for so it's not just a transaction it's like an actual chat and a service that we do thanks she's
17:10selling veg boxes she's talking to customers she's kind of explaining some of the challenges we have
17:15like the with the hands being locked in and all that you know so she's really good at kind of
17:20telling
17:21that story and that's that's a hugely important part so when we do the veg boxes we do try and
17:31like
17:31there's communication between me here the kitchen and the garden there's no one team that just does
17:36veg boxes we're all kind of involved in it so trying to get the numbers up I think it takes
17:41all of us to kind of be a part of it because if one part of it is lacking you
17:45know the whole thing
17:45is lacking then everything needs to work together in that it's the one thing stopping someone is I
17:51still have to get up on a Saturday maybe they want to stay in the pajamas all day maybe they
17:54have kids
17:54running around they don't have the ability to come in and pick up the box so I think once we
17:59do
17:59deliveries that'll open a lot more availability to customers I think I sell my fair share of veg boxes here
18:05as well it's not just down to the marketing team like a lot of their stuff might be seen online
18:10but
18:11they could be anywhere in the world at least when customers come in here they're going to get a veg
18:15box here and they're going to talk to us here so it's better I think like Claude is like really
18:20really important parts of this team like you know so um we're very lucky to have her it'd be a
18:26big
18:27problem if she wasn't around you know Mick sorry Claude but Mick is already gone he's heading back to
18:35the farm because very early in the series the team were hit with the devastating news of a
18:41nationwide outbreak of bird flu they were forced to keep the hens confined to the hen houses it's
18:47like disastrous news it's been a difficult time for the hens and the team here on the farm but now
18:5412
18:55weeks on there is finally good news it's an exciting day now it's the 10th of May and we'll be
19:04given the
19:04word by the department that we can let the birds out today so the hens will be given their freedom
19:11again which is massively important for healthy happy hens and good quality eggs people have probably seen
19:16the kind of imagery of cows being left out after the winter and they're kicking and they're dancing and
19:21frolicking and that's what I'm expecting or hoping for I think they're going to be delighted to get
19:25out and it's going to be an absolute joy to see it Mick here is probably overexcited about it all
19:32as is
19:33his way right Richard come on just hang on a minute Mick we've got to get the fence secure I'm
19:41going to
19:41escape it on the first day out this is just like my most exciting thing that's happened me in about
19:46six years okay here we go ladies Liberation Day Part Deux it is time for your freedom
19:59Mick come out of the way I think you're scaring them Mick
20:06it's not quite like D-Day landing level of
20:13no that one's trying to get back in yeah it's scared but don't worry moment later and the hens start
20:21to stream out into the field albeit a bit slower than what Mick may have wanted
20:28where does everybody take videos of things they say because this is like social media gold Richard
20:34what these people so sad they want to watch videos of chickens running around grass yeah why didn't
20:40they just get some chickens and look at their own well that's the whole point of social media you live
20:46your life vicariously through other people's lives what sad bastards I think this is just fantastic
20:55content I'm very pleased with this and our all our followers on social are going to be delighted yeah
21:03like it's just such a brilliant ending to a shit situation that we've had to deal with for a couple
21:09of months and like to do it in glorious sunshine today happy hands hopefully amazing eggs again and
21:16all's well that ends well eventually and I was right about how liberated they would be
21:25now that the chickens are out the production team have decided to test another theory this
21:29one is about plant-based nutrients they've arranged for Mick to do a carotenoid scan I genuinely am
21:37really nervous this quick test reveals the presence of carotenoid stored in your skin so in theory if
21:44you eat lots of nutrient-rich vegetables you will have a high carotenoid count but if you don't you
21:49will have a low count there's been a lot of kind of jeopardy in this series but like this is
21:55actually
21:56feels like my entire life's work being exposed to scientific rigor for the first time I this could be
22:03really really really bad like so we're about to see because the carotenoid measure is in fact it's
22:09almost like a lie detector test for the type of nutrients that we're consuming and the type of products
22:13that we're consuming like what if I'm really low I don't think it's the great idea actually I think
22:19it's like just too much pressure for me we're gonna take three scans of the tip of your right index
22:28finger okay each test takes roughly about 10 to 15 seconds each so not too long and what we're
22:34going to get is a score which gives us your average score for your skin crown right it's called average
22:38population Irish population 150 200 so what could go wrong it could be 50 so you just pop your right
22:46index finger in my heart rate is quite escalated as well our second scan is underway this feels quite
22:54high stakes I'm not gonna lie to you I've confidence yeah yeah just pop your finger out again for five
23:00two seconds three two one and we'll do the last one so happy there yes our last scan is underway
23:12tada told ya didn't I tell ya oh my god that's not fast so that that's that's proof that when
23:21you do it
23:21right you get the score that's so I feel like an overwhelming wave of relief I don't mind saying
23:26I'm a bit relieved too yeah so we don't need to retire no we can go go working a fast
23:33food joint
23:33so that's good it doesn't lie you know yeah that's super well done next week on our farm panic is
23:40setting in the veg is growing faster than it's selling and the team scrambled to stop it from
23:45ending up as pig food Mick and Richard clash as the hungry gap hits hard and with the veg box
23:50number
23:51stalling Ali launches a plan B I'm gonna come up with ways to sell it meanwhile the team head to
23:55Kilruddery house for a bit of inspiration while Dermot Gavin drops by to explore the roots of one of
24:01Ireland's most famous gardeners William Robinson Mick's on the phone trying to shift veg any way he can
24:06and just when the pressure peaks Ali delivers good news that could change everything
24:20you
24:24you
24:26you
24:36you
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