a day in the life at Ballymaloe Cooking School

Until about the age of 24, I could barely boil water, let alone confidently cook a multi-course meal. As a budding farmer, I knew how to grow some damn good broccoli and carrots and all sorts of vegetables, but knowing how to cook them? I was truly, embarrassingly clueless.

That is, until I attended cooking school at Ballymaloe. It’s an experience that changed everything.

So today, I’m sharing the nitty gritty details (and some hilariously low-quality 2013 iphone photos) from my life-changing time at Ballymaloe, which is something I really haven’t talked about here. In fact, for the next 3 weeks I’m writing a whole series about Ballymaloe, and I’m excited to kick it off today with an in-depth look at a day in the life as a 12-week student.

I’ll be sharing lots about this magical farm on the coast of Ireland in the coming weeks, but here’s the gist: Ballymaloe is a 100-acre organic farm + cooking school on the coast of County Cork, Ireland. The matriarch of the school is Darina Allen (she’s a total legend), and she runs it with her fabulous brother Rory, effervescent daughter-in-law Rachel, and husband Tim – alongside a large and dedicated team of instructors, gardeners, cheesemakers, animal caretakers, etc. Ballymaloe offers all kinds of culinary classes, from afternoon workshops to 1-week or 5-week long courses. But their flagship program is the 12-week course, where students from all over the world come to live on the farm and cook their hearts out for 3 action-packed months. (If you follow Hannah Neeleman of , then you’ll recognize Ballymaloe as the school where she and her husband took the 12-week course this past January).

Coming from a farming background, I was instantly drawn to Ballymaloe’s focus on cooking nourishing food using the freshest ingredients possible. Their whole ethos is simple: when you start with good, seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients – cooking delicious food doesn’t have to be complicated.

As soon as I learned about Ballymaloe, I knew I would figure out a way to get there. So after graduating college, I worked for 3 years co-founding and managing an educational farm for UVA, and I scrimped and saved every penny until I could afford the 12-week course. It was the best decision I ever made, and the best money I’ve ever spent. I can’t wait to tell you more…

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