Fearing a future tied to a desk job as a research scientist bio-chemist, Jacquie Broadhead, 35, took the decision to buy Middle Wold Farm, Wold Newton, two years ago with the aim of setting up a self-sufficient business producing cheese, cured and smoked meats and hemp oil.

Jacquie said: "I have grown up on a farm and lived on a farm and went off to do research but the higher up you get the more you have to sit at a desk. I love the research but I can't sit at a desk all day so I started looking around for some land.

"I was looking around for ages, but they are all big farmers around here and they don't like to sell up. What I have here is far more than I expected, I wanted about 40 acres but I have ended up with 110," she added.

After much searching, Jacquie is now the proud owner of a stretch of woodland, 70 acres of arable land and 30 acres of grass land which gives her herd of 21 rare breed Shetland cows plenty of space to roam.
Trading under the banner Epicure's Larder, Jacquie now produces a range of soft, hard and blue cheeses single-handedly after converting the back of an old wagon into a milking parlour complete with a portable milker.

Rare breeds are the order of the day when it comes to Jacquie's plan to set up a business that she hopes will eventually become her full-time job.

"I decided to use rare breeds because as a bio-chemist I recognise the importance of genetic diversity and I wanted to have a low impact system. If you work with commercial breeds it's a high impact system.

"It's also bleak up here in the winter so the animals need to be hardy and the milk is a lot different to what you get from commercial breeds."
Jacquie is able to produce richer, creamier cheese while the whey, a by-product of the process, feeds her rare Tamworth pigs, something which she believes could be the secret to her success in the cured and smoked meats trade.

"I have just had my first two pigs slaughtered and I have sold some of that meat which has a lot more fat on it and a bit more flavour than conventional pork and it's the same with my beef cattle. I'm hoping to expand that as I go along."

Jacquie also keeps sheep which graze on the land in what she refers to as a tidying up job after the cows have had their turn.

But it's not just all about the animals, Jacquie also grows hemp to be made into oil for a variety of purposes, something which springs from her background in bio-chemistry.

"Hemp is very good for Omega three and is a lot better for you than olive oil if you look at the nutritional side of things. I work with hemp all the time in my research so I'm pretty good on the agronomy side of things too."

The whole farm is currently powered by a generator and small wind turbine as part of Jacquie's bid to build a sustainable system.
"The aim is to make my own bio-diesel by growing oil seed rape which will then power the generator. I'm hoping to get a bigger wind turbine and some solar panels," she added.

Epicure's Larder produce can be bought at local farmers markets, including Driffield Farmers' Market, and farm shops.

Driffield Times readers can contact Jacquie Broadhead by telephone on 07769 819603 or email jaqs@epicureslarder.co.uk

sara.beach@yrnltd.co.uk