My Cheesemaking Travels, Isle of Mull 2014 3/3
So, here I am at the end of my summer on Mull. It feels sad that it’s about to be over but as I sit in my car at Craignure watching the tide go out under yet another grey and rainy sky I know it’s time to go home.
I think it’s also time to tell you a little about the Reade’s story. Jeff and Christine Reade moved to the ruin that was Sgriob-ruadh farm about 35 years ago. They upped sticks from their dairy farm in Somerset which was struggling to make money and took their four teenage sons to set up a new life on the Isle of Mull. With no other dairy farms on the island competition was guaranteed to be scarce so they decided to exploit that niche and try and make a living. With poor quality land and all the challenges that island life brings never mind the burden of dairying, it was a decision that another business was highly unlikely to make.
The boys were the first to arrive. Jeff and Christine tied up the loose ends in England while Brendan, Matthew, Garth and Joe (aged between 11 and 18) took the plunge and started their new life alone on the island. The older boys made sure the youngest, Joe, got to school while they started work rebuilding the farm. Brendan tells stories of sleeping and doing homework in the bracken while living on a diet of pancakes because all they had to eat was milk and flour. There was no money for meat or other luxuries they would have liked for years.
Today they all still live on Mull and have families and successful businesses based here. Brendan is running the cheese side of the business, Garth is in charge of the farm, Matthew is an artist and has his own hotel, café and gallery and Joe has his own successful biscuit factory (their white chocolate and lemon biscuits are incredible: https://www.islandbakery.scot/). Their individual and collective achievements tell an incredible story and I wish I understood more of what sits behind it. It is surprising to me that four teenage boys would choose to follow their parents to live on an island in another country hundreds of miles away from home. And even more so that they would choose to stay and help them build that new life. I wonder why they stayed and whether they felt they had to. Something has bound that family tightly together and it is tricky from the outside to see what it is. The next generation, Brendan and Sheila’s children in particular, seem very chilled out and un-pressured by their parents. The business also seems to be in a lull of waiting to see if Jeff and Chris’s grandchildren will want to take on the mantle of the family business. I’m not sure if the older generation felt they had that choice.
I also wonder if it’s that streak of determination and independence which means they go it alone and are wary about sharing and letting new people in. I found it difficult to get Garth or Brendan to open up about their business which is frustrating but just seems to be their way. To give them credit I also think it’s partly modesty, they don’t seem to celebrate the significance of what they’ve done and appear surprised by someone else’s interest in it. The disappointing bit is I’m not sure where the passion for cheesemaking has gone. Brendan has done incredible work setting up renewable energy projects that power the whole farm and is clearly excited about his latest project; a gyrocopter, but doesn’t seem that fussed about the amazing thing happening right under his nose, the cheese.
High Point I have bought a Mull jumper! This combined with my beautiful, turquoise Mull crockery (I may have bought another couple of bowls) and Mull soaps and candles makes me feel like I will get to take a bit of Mull home with me.
Low Point Making 180 Flavells in the creamery one morning. There is nothing more to say than I actually thought I had lost my mind and it wasn’t even in a good cause.
So, my month on Mull is over. Soft skin on my hands is beginning to grow back, the scratches and bruises have healed, the smells have faded and although I’m looking forward to settling back into the driving seat of my life I am going to miss it here. I’m already missing the cows.
My summer ‘working holidays’ may sound mad to many but they seem to work for me. I’ve had a month off from the ties of my usual existence and got to try out a whole new life in a beautiful (albeit wet) part of the world. I’ve learnt new things, gained experience and taken another step towards proving myself in this industry. The farming world does not want to let newcomers in. They have worked too hard and for too long to let any old townie through their ranks. I know I’ll never really be legit but at least I’m trying. Making this kind of choice helps distinguish me somehow (in my eyes anyway) and does at least prove I’m willing to put my money (and annual leave) where my mouth is.
Signing off as part time Cheesemaker and Milker for another summer.
Emma
