Holistic healing

Interview: Clodagh McKenna, life on a sustainable farm

Chef, TV presenter and food writer Clodagh McKenna tells us about life on her little sustainable farm

The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is a guided meditation in bed before I start the day. It’s usually a 10-minute one on the Calm app. After that I make myself a coffee. Then I get the chickens and ducks sorted, before doing some cardio exercise on my Peloton. After that I go to the garden to cool down and I pick some vegetables to make two pints of green vegetable juice – I’m religious about my morning juice. Even when we [Clodagh and her husband Harry] are away I’ll research where we can get good quality juices, and if there’s nowhere, I’ll actually pack my blender. It’s such a fuel – because no matter what happens throughout the day, if I don’t get to have a salad or green vegetables, I know that I’ve already had a lot of goodness.

I work a lot and do very physical work at our little farm so I need to keep my strength up throughout the day and my green juice really helps. After I’ve had that in the mornings I have a cold shower, which I used to dread. Probably for the first year I used to dread it! But now I love it and find it hard to take a hot shower these days.

When we moved to Broadspear there was barely a plant growing apart from a few apple trees, as the property had been neglected for about 100 years. It’s taken four years to turn it into the small sustainable farm it is now. It’s got its own eco cycle with the bees pollinating, and composting. Our vegetables have really taken off and the orchard is maturing and it’s a really exciting place to be at the moment. I walk outside and can smell the clean air. The soil is becoming better all the time, which is something I’m most proud of. We had this awful asbestos building taken down. Afterwards the soil there was terrible; like glue. I used lots of sustainable mushroom compost from a local company and it took a year to replenish it. Soil is so important.

I get up early in the mornings. I think it’s a big part of looking after yourself – trying to sleep when the sun is down and be up when the sun is up. So we usually go to bed at about 8.30pm and read a book or listen to a podcast or something, and asleep by 9.30pm at the latest. Then we’re usually up at 5.30 or 6am. I used to set an alarm but now I wake automatically – I haven’t slept in for about four or five years.

I love mornings, always have done. Everything happens early here at Broadspear so someone has to be up at the crack of dawn. Luckily both myself and my husband have got into this routine together. And it’s our time together – we have two or three hours to ourselves before the day begins.

People often say they don’t have enough time, but you can readjust your time. Or readjust what you want out of life and what you feel like you’re missing. You don’t need time for things like television. I watch a movie about once a week and I enjoy documentaries about the environment. Kiss the Ground [kissthegroundmovie.com] is an incredible documentary about soil and climate change and what we can do to help – it’s really informative.

I’ve lived in New York, London and cities in France and Italy, but I grew up in the countryside. I used to be one of those people who loved the culture of big cities but now I’ve lived in the country I could never go back to the city full time. You get so used to the sounds of the country compared to the noise of the city. I notice the difference in the air, and I just love having a farm.

What are my favourite things to eat? I love greens – salad leaves, spinach, kale… also courgette flowers stuffed with ricotta and our own honey on the side is so good! I also like to make a garden herb dip with fresh rocket, feta, lemon, olive oil and nuts. And one of my favourite recipes at the moment is my lemon and strawberry swirl cheesecake.