‘IF I told my 25-year-old self that I’d be producing artisan ice-cream using the milk from our cows I wouldn’t have believed it, not to mind my 15-year-old self.’

BY EMMA CONNOLLY

So said Aidan Ryan, who along with his sister Megan has launched Ryan’s Farm Artisan Ice Cream, from their home in Ballinascarthy.

It’s something that Aidan, who dropped out of school when he was 15, at one stage couldn’t have envisaged.

‘I suffered badly from depression and anxiety when I was younger. I’d have felt very down, would have struggled to get out of bed and had no interest in anything, not even football or hurling which I’d have loved,’ Aidan (29) remembers.

‘I’m also dyslexic and felt like a bit of an outcast. It was a different time when people didn’t really talk about things like that and when people starting saying I was useless and lazy I started to believe it.’

He hated every second of school, except for practical subjects like Ag Science, and ultimately dropped out and went farming with his father Michael and older brother Eamon.

‘The plan was for Eamon to take over the farm and there wasn’t room for all of us to make a living from it, as much as I enjoyed it. I ended up going back to do my Leaving Cert and did a course in Bio-processing and now I’m working in a local pharmaceutical company,’ he said.

All the time though, for at least the past 10 years, Aidan had a dream at the back of his mind, to use the farm’s milk to produce bottled milk, cheese … or ice cream.

‘At the start I didn’t have the time, the know-how, the money or the courage,’ he admits.

‘Eamonn, a fourth-generation farmer, took over from dad around 12 years ago. Dad had a pedigree Friesian herd and Eamonn cross bred for fertility and milk solids with mainly Fleckvieh and Montbéliarde with one or two jerseys thrown in there as well; and in 2018 we won a Milk Quality Award with Bandon Co-op.’

All of that instilled a sense of confidence in Aidan, who after working for years had also built some capital.

So around four years ago I started thinking about it more seriously and settled on the idea of producing ice cream.

I bought a machine from lads in Waterford who were doing what I had in mind.

They also told me about this book which explained how to make ice cream, which I got online and along with Meg we just went step by step from there,’ he said.

He set up the machine in his father’s good room which where they made their first batch: ‘I had a generator outside the window and hoses running throughout the house to supply water! It was a bit chaotic looking back on it!

‘We decided to go with a custard base ice cream, which is a French style, and while it would have been way easier to use additives, syrups and powders we wanted the product to be wholesome, or else not do it at all,’ said Aidan.

Everything took time especially as the siblings were working off-farm.

The next step saw Megan (27) who studied nutritional health science and Aidan invest in a shipping container, which they call ‘The Cabin’ and kit it out for production.

‘At that stage we had invested around €100,000 before finalising the recipe or knowing if we’d ever sell a tub of ice cream so there were a few sleepless nights alright!,’ said Aidan.

Last year they were cleared for production by the Department of Agriculture and since then it’s been all systems go!

Their ice cream flavours include vanilla, mint chocolate chip and salted caramel brownie which they developed along with Anna O’Leary of The Flour Patch in Castlefreke.

Anna sells her baked produce from a shed built out of her childhood playhouse at the end of the lane at a farm.

This type of local collaboration is important to the Ryan siblings – salt they use is from West Cork Salt made near Clon, and chocolate is supplied to them by The Hungry Crow, also in Clonakilty.

‘It’s about using the best of what West Cork has to offer,’ said Megan The siblings started selling at agricultural shows last summer, and are also stocked in a local shop in Ballinascarthy and in Clonakilty Cinema.

‘We also have a vintage style ice cream trike and were at our first wedding in Dunmore House Hotel recently giving guests ice cream cones, with more booked in which is really exciting,’ said Aidan.

Their goal is to maintain quality and they’re honest that going full time with the business is still a long way off.

‘Our plan is to grow the business naturally, have a direct source to market and build local suppliers.

Hopefully other people can take some inspiration from what we’re doing. I’m proof that there’s lots of different option open to you and that it doesn’t have to be a straight line from school to college.

‘This also shows that hard work pays off, but you must really want it, and if you really want it, you can make it happen.

And the most important thing of all is that we’ve been able to give our father back his living room!’

See @ryans_farm_icecream on Instagram