Hannah Neeleman, the social media influencer and driving force behind the “Ballerina Farm” lifestyle brand, is temporarily leaving Utah with her family for Ireland.
Neeleman announced on the Instagram account for Ballerina Farm that herself, her husband, Daniel, their eight children and her mom have uprooted so Hannah and Daniel can attend a culinary school in Ireland.
“There has been a lot of packing and a lot of organizing to keep things running at the farm while we’re away,” Neeleman said on an Instagram video posted Jan. 7.
The family left their Kamas farm and business to fly from Salt Lake City to New York, then to London, and then to Ireland, she said on the video. Part of the trip was on JetBlue, the airline founded by Daniel’s father, David Neeleman.
“The kids did surprisingly well, considering how long it took to get to our destination,” Neeleman said on the video. When they arrived at the Irish home where they are staying, she said they were welcomed with “warm tea and some spotted dog bread” — a type of Irish soda bread with raisins.
The Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork, in southern Ireland, offers an immersive 12-week program “designed for anybody with a passion for food, from those who wish to pursue a professional culinary career to enthusiasts who would like to cook with confidence in their own homes,” according to the school’s website. Tuition for the next scheduled course, to begin in April, is 15,495 euros, or roughly $15,900.
In the first week of classes, according to a video Neeleman posted Friday, she has made raspberry preserves, a quiche and other dishes.
Both Hannah and Daniel are enrolled in the course. Hannah’s mom is along for the trip, she said, to help watch the children while the parents are in class.
Neeleman has become famous, with an Instagram following of about 10 million, for her posts showing her life as a chef, farmer, gardener and entrepreneur on the family’s Kamas spread. According to a New York Times profile published in December, she has “built Ballerina Farm into a thriving food and housewares brand, a wellness and nutrition hub, a model for small farming and a showcase for her [Latter-day Saint] faith.”
The Ireland school is located on a 100-acre organic farm, the website said, which produces the ingredients the students use in the kitchen. The school’s “ultimate message,” the website says, “is the importance of putting time and effort into sourcing the highest-quality ingredients.”
