We are Good-Life Farming, known individually as Karen (that’s me), my husband Donald, daughters Hannah and Ailidh and of course, Dad Jim. We are a family run business based in Perthshire.
Good-Life Farming started as an idea, pitched from Donald to my dad and I in 2013. The idea was to buy in Dairy Bull Calves and rear them to prevent them being shot.
Donald was born and brought up on a dairy farm, still milking cows now. He has always been interested in calves and fully disagrees that the bull calves serve no purpose to dairy farmers.
After much research we found there were surprisingly few producers of Rose Veal, so in December 2013, we attended our first farmers market to sell ethically reared, grass-fed Rose Veal from dairy bull calves.
My background is in hospitality and retail, so going to the market and speaking to potential customers came naturally to me, and Good-Life Farming has now grown into what you see today.
What I haven’t told you is this business idea came to fruition whilst I was pregnant with our first-born daughter Hannah. Hannah was born in early 2014. While some people put money in piggy banks for their kids, we decided to put money into pigs, for her when she was born, and bought her a sow and piglets. We then had fresh pork to sell at markets and an investment in the future for Hannah.
Ailidh was born in 2017. So as not to be different to her sister, we bought Ailidh Shetland Sheep direct from Shetland as an investment for her.
Fast forward slightly and we were faced with a problem. Certain cuts of meat proved extremely popular but other less known cuts ended up frozen. It was time for us to look at ways to ensure we didn’t have food waste. We did our research into making charcuterie using the rest of the meat. This ensures zero waste. Having looked at the prospect of outsourcing the charcuterie making we were conscious of food miles. So, in spring of 2019, we set up a curing base at Lower Friarton, in Perth, which has ended up being the hub of production for Good-Life Farming.
We started out making Biltong, Chorizo and Salami, and have now expanded into a wide range of charcuterie products, including Bresaola, Soppressata and Firecracker. We are now curing our own pork to make traditional Dry Cured Bacon and Smoked Bacons.
We sell products that the whole family have been involved in nurturing throughout every step of the process, and we couldn’t be prouder of how far we have come as a family business.