 In the northwest there's a farmer called Shannon Porter who has been nominated for the Innovation Award for Women Farmers 2023. It's actually a competition that was developed to shine a light on the hundreds of innovative projects that are carried out every year all over Europe by women farmers. And this will particularly showcase solutions that are being implemented by women to support sustainability. And Shannon's story started in a way in 2021 when she started up her own business on her family farm which is between Newton and St. Johnston. It's called the Milk Bar. You may have seen the signs dotted around the road and directed towards the Milk Bar. Well it is completely self-service and I'm delighted that Shannon now is joining us in the studio to tell us more. First of all Shannon I welcome to the show and congratulations on being nominated for the award. It's great. Thank you very much John. It's great to be in here today to talk to you. Yeah the last time we talked it was during COVID wasn't it? During COVID just before we opened up I think we were on the show probably the week before we opened up in September. So things have moved on a good bit since then. Yep a lot. Yeah I suppose when you're looking back and you condense it all you know you realise the things that have changed and that you've developed and the strides that have been made. Anyway let's talk a little bit about this award you're nominated for and let's also just talk about it. I suppose what you do there you supply milk locally but there's a lot more to it. Yeah so we obviously have our milk vending machine there on the home farm so I've all my local community and the locals come and get their weekly supply of milk. What's different about your milk? My milk's not homogenised or not standardised so like the fat gullibles is not there's simply there's nothing taken away, nothing added. Is it so-called raw milk? It's not raw milk because it's pasteurised just to make it safe for human consumption but there's nothing added, nothing taken away so back to the old days where you have the cream on the top you'll have that and a lot of people maybe who are lactose intolerant now I have no scientific evidence but people who have been lactose intolerant have tried my milk and I've had no effect on them. So it's great if you are lactose intolerant to try it out. It's a strange one. It's strange but I think it's because it doesn't go through the processes that there's nothing added, nothing taken away it's just simply pasteurised for a short period of time just to make it safe. So it's worth trying. It's worth trying. Definitely. Alright you see I'll be the opposite the cream forming on the top it was just one of them things that I grew up and and didn't like it for most people or for a lot of people it's they welcome it. Yes but the thing is you literally just give it a good check in the morning before you pour it out and that is it. It's just a shake back in through it all. Yeah and it's it's easier to froth as well if it's been used in coffee making. Yeah so I've got a since I've started open I've had a lot of coffee shops that came on board and they noticed massive difference of being able to froth and their coffee tastes is so much nicer and then I suppose we're becoming more sustainable so we're using glass bottles we're using milk churns so there's no plastic waste so that's where all these lovely businesses coming on board are loving that because everybody's wanting to become more sustainable now. Absolutely. Yeah so glass bottles and then presumably you get them back and you really re-use them. Use them and refill them and that my milk vending machine person buys their bottle once that's their bottle to keep and they just keep coming back with that bottle clean and refilled. Yeah again sustainable. Alright aren't you supply you mentioned cafes so you supply local businesses as well. Yeah yeah I've few places I've letterkinny or in letterkinny of Saunders of Balbofeve called Creamery I have three in Derry I have nine hostages Rosta Yum Yum Kicks and then I supplied to local coffee our farm shops like Belly Holy Farm as well and businesses growing I have a lot more coming on board now so I'm looking forward to it. Expanding. Yeah expanding every day yeah. And you also do flavored milks. Yes so basically you can get your customers can add different flavors so usually banana strawberry chocolate and vanilla on board and then I changed up every week every Friday roughly put two new specials out so like specials so like Easter had cream egg flavor and so on. How do you get a cream egg flavor into milk? It has to be tricky. You just buy these products. Sounds delicious. You're not giving away the secret. Yeah that's it. You've been a finalist in the blast in the hair and that's the competition for food here in Ireland and you've been a runner-up in the food Coast Onigal Enterprise Awards so you know you're no stranger to awards how did this one come about? I literally just got an email one Monday morning that I was being nominated IFA organization there they nominated me so it's just a shock through an email I couldn't believe it never knew of it and brilliant yeah it's fantastic it's great to be recognized to be nominated for it. Yeah absolutely so and what would you say to a young woman who are thinking about going into farming or more importantly I suppose women who are growing up on a farm and wouldn't even think about going into it as a career what would you say to them? I mean you're you're well down the road now so well see I've all I've from a young age I've grown up and I've always interested in farming I've always wanted to be in the farming industry no matter what and you were always encouraged? Yes I was encouraged too yes I've supported parents behind me and I've always encouraged me you know but you're the only two brothers yeah yeah and I'm the oldest girl and the two boys are obsessed with farming too all three of us are. I went off to Harbour Adams University over in England and studied five years of agriculture. Why over there? What's your unique about the uni? It's one of the top unis farming universities it's great recognition of getting jobs after it I went out over there for a few times to look at the campus for opening days and I just fell in love with the place and I just had my heart was set on it. And what sort of an experience was that? Oh fantastic you could out party life. I had a year out as well I got to work with two great businesses like Landerries and Premier Attrition so having a full year work experience is really really good so you're really fit in the door in the place and during my summer holidays too I went off to New Zealand for three months. So you've gathered up quite a bit of experience? Yeah and by time over there like I was always sorry your English friends they always went home with the weekends whilst Irish ones were always stuck over there by ourselves so the weekends we milked cows just to gather up a bit of money so were you were you real tortured then when you came back and you were going dad no no dad there's no there's a different way to do that but he loves that because he like we are the young generation coming ahead and he does take us on a board there's new technology out there he does eventually eventually but he does realise new technologies out there and you do have to improve to make a better sustainable farm. Yeah absolutely so yeah it's all going on selling the milk providing the milk to you know local cafes and businesses and also there there's the flavoured milk and now that the sun is out ice cream. Yeah so I'm working along with little mamas up in Donegal town so basically John has taken my milk and he's making ice cream out of my milk for me so that's my product and so that's sort of the next stage we're probably going into wholesale selling us on to other places. So he uses ice cream he sells ice cream and you're also selling ice cream from your shop. He's just making it for me he might have made his own for his own place but down the road you never know he might. Okay great and well the weather is good not just for ice cream sales but you know good for farmers as well as well I mean it must be a godsend. Oh definitely it makes life so much easier for us farmers too to get cows out full-time less feeding around the yard and everything and all that good weather you're busy doing other jobs as well of getting grass ready fertilizer out ready for silage the whole shebang so busy busy. You need a good spell and you know you've waited long enough for it like everybody else and reduces the cost of it as well. Oh 100% keeping the animals in. Okay well you know you're you're thriving in a let's face it a very male dominated industry and I'm sure you know from time to time you come up against obstacles and you know attitudes but thriving. Yeah problems not you face problems everywhere you go like but you just have to put your foot down and keep going and be an independent woman and keep going. Yeah absolutely. Yeah and when you were at uni was it was it was it was a lot of fellows? No you'd be surprised I was nearly 60% of ladies my class. Wow. Yeah so there's more ladies in my course studying agriculture than there was men. Brilliant. Yeah. Okay well listen good look here for the future obviously with the milk bar but also in this award we will keep an eye out to see how it goes not all about awards obviously but it's just nice to get recognition. Exactly and it's a great pleasure to be and thank you very much appreciate it. Not at all not at all and have you a website or can people find out how you Facebook and Instagram so it's the milk bar 2021 and if you're weekly updates of everything going on on it so yeah. And just to give people an idea as well as to where you're located because I did mention the science I've seen the science myself you know which is the people are. Yeah I am in the countryside I am. It's okay for locals because they know exactly where you are but you know for people might be you or they might have heard it all and go lactose intolerant oh yeah I'll try that. Yeah no like I have school trips and I'll come out too as well like so it's great to get them out but I am out in the countryside but the reason why I wanted out in the countryside was for people to realize where the products coming from and then having the opportunity to do school trips getting to bring the kids out showing them the whole cycle of where calves are born to where the product actually comes from which is great because the kids nowadays don't know where the product is coming from where milk's coming from so. No you might think living in Donegal of course you know and they'll have seen it and they'll have had some experience but no not at all and even like having ag science like leaving their students out you know they learn from the textbook full time but I'm not a learner a book a person to read from the book but visually learn and getting to see exactly everything helps them to study better so I'm situated between Newton and St Johnson and Carrigan's about three kilometers in between the wall all right probably easiest way sometimes people would just go from Carrigan's where CCCP is and you'll see the signs from there follow the signs follow the signs okay well you know what I'm with you realize they're not you are a trendsetter when it comes to women in farming you know and and increasingly a role model for for girls and for young women thinking of heading into the sector so continue success Shannon Porter from the milk bar thank you thanks John thank you