A new kind of village: Katie Gleeson on farming, fresh food, and Instagram

Katie Gleeson is a mother of three, content creator, and dairy farmer from Clonmore. She runs an Instagram account called Katie in the Country, where she shares photos of her family and life as a dairy farmer.

Katie’s Instagram has 19,500 followers and is full of charming photos of her family, the animals on her farm and the beautiful landscape around them.

“I love having the opportunity to express my own creativity through photography and writing. Along the way, my account has evolved into telling a story, bridging a disconnect that somehow appeared on social media between agriculture and the consumer, which can sometimes get lost in a haze of misinformation. Plus, I love to take pictures of cute cows!” said Katie.

Katie started the page in 2017 after her third child was born. While at home she developed an interest in photography, bought a camera and started taking pictures on her family’s farm. Through her photography, Katie became passionate about showing what life on a farm is all about.

“I love the seasonality of farm life, how in sync it is with the landscape around us. There’s a great sense of satisfaction being involved with something that spans generations past, present and future. Farm life can be intense, especially when you throw a young family into the mix, but it’s a highly rewarding way of life,” 

"Being involved in the farm now has also given me a new appreciation for how much work goes into food production from farm to fork," said Katie.

After the birth of her third child Katie became a stay-at-home mother and she says Instagram is a great way to find communities of other parents.

“It’s having that community online and other moms that you can relate to, and you know it’s like a new kind of village in a sense that you can pass along recipes or share tips or get more information,” said Katie

Now Katie has teamed up with Tesco’s Stronger Starts programme to create an easy cheesy potato and carrot fritters recipe.
Stronger Starts is a collaboration with the Good Grub Initiative to provide 1,000 food parcels for families experiencing food insecurity nationwide.

Through Deis schools, home school community liaison officers will identify families in need of help, and the programme will provide fresh food packages. 

Katie says she became involved with the programme to show others how to cook healthy food simply.

“Like a lot of us 80s/90s babies, the ability to cook was something of a lost art form to me, replaced with hastily prepared ready meals post work. When I became a parent, I rediscovered the joy of cooking with nutritious whole ingredients to feed my family.

"To be able to pass along those tips to someone who may have to be in the same boat as I was is a privilege, and it’s that wonderful aspect of the online village that we have access to as millennial parents,” said Katie.

Katie says the key to getting started with fresh food is simple to start simple.

"I would say start with what you know with ingredients you're familiar with. Keep it simple; you know healthy food doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be full of ingredients, you can barely pronounce or spell," said Katie.

You can follow Katie on Instagram at @katieinthecountry.