Wark Farm Pies were born out of a fire.
In August 2018 disaster struck the beautiful Wark Farm. A huge fire, destroying the onsite butchery and experience/workshop space brought the entire farm, Laurel’s lifework, to the edge of its existence. People from everywhere offered help, but while Laurel and her partner sat among the ruins, they realized that ultimately it was up to them to get the farm back onto its feet.
It was a hectic time, with stress pushing the edges of human bearability. Despite – or maybe just because of- all this turmoil, Laurel and her partner found themselves spending hours talking about the future of the farm. With all the destruction, shards and splinters around them, they looked at the bare bones of the farm and thought about how to bring it back together.
They looked at their pies, they looked at the people buying their pies and they looked at themselves. To their surprise, they recognised something of themselves in their pies. Their pies were unpolished, not pretending to be perfect, but they were real, natural and people liked them for it. They were something utterly important, something very high on their own value list: authentic. Laurel and her partner realized that their pies deserved to be shared with the wider world and along with it, they’d share a piece of the wild beauty of the farm that inspired them so much.
The imperfect, but oh so tasty pies, made with the attention and love only found with craft work, remind people of a world where everything isn’t uniform and wrapped in plastic, of a more untamed way of being and they make people smile.
Laurel and her partner’s love for the farm, for Scotland, for wildness and for satisfying food done well can be tasted in each and every pie.
The fire may not have been the original birth of the pies. But it certainly was the formation of their soul and heart.
