(Extract from Sharon Ní Chonchúir‘s article We ditched our desk jobs to spend more time in nature — here’s why in the Irish Examiner 6 September.
Tom Butler of Ballin Temple, Nurney, Co Carlow: ‘I’ve paid a financial price, but I’m a nature guy.’ Picture: Michael O’Rourke
Tom Butler from Ballin Temple in Carlow describes himself as a “finance guy who was a rebellious hippie in disguise”.
In 1998, he walked away from a career as a venture capitalist in South-East Asia to become a smallholder.
“I had thought venture capitalism would allow me to influence businesses to grow in ways that would be good for them and the communities that surround them,” says Butler.
One day, while looking down from his penthouse suite onto a building site where workers were living in tin shacks, Butler realised it hadn’t worked out like he had planned.
I found myself asking why I was all the way up there while they were working so hard for so little. Surely there was a more equitable alternative?
His father’s family owned land in Ballin Temple and Butler and his wife Pam moved there to see if another way of life was possible. Since then, they have experimented with different ways of living off the land. They farm organically, manage holiday cottages, and teach courses based on what they have learned about topics such as growing food, making hay, and living closer to nature.
“We also share techniques and experiences via books, articles and our websites ballintemple.com and astraea.net,” says Butler. “Everything we do is based on trying to get people to reconnect with nature and community to live a more meaningful life.”
He is glad he changed the course of his life all those years ago.
“I’ve paid a financial price, but I’m a nature guy,” he says. “Breathing clean air, eating my own food, and being outdoors mean more to me than money.”
He believes we can all cultivate a deeper connection with the natural world.
“I know people have to pay the rent and can’t upend their lives like I did. But simple things like having plants in your house and workplace, especially plants you can eat, make you feel more at one with the earth.”
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