Episode 4

The three families have been living and working as farmers for almost a month, and they have seen how most food comes from large-scale producers and how some farmers are bucking the trend and taking back control of the food chain. Now, as summer on the hill farm draws to an end, the families put everything they have learned to the test. A sheepdog trial finds out what kind of bonds the aspiring shepherds have forged with their dogs, and if they can work them like any farmer would.

It is time to think of preparing the farm for winter - to plough the fields and return the flock to the mountain, but have the families become farmers? The biggest test comes in having to choose two of their pedigree pigs to be sent to slaughter, and it is a tough reality check for the vegetarian and vegan farming apprentices. It is also harvest time, and the fruits of their labours are ripe for the picking in the skills they have honed and the food they can produce. Can the families now answer the biggest question of all: will any of them take up farming full-time?