When the TikTok account called Ballerina Farm blew up, its fame came with mixed reactions from users. Some loved the idea of the family’s homestead lifestyle on their own farm in Utah. Others were quick to criticize the gender roles in the home and what they believed to be wife and mom Hannah Neeleman’s throwaway dreams to be a “tradwife” and raise eight kids.
Neeleman spoke publicly about studying dance at Julliard. She has always said, however, that she was happy to hang up her ballet flats for an egg apron to take care of her family while her husband works.
As a result, Ballerina Farm shares videos of the Neeleman family doing just that, even with critics in the comment section more often than not. Now that includes a homemade butter video, where one user commented, “This is my nightmare.”
@ballerinna.farmm #ballerinafarm ♬ original sound – Ballerina farm
Ballerina Farm’s homemade butter video is another controversy for the influencer family.
In the video, Neeleman appears to have a difficult time rolling out homemade butter by hand with a textured rolling pin. Her husband, Daniel Neeleman, presumably films her while she pushes down to roll out the homemade butter. Then, the video cuts to Neeleman using a special block to portion out the butter into thick sticks wrapped in parchment or wax paper.
Although the idea of Ballerina Farm is to use the farm to make food and cook from scratch in every possible way, the videos the family shares often spark outrage from other users. The homemade butter one is now included in that, especially after Neeleman spoke to The Sunday Times in a highly publicized interview where she reportedly looked to husband Daniel after some of the questions she was asked.
For the butter video on TikTok, there were plenty of comments that spoke back to controversies that plagued the Neeleman family. One was when Hannah shared in a previous video that she had been hoping for tickets to Greece for a birthday gift but instead received an egg apron.
In reference to this, someone commented on the butter video, “All this money and he dont want to take her to Greece?”
Someone else commented, “She can say she is happy, but she always looks burned out and kinda sad!”
Similarly, another person wrote, “A life living in servitude to so many other people looks exhausting.”
Ballerina Farm sells some of its products.
The homemade butter and work that it takes to make it might be a hard pass for some, but Ballerina Farm does have an online store where you can buy a lot of the things Hannah makes in the TikTok videos. Even though there is no official listing for actual sticks of butter online, the farm does sell sourdough starter and a sourdough kit, fruit and veggie beeswax candles, and a baked goods box, among other things.
It’s hard to say how much in sales the Neeleman family makes with online Ballerina Farm orders. Given the number of critics they seem to have who make themselves known on social media more often than not, it’s hard not to wonder who is buying the sourdough starter and bread bowl knives for sale.
