The woman behind Ballerina Farm, Hannah Neeleman, goes her own way

Like many exhausted home cooks, Hannah Neeleman suddenly realized she had forgotten the last step of her recipe just as she was about to serve it. It was a sunny November afternoon in Kamas, Utah, and she was cooking a pot full of stroganoff, made with beef and yogurt from the cattle ruminating in the barn next door.

“I didn’t add the mustard and Worcestershire sauce,” the condiments that make the creamy dish pop, she said. She stumbled into the pantry and came out with a jar in each hand: homemade versions of both.

It’s not exactly difficult to make your own mustard or Worcestershire mustard, but who would bother? It’s exactly this kind of self-sufficient, entirely new move that fills Ms. Neeleman’s audience with both admiration and irritation. It’s a mix that made her – and her Ballerina Farm – very famous very quickly.

The name, inspired by her teenage years as a Juilliard-trained dancer, refers to the 328-acre ranch, dairy and family where she and her husband Daniel live with their eight children, ages 1 to 12. But “Ballerina Farm.” is also Ms. Neeleman’s wildly popular social media personality, with nearly 22 million followers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube – far more than the combined reach of longtime domestic goddesses Ina Garten. Martha Stewart, Joanna Gaines and Tieghan Gerard.

“I love watching what she does, but sometimes it drives me crazy that she makes it look so easy,” said Carly Weber, an elementary school teacher in Bloomington, Indiana. “I have two kids, I can barely cook one thing most days, and there she looks perfect and teaches herself to make mozzarella.”