Life on the Land: Recent Episodes
Graziher
A Graziher podcast telling stories of women who live in rural and regional Australia. Stories from all kinds of women who have lived all kinds of lives from all different walks of life.
In our first season, over eight episodes, join our hosts, Skye Manson and Emily Herbert, as they speak to women from all over Australia.
Hear from farmers, mothers, photographers, business owners, from teachers, nurses and doctors too. Hear from women who have moved to the country and who moved out of the country. Everyday women we all have a story to tell.
Emma-Louise Gibbons is on a mission to reshape Australia’s pet treat market, with her use of insect protein and local Queensland veggies in her treat business, Huds & Toke. And while she’s at it, she’s going to take on the US pet food market too — worth an estimated $57 billion. Born and raised on a beef cattle and cropping property, the winner of the 2023 Queensland AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award says growing up in the bush meant she learned to innovate early.
Ali Paulett speaks like her brain works – at a million miles a minute. The South Australian has a plethora of different degrees and diplomas that has seen her work as a horse-riding instructor, a vet nurse, a medical receptionist, a qualified draftswoman and designer, a wine marketer and now a manager at her family’s Clare Valley winery – Paulett’s Wines. The winner of the 2023 South Australian AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award is working alongside local First Nations elders to preserve their history by using beautiful videography storytelling, which will be displayed throughout the bush tucker garden Ali has built next to the family’s cellar door.
The language around grief can be a conundrum- what to say, how to say it, when to say it? But Michelle Moriarty, the Western Australian winner of the AgriFutures Rural Woman of the Year has dedicated herself to breaking down the barriers. Unfortunately, it took the sudden death of her partner Nathan to spark the project, but it has blossomed into multifaceted widow support networks and resources. At the forefront of her business, the accredited social worker has tailored her Grief Connect program and also her Grief Language Project into a national service that supports individuals personally.
Michelle Leonard believes everyone can sing. A self-proclaimed ‘relentless optimist’, the founder of Moorambilla Voices and New South Wales finalist for the AgriFutures Australia Rural Woman’s Award is on a mission to electrify the arts in country Australia and bring music to all. For the last 18 years, Michelle has left her home in Sydney for nearly six weeks, driving upwards of 4000 kilometres around New South Wales, across 21 Local Government areas to recruit for her various ensembles. Of the thousands of kids that she coaxes music from, 350 are selected to learn to sing, play drums, to dance and read music – going on to perform throughout the year in venues like Dubbo’s Regional Theatre and Convention centre and this year, the Sydney Opera House.
Eileen Breen is a woman of values, and no matter what curve balls life throws at her, she manages to find success in line with them. Demolition is an interesting industry to work in for someone whose DNA is laced with sustainability – but it’s the inroads she and husband, Gerry are making when it comes to resource recovery and recycling that truly floats the boat of this nature loving business strategist. As the Northern Territory finalist in the AgriFutures Rural Woman’s Award, Eileen wears many hats, but at the core of all her commitments is a belief she can make the world a better place.
Not all flowers are grown equal. Or at least not according to Nikki Davey, a truffle and flower producer from Victoria’s Glenmore. The entrepreneur is the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award finalist for Victoria for her work co-founding Grown not Flown — a digital platform that supports the slow flower movement, connecting flower consumers with local and sustainable producers. Yet, Nikki never thought she’d come back to the 300-acre property she grew up on — let alone work to make it a viable business. For the last 21 years, the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award has empowered and celebrated the leadership of women involved in Australia’s rural and emerging industries, businesses and communities. Equipped with a $15,000 Westpac grant, each of the state and territory winners are in the running for the national winner and runner up to be announced in September — awarded an additional $20,000 and $15,000 Westpac grant respectively.
Tanya-Lee Holmes often quips that her life really only got started in her 40s. That’s quite a big call when you consider she acquired a life changing disability at 39 and has spent over 20 years as a carer for two children with Cerebral Palsy. Living on a small property outside Bathurst in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, the mother of three has navigated a series of defining events that saw her come out the other side more determined and focussed than ever. But she cites meeting the love of her life at 16 and facing all odds together as a team as one of her greatest achievements.
Sophie Elliott’s story is a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit and stands as a poignant reminder that even in the face of formidable challenges, happiness can be found again. A born and bred western Queensland girl, Sophie was working at The Blue Heeler Pub in Kynuna in her early twenties. It was here, that her life would change forever. This is a love story, entwined with tragedy, and a new beginning.
From a youth campdrafting and mustering on the family’s 19,000 acre station outside Queensland’s Glenmorgan, to a life under lights co-captaining Australia’s Women’s Rugby 7s team, The Pearls; Demi Hayes is living proof that geographical isolation doesn’t beat talent and hard work. While she now lives a long way from the beef property she grew up on, the 25 year old has taken many lessons with her from paddock to the pitch – including her leadership style learned in the cattle yards, which will see her take her team to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
How Wendy Henning fits all of her commitments into one day is a mystery to most! Wendy and her husband Andrew own and manage a cattle and mixed cropping business at Merchison Park, near Glenmorgan, Queensland. In Wendy’s own words, they are ‘in the middle of everywhere, but not quite anywhere. Two hours to Gundy, two hours to Roma, two hours to Dalby and an hour and ¾ to St George’. With four daughters now having flown the coop, Wendy is busier than ever. As a long-term passionate advocate for education, Wendy has spent years with the ICPA, or Isolated Children’s Parents Association, dedicated to ensuring every child, regardless of how they learn, is able to receive a quality education. Wendy was recently elected as President of the Queensland State Council, meaning the balance of business, volunteer roles and travelling time to see her girls just got even more intense!
Jillian Kilby is not afraid of the big decisions. As an engineer and farmer’s daughter from Coonamble, in the central west of New South Wales, Jillian has leant on her rural values right through her career. This courage has seen her go against the grain most of her life and bounce from Coonamble to Sydney to Walgett to Silicon Valley and back to the Central West. Now she’s breathing new life into country heritage buildings while helping regional start-ups increase their capability, capacity and confidence because she knows all too well how lonely a road it can be starting a small business in the bush. It takes a certain level of guts to dig deep and blow up your life and Jillian has done it not once, but twice on an extraordinary scale.
Eliza Lockyer takes putting nutritious food on the table very seriously. Obsessed with gardening since her late teens, Eliza also developed a fascination with rare breed stock and has dedicated a large portion of her life promoting the benefits of their continued breeding. If you’ve ever been interested in gardening, or you live in a place where it might be difficult to grow because of clay or rocky soil- then this is the episode for you! Growing up on a small property, nestled amidst the picturesque Tasmanian north-west coast, Eliza’s appreciation for growing fruit, veggies and protein, gradually blossomed into quite the obsession that’s followed her across the continent. Spending the last five years in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, she and husband Andy bid farewell to the red earth and rugged terrain, home-bound, to pull up stumps on Andy’s family cattle property in Walcha, New South Wales.
Samantha Armytage helped millions of Aussies wake up every day for eight years, as one of our most loved TV personalities and co-host of popular national breakfast show, Sunrise. Known for her humour, her sharp journalistic sense and for being a down to earth straight shooter, Sam radiates this beautiful authenticity which can often be lost in the shine of TV land – something she puts down to her country roots and her connection to her family on the land. Her 23 years in media has been extraordinary – covering historic moments like the Canberra Bushfires, Brisbane's floods and the trials of the Bali 9 and Schapelle Corby in Bali. She's reported from the East Timor conflict, the Cronulla riots and Christchurch Mosque massacre, as well as Michael Jackson's funeral in LA, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in London and Meghan and Harry's wedding in Windsor. And then last year, in March 2021 she let the sun set on her Sunrise career – resigning from the top seat in TV to move to the Southern Highlands equine property she shares with her new husband, Richard Lavender.
Samantha Armytage helped millions of Aussies wake up every day for eight years, as one of our most loved TV personalities and co-host of popular national breakfast show, Sunrise. Known for her humour, her sharp journalistic sense and for being a down to earth straight shooter, Sam radiates this beautiful authenticity which can often be lost in the shine of TV land – something she puts down to her country roots and her connection to her family on the land. Her 23 years in media has been extraordinary – covering historic moments like the Canberra Bushfires, Brisbane's floods and the trials of the Bali 9 and Schapelle Corby in Bali. She's reported from the East Timor conflict, the Cronulla riots and Christchurch Mosque massacre, as well as Michael Jackson's funeral in LA, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in London and Meghan and Harry's wedding in Windsor. And then last year, in March 2021 she let the sun set on her Sunrise career – resigning from the top seat in TV to move to the Southern Highlands equine property she shares with her new husband, Richard Lavender.
We know most of you will feel like you know today’s guest intimately, because you hear her calm, soothing voice on a lot of your favourite podcasts. Yes, we finally have our gorgeous co-host, Skye Manson, on the other side of the microphone.
Skye is first and foremost a storyteller. She’s one of the most happily curious women Emily Herbert has had the pleasure of meeting – finding a genuine delight in the stories and conversations of others. She has this really gentle, luxurious way of unearthing the lives of others, and how they felt whilst walking their journey. It felt like a bit of a privilege to ask her to do the same for us. Skye currently lives at Bloomfield, Blakney Creek near Gunning on a fine wool property with her farmer husband Damien and their three children, Ollie 8, Percy about to turn 7 and Florence, 5, with her Mum Wendy living just down the hill.
Skye has had a big career working in radio for the ABC across the country, and has made the very organic leap to the world of podcasting – producing FIVE – that’s right, five! Podcasts for her company, the Manson Podcasting Network, Life on the Land being one of them. we were so delighted to interview Skye, to know more about the voice behind the mic. You can find Skye's podcasts at mansonpodcasting.com or her newsletter at companyonsundays.substack.com
Our guest today is Michelle Leonard OAM, artistic director and founder Moorambilla Voices, an exceptional choir of children and youth from western NSW and a program that is deeply connected to the land in which it’s art is made. If you have ever been privy to Moorambilla Voices you will know it's power, giving rural children the chance to be a part of something so much bigger than themselves. Music, singing and instruments is innate for Michelle and her musically talented family who hail from the small rural town of Coonamble in NSW. Driven by a belief that music has the ability to improve mental health, community and deep spiritual connection, Michelle applied for a grant back in 2006, in what was to become the beginning Moorambilla Voices. Since that time, more than 25,000 students from 100 schools annually have come together to find their voice in a myriad of ways. This week, over 300 children will perform its 17th annual gala concert near Dubbo in central west New South Wales. ( This year’s music takes its inspiration from the rural community of Collarenebri and it’s unique connection to the River.) In 2017, Michelle was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for Services to the Community and Performing Arts.
Today’s guest is Kay Hull AO, born in Guyra New South Wales and best known for her long and distinguished career in politics. Kay entered Parliament House in 1998 as the Nationals member for the Riverina and was elected for four more terms before retiring prior to general elections in 2010. Kay Hull is small in stature but big on heart and is a genuine campaigner for the everyday man and woman. 'What a woman', is all Skye Manson could think after recording this interview. Skye was compelled to share the story of Kay's life after a powerful address at the Agrifutures Rural Women’s Award Gala celebrations in Canberra last week, when she stepped down as the Chairwoman of Agrifutures to a standing ovation.
Tasmanian rural motherhood advocate and founder of Motherland Australia, Stephanie Trethewey, has been awarded as the National Winner of the 2022 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award National and Victorian founder of OAK Magazine, Kimberley Furness has won the National Runner Up title. Stephanie, a Dunorlan-based farmer, podcaster and founder of Motherland Village, was recognised for her work establishing Australia’s first online facilitated mother’s group and a pilot program offering virtual postnatal support for patients in isolated communities. Bendigo's Kimberley’s Furness was awarded the National Runner Up title for her work profiling rural women in business - both through the magazine and her newly launched podcast series. Both women will receive Westpac grants of $20,000 and $15,000 respectively, as well as ongoing support through the Award’s alumni program.
Tasmanian rural motherhood advocate and founder of Motherland Australia, Stephanie Trethewey, has been awarded as the National Winner of the 2022 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award National and Victorian founder of OAK Magazine, Kimberley Furness has won the National Runner Up title. Stephanie, a Dunorlan-based farmer, podcaster and founder of Motherland Village, was recognised for her work establishing Australia’s first online facilitated mother’s group and a pilot program offering virtual postnatal support for patients in isolated communities. Bendigo's Kimberley’s Furness was awarded the National Runner Up title for her work profiling rural women in business - both through the magazine and her newly launched podcast series. Both women will receive Westpac grants of $20,000 and $15,000 respectively, as well as ongoing support through the Award’s alumni program.
As a young person on the land, finding your place within the family business can be difficult and sometimes uncomfortable. But when Meg Rutledge from Moble Station, 1000 kilometres west of the eastern seaboard in Queensland, returned home from London the idea to begin a luxury outback homestay experience with camping, nature walks and hiking was the perfect fit. To me it’s such a great example of a generational farm evolving its core business to ensure that the next generation of family not only stay on the farm, but are invigorated to do so, and bring to the business so much extra knowledge, diversity and happiness! And for Meg it makes perfect sense. Like so many people living on the land, she is proud of her farm and she loves living there ….. you couldn’t really have a better hostess.
Thank you to our amazing sponsor for this episode, the team from SG Off-Road - Make adventure happen with SG Off-Road.
If there’s anyone who understands the diversity of women who love the land, it’s today’s guest, Victoria Carey. V, as she’s known by those who work with her, has been in the media game for more than two decades, including 11 years as the editor in chief of Country Style, and is now at the editorial helm of Graziher Magazine. Yet a life in journalism almost didn’t happen – with a teenage horse-mad Victoria so nearly signing up to work in a racing stable. Emily Herbert interviewed V the day after she put the latest issue of Graziher to bed and the jubilation and satisfaction at seeing another gorgeous copy of the magazine on its way to the printers was obvious in her voice. And what a magnificent segue to announce that the Spring issue of Graziher is now on sale! It’s an absolute corker of an edition to celebrate our bimonthly launch, with compelling stories of Australian women spanning the width and length of the country. In this issue, we really draw our attention to Women across the Ages - and the articles borne from it are stunning – from Stephanie Trethewey’s letter to her baby daughter Evie to the inspiring eighty-something matriarch still checking her Merinos every day.
You can subscribe online at graziher.com.au and have the magazine turn up in your mailbox six times a year – what a treat.
If there’s anyone who understands the diversity of women who love the land, it’s today’s guest – Victoria Carey. V, as she’s known by those who work with her, has been in the media game for more than two decades – including 11 years as the editor in chief of Country Style - and is now at the editorial helm of Graziher Magazine.
Yet a life in journalism almost didn’t happen – with a teenage horse-mad Victoria so nearly signing up to work in a racing stable.
I interviewed V the day after she put the latest issue of Graziher to bed – and the jubilation and satisfaction at seeing another gorgeous copy of the magazine on its way to the printers was obvious in her voice.
The latest edition fo Graziher is on sale today! Jump online and secure your copy before it sells out. graziher.com.au.
There's a word for the period of time it takes to grow and raise a baby, Matrescence. The physical, emotional hormonal and social transition to become a mother. The overwhelming love, the uneasy trepidation or sometimes downright fear, sadness, guilt and anxiety, the joys and the crushing lows. The exhaustion and at times, the loneliness and boredom. It's also a time that can be heighten when living in the bush with its own specific challenges and delights.Caroline Maxwell has been a guiding hand along the Matrescence journey for hundreds of mothers. The mum of four is a midwife and lactation consultant working from Narromine in the central west of New South Wales and she travels far and wide around the state to see women when they need her most. Driving hundred of hours on dirt roads, navigating floodwaters and once even sourcing a plane to get to a new mum on a remote station.
Today’s guest gets imposter syndrome when she talks about her role in agriculture and rural Australia. Sammie O’Brien presents Channel 7’s Queensland Weekender and Creek to Coast and she is known and loved by country and city people all over.Sammie lives a double life spending half the week in Brisbane and half the week on her cattle farm in Torrone, halfway between Brisbane and Warwick. She’s also a Mum to young Lenny, a farm owner and cattle producer (with a herd of 80 breeding cattle) as well.Most importantly, she's a great friend of Graziher’s and we will be working with Sammy in the future (make sure you stay in touch with our socials or Friday newsletter to stay up to date.)The latest edition of the Graziher magazine will be making its way to the printers soon; make sure you don't miss our by subscribing or pre-purchasing your copy on our website graziher.com.au.
West Australian Bec Bignell is a passionate film maker and producer who’s determined to get the ‘real’ regional, rural and remote Australia on screens everywhere.She wants more films shot in rural Australia.She wants crews to spend more time learning about rural Australia, by living there.She wants more rural Australian’s employed in the film industry, especially if they are filming in town.And she wants film crews to remain invested in these communities long after filming is done.Given the conviction of this conversation, we have a feeling Bec will succeed.Her film, Homespun (filmed on her family sheep and grain farm at Kojonup) is a prime example of what can be achieved and the kind of nuanced stories we need to be telling. Keep an eye out for its release later in 2022.
Plants, place, space, escape; everything about gardens and gardening, it’s all a balm for our guest today Cassandra Hooke who lives, and gardens, on the Hay Plains in the New South Wales Western Riverina.You might know Cass as @outbackgardens on Instagram where she documents the growth of her newly established garden on the Plains in nothing more than a friendly and helpful nature. If you’ve read the Autumn issue of Graziher you’ll also know Cass, from her beautiful article written by Victoria Carey and photographed by Emma Cross.How this all came to be, is not what you think. As with any person’s story there are roots and twists and turns that have led Cass to value the effects of gardening and nurturing plants and growing a place way more than this nature lover ever expected.
Torie Finnane was a midwife, one of the best they say.As a person she was infectious, drawing people into her metaphorical embrace.Through her work delivering babies she touched the lives of so many mother’s in huge ways.This story is heart breaking because Torie died.She tragically lost her life just days after giving birth to her third child when she contracted bacterial meningitis.And even though she’s not physically here - this embrace, this touch that I mentioned lives on.It’s something her friends and family, especially her husband Liam Finnane actively keep alive though the Torie Finnane Foundation for women and babies, which was set up in her memory one year ago.And so today, for the first time on Life on the Land we’re speaking with a male – Liam Finnane – Torie’s husband.
Sandra Scott isn’t your average retiree. The 81-year-old co-owns Australia’s most isolated pub - the Mt Dare Hotel - alongside her husband, Graham.The pair threw in the farming game seven years ago, after 45-years on the land in Victoria. Instead of putting their feet up, the dynamic duo decided on a desert change – and have never looked back. Sandy says moving to the hotel – which is on the Western edge of the Simpson Desert in South Australia, just 10km south of the Northern Territory border – is the best thing they’ve ever done.When they’re not serving ice cold beers to or what Sandy calls “the best coffee in hundreds of kilometres” to travellers, Sandy and Graham are the first responders to those who’ve come a cropper in the desert – rescuing intrepid adventurers who find their vehicles are no match for the Aussie outback.
Our host Emily Herbert doesn't usually think about what she will eat during the day, because she don’t have to. She knows there will be food in her fridge, her freezer or her pantry.Because of this, she says she's one of the richest people in the world. And realising recently just how many Australians are going hungry, or with little access to fresh, quality food, was a big reality and privilege check for Emily.This episode is a little different as we have two stories for you in one podcast. One is with South Australian lamb producer Robyn Verrall and the other is with country music singer and proud Bidjari woman, Jessica Wishart who is based in Alice Springs.These women come from different backgrounds but they have a common goal — to tackle food and in particular meat insecurity — in remote Aboriginal communities. Together, they founded Kere to Country, one of Australia’s only Aboriginal led and run meat distribution companies — delivering bulk meat packages on country, with affordable, interest-free payment plans.First we spoke to Jessica, who is an award-winning country music artist. Her love of singing, and song writing, was ingrained in Jessica when she was a little girl growing up in Alice Springs.If you are interested in helping donate meat or money to Kere to Country you can contact Jessica or Robyn via the Kere to Country website.
We’re breaking from normal transmission this week – to bring you a special episode for Mothers Day in Australia – to mark the wonderful women who made us who we are, who held our hands while young and old and even in spirit, who let things slip, pass a knowing wink over the dinner table, fold our clothes, make our meals, exercise in the early hours so they can give more of themselves to us. Mothers are all the things – tough and gentle all at once – leading a role that way more powerful and far reaching than any single woman we’ve celebrated on this podcast before.
Mrs Abbey, Pauline, is also our guest today, mother to 12 children and is pure dedication personified.
And as a parting note we'd like to say, Happy Mothers Day today – to those who are trying so hard to become mums, to those who have lost their mums, who don’t speak with their mum’s, who miss their mums and to the mum’s who’re blazing the trial for a new kind of motherhood and those who are in the thick of being mum’s day in day out - and if you find it hard to thank you Mum – maybe you could share this episode her – and let the words speak for themselves.
Wendy McCarthy AO's list of achievements, influences and involvements is too long to mention them all. She was a founding member of Women’s Electoral Lobby and continues to be an advocate for women.She has held many significant leadership roles in key national and international bodies including Deputy Chair of the ABC, Chancellor of the University of Canberra, Chair of Headspace, Chair of Australia’s leading Circus, Circus Oz and much much more.But her life as a child was difficult – and she learned to be tough and bold – against the domestic situations that threatened to arise as a result of her fathers alcoholism.Wendy offers some sage advice on leadership and how to change the rules – do persist with your listening - and to end there is a word on respect.
Many of us spend our days hooning from one task to the next whilst frantically keeping all the balls in the air, career, family, animals, properties and ageing parents. We tend to take our health for granted until one day, for some, there comes a diagnosis which leaves us little room for complacency.May is the month for The May 50K raising vital funds for vital research for Multiple Sclerosis. There are more than 25,000 Australians living with MS and today's guest, Lynda MacCallum is one of them.Lynda is up at dawn most days alongside her husband Jim, training their homebred quarter horses for the next bug Cutting event while running 400 head of beef cattle on their property near Walcha in the cool New England hills in northern New South Wales.Horses are medicine to Lynda and have been an integral part of her therapy since her MS diagnosis in 2018. But long before the appointments, the scans and the Neurologists, horses were interwoven in the fabric of Lynda's life.This week's podcast is sponsored by Sorority Clothing. A relatively new brand, which was founded in 2021 by Cara who; after living in London for many years wanted to bring a little piece of this to Western Qld. Sorority Clothing has quality cotton pieces that are not only wearable and timeless but would suit any age, shape and style. Liberty of London is the main signature collection and the beautiful blouses, headbands and accessories have sold out many times over. New styles are now available.
She describes herself as a 'sometimes farmer'. You’ll rarely find her milking the cows but without her, her family may not be able to make a living from dairy cows nor live on-farm – for there would be no one to ensure her children get a good education in a bigger city, drive long distances to sporting events, move a mob of cows at a minutes notice, make business phone calls or generally tie up all the loose ends to form some semblance of an ordered life.I think many of you might also be sometimes farmers.Meg Bignell, who grew up on a farm growing Hops for the Cascade Brewery in Tasmania is also a published author, she’s a trained trauma nurse, she presented the weather in the Tassie nightly news, wrote medical scripts for Channel 7’s All Saints – and there is more – including her soon to be released dissertation on the modern-day feminist, her novel The Angry Women's Choir.Thank you to Boarding Schools Expo for sponsoring this episode. "Boarding Schools Expo Australia has been a trusted resource for families searching for the right boarding school for their children and now they're reaching right across Australia."Newly launched Boarding Expo 365, is a virtual Expo reaching families across Australia- whether you're up in the Kimberley, flying choppers east of Normanton or making brie on King Island - Boarding Expo 365 will showcase schools right from your kitchen table! Head to their website www.boardingexpo.com.au to discover your boarding school options today
Social media can be a real mixed bag. There’s so much juiciness about it – its power of connectivity, its ability to help forge new, global friendships, it' enriching escapism, its use as a portal to new worlds and as a tool for information.But there are the downsides, too. Trolls, for one. If you’re not careful, Instagram can play perfectly into the hands of the old saying, comparison is the thief of joy. That’s one of the reasons why Emily Herbert enjoyed today’s guest so much. Marion Saunders is the fabulous woman behind the Instagram account @mazlifestyle and it is joy on a grid.Maz is a grandmother, designer, entrepreneur and something of an Insta It girl. She lives on a property near the tiny community of Carinda in the far north of NSW, nearly 90 kilometres from Walgett and 100km from Coonamble.Maz is cheerfulness personified. Em laughs out loud at some of her reels and just love her positivity and zest for life, and how she brings humour and a contagious sense of fun to her everyday. She’s all about getting women to love the skin they’re in; boosting confidence in her 30,000 followers.Yet her journey to representing self-love and confidence has been a long road - leaving high school when she was 16 after struggling with her sense of self and where she fit in.
The CWA is an icon of Australia.Everyone knows it, respects it and most have a story to share about it. The Country Women's Association is akin family for anyone who’s ever lived in rural Australia,For the last 100 years its women have been responsible for huge progress in the areas of health, facilities and telecommunications for the bush. But more than that – decades ago, when city women fell in love and married men who were from the country, often they were leaving the comforts of city life, to take up house, that was no more than a dwelling, often there was no electricity, no plumbing, it's unlikely there was a garden, plush finishes and soft furnishings were not widespread.The adjustment was huge, and times were lonely – and this is where the CWA women quietly played their part. Arriving at the doorsteps of these women, with warm scones or cake, to introduces themselves to the newcomer, and then explain the lie of the land and offer friendship, connection and eventually community.Our guest today is the CEO of the CWA of NSW Danica Leys – she grew up on the outskirts of Sydney in Picton, studied Ag Science, went on to work for a law firm and has now landed as the CEO of the CWA of NSW.In this conversations, we explore Danica’s unconventional rise in the ranks of ag advocacy and we observe the relevance of the CWA of NSW as it celebrates its 100 year anniversary.This week's podcast is sponsored by Sorority Clothing. A relatively new brand, which was founded in 2021 by Cara who; after living in London for many years wanted to bring a little piece of this to Western Qld. Sorority Clothing has quality cotton pieces that are not only wearable and timeless but would suit any age, shape and style. Liberty of London is the main signature collection and the beautiful blouses, headbands and accessories have sold out many times over. New styles are now available.
Do you sometimes think how good it would be to chuck it all in and head off on an adventure?It can be nice to daydream about how things could be different –even for just a moment.For Lyndee Severin, those feelings weren’t a pipe dream…Speaking to Lyndee, I get the feeling she’s someone who isn’t afraid to get stuck in and give things a go. She was the first one in her family to go to university, graduating with a business degree in her mid-20s as a mature-age student whilst parenting her two young kids as a single mum. After working as a public servant for nearly a decade, Lyndee decided to go on a trip of a lifetime when she was 40-years old - riding her motorbike from her home in Wollongong to Darwin. It was a trip that would change her life and see her move to Curtin Springs Station – a million-hectare cattle and tourism enterprise, not far from Uluru in Australia’s red centre.Looking back at taking that first motorbike trip 20 years ago, Lyndee had no idea how the holiday would set the course of the rest of her life.This episode sponsor is the Graziher 2022 Boarding School Guide. MAKING A DECISION ABOUT your children’s education can be a struggle.Boarding school is something that many children from rural, regional and remote areas experience in their lives. It can be one of the greatest experiences – making lifelong friends; getting a great education; and being offered amazing extra-curricular activities such as sports and cultural activities. Making a decision about your child’s education can be difficult, so we have created a guide to help make that hard decision a little easier for those of you who are facing it.In our current Autumn issue, there is a lift-out for you to read. It features some fantastic schools and expo information. Along with some insights about boarding school from our regular contributors Jane Smith, Jayne Cuddihy and Grace Quast.Or head to Graziher.com.au for our digital Graziher Boarding School Guide, it has extended stories on all the schools featured a directory and direct links to all school websites. It’s free for everyone to read.
It’s A LOT. All that is going on around us; in our backyard and afar. A lot to take in and contextualise within our own lives.In the last few years there has been so many unprecedented's, worst ever’s and an evolution of world events that were acknowledged as absurdity only a few years ago.I’ve found that gaining a deeper understanding helps.Our guest today is ABC Journalist and Macadamia farmer Bronwyn Herbert, who lives on high ground just 10 kilometres from Lismore.Over the course of the last 10 days her life, and the lives of her community have been turned on their face. Brown, murky, debris filled flood waters, 2 metres higher than the highest ever recording, crushed her community and their days are now filled with the chaos of finding minders for children, so adults can work, and if they’re not working they’re helping someone, strangers to clean up, or wash clothes or cook meals, or share a cool drink.While you listen to Bronwyn's story have a think about a new initiative Graziher is setting up in response to the QLD and northern NSW floods.The Graziher Bush Telegraph will be set up to help flood effected businesses get back on their feet.We know that when the waters reside, businesses will need the help of the Graziher community for many months to come.So we will be launching the Bush Telegraph in the next issue of Graziher to get the word out. Contact Sally via email to find out how we can help. Her email address is sally@graziher.com.au.Other ways to donate or help outGivit: Specific items of need or wide reaching donationsKoori Mail Flood FundraiserLismore City Council Flood Fund:Name: Lismore City Council – Flood Appeal AccountBSB: 062 565Account:10864633Northern Rivers Preschool Alliance GoFundMe page
To describe Nicola Forrest AO in a few words is incredibly difficult. She is a mother, philanthropist, change-maker and country girl born and bred.Alongside her husband Andrew Forrest of Fortescue Metals Group, Nicola is the co-chair and co-founder of Minderoo Foundation and a director of the Tattarang Group.She campaigns to better the lives of children and the vulnerable, but also drives advances in the arts and community sectors and for the equality of women.Her story is many things; it’s aspirational and I hope you will find it inspirational but most of all, and the reason we wanted to tell Nicola’s behind-the-scenes story is because it’s relatable. Nicola Forrest could have been any one of us; she grew up on a farm in Spicers Creek in central west New South Wales, had a penchant for agriculture and on travelling to remote north Queensland for a sniff of adventure, she fell in love with the Outback and eventually Andrew Forrest.This is a story of Nicola Forrest as a young girl and as a mother. And a warning this episode does speak about the loss of a child. If this may be triggering for yourself or anyone you know please call lifeline on 13 11 14.Thank you to our amazing sponsor for this episode, the team from SG Off-Road - Make adventure happen with SG Off-Road.THE AUTUMN ISSUE OF GRAZIHER IS ON SALE NOW graziher.com.au
This conversation talks about child sexual abuse, mental illness and other subjects which may be triggering. Please, if it brings anything up, call Lifeline on 13 14 14, or 1800 RESPECT.Our guest today is journalist Virginia Tapscott, whose words have graced many a Graziher page. Ginny lives on a property near Albury with her husband, Rhys and their four young children, Oscar, 6, four year old Eva, three year old Elke and four month old Tully.Ginny, who was named the Caroline Jones Women in Media Young Journalist’s Award in 2019 and last year named as one of 21 women who defined 2021 by Vogue Magazine, is breaking completely new ground with her fight against child sexual abuse.The journalist has recently launched an investigative podcast series alongside The Australian newspaper and reporter Steve Jackson, called My Sister’s Secrets. It’s an at-times harrowing and deeply difficult listen. But it’s also courageous and compelling, as Ginny explores the events leading up to the abuse she and her older sister, Ally experienced as children, by their step grandfather. Ally later experienced a separate alleged assault as a teenager, and died in June 2020 from a drug overdose.These are stories we’d rather weren’t real. But they are, and Ginny’s bravery is extraordinary. Her ability to look the ugly truth in the eye and speak about her lived experience is sending ripples across Australia. And she’s creating a safe space for other survivors to come forward and seek the help and justice they deserve. We want to help platform her work to help others in the bush have these tough conversations. For legal reasons, part of this interview has been removed.Listen to My Sisters Secrets an investigative podcast by Virginia and journalist Steve Jackson for The Australian newspaper here. Other helpful resources:Bravehearts - Australia's leading child protection organisation.'The Body Keeps The Score' by Bessel Van Der KolkThe Grace Tame Foundation (2021 Australian of the Year)All women police stations in Latin America. Article.
Victoria Carey is the editorial director of Graziher, she admits that choosing a favourite episode of our podcast Life on the Land was difficult. Her decision was Maggie McKellar which she says will come as no surprise to those who are close to her. "I love Maggie's writing, she is a wonderful, wonderful wordsmith and I always really look forward to our chats about her next column. We love to talk about things that are happening on the farm, what's happening with our kids and one of our favourite topics is, of course, when to get back on a horse! Maggie's already doing it and I'm get to get back on. So I really enjoy our working relationship. "More than that, in 2011 I think was, when Maggie's story went to air on ABC TV's Australian Story I was so touched, like so many Australians, in her bravery about talking about what had happened to her and her family. The loss of her husband at such a young age to mental illness followed closed by the death of her mother from cancer. I understand only too well the impact of early deaths like this in a family and I really admire her bravely and honesty in talking about this so openly."
Claire really needs no introduction but for those of you who don’t know Claire is our mighty leader, the founder of Graziher.Claire’s pick is our special episode with Emily Herbert.Claire found this to be a beautiful yet poignant episode as Emily chose to be really vulnerable about what she says was her toughest year, and about suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and then working on her way back to better mental health.It is a bit of a heavy episode, but balanced with the mentioning of the birth of her beautiful baby boy Huckleberry back in January 2021."Emily is so articulate and is such a natural storyteller that it makes sense that she can tell her story so well."
Shannon Dunne is in charge of subscriptions with the Graziher team.
Shannon's favourite Life on the Land episode so far was with Grace Quast.
Her story really resonated with Shannon and the familiar emotions that come with making a living off the land, contingency plans, harvest time and the many obstacles that come with it. Grace is also so successful with her outside interests that Shannon could not help but be inspired and energised by her.
Shannon too echoes the sentiment that any job is possible from the bush but she thinks that for someone so well travelled and with such a wide variety of life experiences it's no wonder Grace is one of our most treasured women of the land. We really hope you enjoy listening to her story again!
Today’s pick is from Sally Jackson who’s our sales and marketing guru, she also helps to run social media and for someone who’s not a journalist she has a great nose for a story too!Sally says there are so many amazing podcasts that have been aired by Graziher this year and so to help her narrow the choice down, she went with a fellow South Australian.Doing this did not make the choice any easier as she also personally knows all three amazing South Aussie women who have featured on Life on the Land and admire all three of them.In the end Sally went with her heart and her other love: Wool and she picked Emily Riggs from Iris and Wool. For Emily this podcast showed that you may know someone but not always their full story.Emily does an amazing job championing Australian Merino Wool but also importantly she does a fantastic job raising awareness for breast cancer and breast checking.
G’day, I’m Em Herbert and I’m the co-host of this podcast Life on the Land, alongside Skye. I’m also lucky enough to write for the Graziher magazine. Each week I speak to women across this big brown land of ours, who eke out an existence on the land, or whose lives and life’s work are directly entwined with the bush.It’s excruciating to pick a favourite Life on the Land episode as there have been so many excellent yarns. However, one that stands out for me, is my chat with Olympia Yarger. I’d interviewed Olympia several times before about her extraordinary waste infrastructure business, Goterra – but I’d never delved into Olympia’s own personal story. It sent ripples throughout the Graziher community, with so many people reaching out to say they were as deeply touched by Olympia’s magnificent eloquence, her loss, her rawness and vulnerability as I was.It made me think about grief, how inevitable it is, but also the flip side of loss – the searing love that made it possible. It also broadened my mind to Australia’s waste crisis, the power of maggots and the incredible minds on agriculture’s frontline, working with some genius solutions.I really hope you enjoy listening to this episode again, as much as I did.
As we all wind down towards the end of 2021, and prepare ourselves to indulge in Christmas after a year that has been testing and challenging in so many ways – The Graziher and Life on the Land team would like to send you off on your Summer Break with a rolling re-cap of our favourite podcast interviews.So Each Monday morning for the next six weeks – one team member will pick an episode that has touched them personally and we will replay it for you here.This week we start with Skye's personal favourite, Christine Ferguson – not each episode in our Summer Series will have it’s own fresh introduction but as I am here – I’d love to tell you why I have chose this story.Skye interviewed Christine during our first season of the podcast in September 2020, and her gentle recount of her life and it’s weighty difficulties really touched me.How could a person not be a grumpy shell of the person they once were, after suffering all this I thought? But Christine is wise and generous with her wisdom, she doesn’t sugar coat life’s circumstances and I felt very lucky to have interviewed someone who could so articulately detail – how a love for Life on the Land – can deeply counter all adversities along the way.Please know that this episode talks about some challenging issues including Domestic Violence. If this raises anything for you, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636
This episode of Life on the Land speaks openly about suicide and mental ill-health. If you or anyone you know is unwell or in need of assistance you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.Farmer, mother to four and business and mindset coach Katrina Myers, from farm business Barham Avocados near the NSW, Victorian border oozes energy, enthusiasm and spark.So much so, that we bet you’ll wonder just how she maintains such a high velocity all.the.time.Well, as you will learn Katrina is not just ‘like’ this, in fact, she is terrified of depression.The illness has entwined its into her family, taken the life of her father, and given her unexplained pain for many, many years.But not any more - and she’s on a mission to make sure we never feel as bad as she once did.So if you’re feeling it this month, as we hurtle towards Christmas, or as we support each through weather adversities like flooding, lost income or opportunity not to mention the various COVID-19 uncertainties – this stripped bare story of a life reclaimed – through lots of hard work is a resource for us all.Thank you to this episode sponsor, Motherland Village. It is Australia’s first online rural mothers group program, connecting women across the country into their own, small, personalised group. The program runs for six weeks and will enable you to form meaningful connections and friendships with other rural mums- all in the palm of your hand.Doors are now open for enrollment for February 2022!And this is not your typical mother’s group! Motherland’s mission is to reduce the isolation felt by rural mums with kids of ALL ages. You can join the 0 to 3 years age bracket, 4 to 10 or 11 to 18. Because every rural mum deserves access to a mothers group, no matter where you live or how old your children are.Spots are selling fast. Go to www.motherlandaustralia.com.au
The last 18-months has really thrown a spanner in the works of, well, work. For a lot of people, it has been an unprecedented time – learning to work from the kitchen table, often amid the chaos and debris of homeschooling.However, this is the normal reality for a lot of women in the bush, who wear many hats for many things. While the rest of the world caught up to this thing called remote work, those on properties carried on, business as usual.Someone who has been touting the benefits of remote work long before the global pandemic forced our hand is Jo Palmer.Born in Jindabyne and studying teaching in Wagga Wagga, Jo spent years travelling and working overseas. When a Wagga boy literally fell out of a pub window in front of her on a Croatian sidewalk, her fate was sealed. Jo moved back to Wagga, where she and husband, Hugh raise thier two little girls, Matilda and Anthea.Jo is an entrepreneur by nature. In 2017 at a backyard barbecue, she stumbled across the idea that would set the foundation for her business, Pointer Remote Roles – connecting people in the bush with awesome jobs across the country.Thank you to our episode sponsor SkyMesh. Do you need access to a fast, reliable internet service at your regional home or business?Join Australia’s most awarded specialised rural internet provider that’s trusted by over 45,000 Aussies.Secure your FREE nbn Sky Muster or Fixed Wireless internet installation today on a no lock-in contract.Plans start from just $34.95 per month with Brisbane based 7-days a week support.Make the switch today and access better internet for your home or business.Visit skymesh.net.au to get connected or call 1300 759 637 now.Service availability is determined by nbn.
Hooray! The Graziher summer issue is on sale! It’s such a stunning issue, with many of the stories featured meandering around the theme of friendship. I think that is probably what makes the Graziher community stand out for us – that rich sense of connection and friendship which binds us all. We can’t wait for you all to see it. And featured in the issue is today’s wonderful guest, Cressida Cains. Cheese, and its sustainable creation is Cressida’s life work. Cressida and her husband Michael craft award winning sumptuous sheep cheese in the Southern Highlands, each bite offering an expression of their farm’s entire ecosystem.Cressida was the state winner of the 2020 Agrifutures Rural Women’s Award for NSW and the ACT, and was recently announced as the national runner up for her project Dairy Cocoon – an online education and connection platform for dairy farmers.Named after the Italian word for sheep, Pecora Dairy boasts Australia’s only working, pure East Friesian ewes, the most productive breed of dairy sheep in the world. However, this isn’t a fourth-generation operation. The Cains traded their corporate life for greener pastures in 2011, swapping Sydney’s traffic blare for the bleating of lambs along the way.Thank you to our episode sponsor SkyMesh. Do you need access to a fast, reliable internet service at your regional home or business?Join Australia’s most awarded specialised rural internet provider that’s trusted by over 45,000 Aussies.Secure your FREE nbn Sky Muster or Fixed Wireless internet installation today on a no lock-in contract.Plans start from just $34.95 per month with Brisbane based 7-days a week support.Make the switch today and access better internet for your home or business.Visit skymesh.net.au to get connected or call 1300 759 637 now.Service availability is determined by nbn.
Most of you will know today’s guest Fiona Simson as the first female president of Australia peak body for agriculture, the National Farmers Federation. There’s not many days that go by that she’s not quoted in a newspaper or seen on the TV or interviewed for radio.But did you know that politics and advocacy were never really in Fiona’s sites.She’s ended up in this position because she didn’t have a huge demanding job. Years ago she was the one in her community that had some extra time to take on the lengthy plight of farmers effected by the land development proposals of a multi million dollar mining company.This process solidified where her passions really lay and she’s gone on to represent farmers on all kinds of levels. But behind the scenes – Fiona Simson – really is your girl next door kind of woman - who loves making marmalade, camping who batch-cooks for her family for when she is away and remains incredibly humble.Thank you to our episode sponsor SkyMesh. Do you need access to a fast, reliable internet service at your regional home or business?Join Australia’s most awarded specialised rural internet provider that’s trusted by over 45,000 Aussies.Secure your FREE nbn Sky Muster or Fixed Wireless internet installation today on a no lock-in contract.Plans start from just $34.95 per month with Brisbane based 7-days a week support.Make the switch today and access better internet for your home or business.Visit skymesh.net.au to get connected or call 1300 759 637 now.Service availability is determined by nbn.
When you’re a teenager – you’re on the cusp of life in the big wide world and that is exhilarating and debilitating in the same breath.It’s a time when a mish-mash of expectations from all corners of the universe collie – leaving you, the teenager, on any given day feeling, fabulous and confident, full of bravado and then tired, then anxious, then insecure, uncertain and full of tears and fears.It’s such a challenging time.Our guest today Ruby Riethmuller is building an organisation where girls lead girls through this tricky time, by matching teenage girls with a sister-like figure who’s not intimidating, who’s young and she gets it.Last month Ruby’s idea shot to fame when she won the BFTB and PayPal AU Big Break competition – which means a whole suite of new tools can be added to her innovative approach to young mental health.Thank you to our episode sponsor SkyMesh. Do you need access to a fast, reliable internet service at your regional home or business?Join Australia’s most awarded specialised rural internet provider that’s trusted by over 45,000 Aussies.Secure your FREE nbn Sky Muster or Fixed Wireless internet installation today on a no lock-in contract.Plans start from just $34.95 per month with Brisbane based 7-days a week support.Make the switch today and access better internet for your home or business.Visit skymesh.net.au to get connected or call 1300 759 637 now.Service availability is determined by nbn.
Resilience is a word that is bandied about and the experts are still unsure how it forms. Afterspeaking to women on the land, week in, week out, Emily Herbert has the sense that robustness is forged from walking through the fire. Living through the mess. Picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and putting one foot in front of the other. Just like every other muscle, it seems emotional sturdiness is made stronger through use.
Today's guest is Yolande Woods – mother, beef producer, designer, private pilot and Iknow she won’t love me saying this, but also, warrior. Yolande’s life story weaves and turns like the Macintyre river she and husband, Bruce have built their home on in Goondiwindi, on the border of Queensland and NSW.
Like any river, her life has had pockets of extraordinary change; floods, droughts and rapids –accidents, divorce and breast cancer – yet Yolande doesn’t see it as unique or any different toanyone else. Raised in the outback, her bush roots hold strong, seemingly no matter what rushes her way. Aptitude seems her strength and if she’s not training for a marathon during radiation treatment, she’s learning to fly, fixing fences, working as an interior designer, raising cattle or starting a new business.
Welcome to a special episode of Life on the Land and a big congratulations to the National Winner of the AgriFutures Rural Women's Award, Yawuru/Bunuba woman Cara Peek from Broome in Western Australia.This AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award ceremony was beamed into the homes, tractors and even paddocks of 600 Australians virtually via video links that connected MCs and finalists in all states and territories. These awards are all about grit, determination and courage — and this is 100 per cent Cara.She’s tough, and she's determined and I so clearly remember when we interviewed her earlier in the year, her bold doggedness to give opportunity to her people — in a way that is right for them culturally.Her project is Saltwater Country — giving indigenous people and at-risk youth an alternative way of being involved in life, learning life skills on country and helping them become re-engaged in the world around them.
This week, Life on the Land sounds a little different and is a first for us.Last episode, we spoke to Ju Roche, an artist living on a farm outside Wagga Wagga. Ju and Emily Herbert chatted about her painting process and how the land plays an integral part in her conceptual practise, sometimes painting outside under the moonlight. They also spoke about her family and in particular, her relationship with her artist sister Jacqui Meyers.Ju spoke about Jacqui in such an infectious way that we just had to have her on the podcast…. Jacqui is Ju’s older sister, she has Down Syndrome and was idolised by Ju as a child – Julia says she used to follow Jac around like a bad smell. These days Jacqui is an artist, a wife and a brilliant Aunty. For today’s podcast, the sisters sat down in Jacqui’s home in Wagga, hitting record over a cuppa and meandering down memory lane.
The land has a deep and enduring effect on today’s guest. Julia Roche is an artist who lives on her family’s farm outside Wagga Wagga, in the heart of the Riverina in New South Wales.Ju is part of a new generation of artists coming from regional AustraliaTo stand in front of Ju’s large, abstract landscapes is to bear witness to her inner world. Her paintings are evocative, visceral, layered and incredibly expressive. When not painting in her age-old woolshed studio – Ju has been painting outside and by moonlight, really distilling her pieces into what she can hear, smell, feel and taste, rather than relying on eyesight and aesthetics alone.In this conversation, we talk about Julia’s practice, how she has balanced commercial viability with her creativity and how she works from a place of abundance rather than scarcity. We also talk about disability and inclusivity in the art world, and Julia’s personal and working relationship with her vibrant older sister Jacqui - who is also an artist, and who has Down Syndrome.
As a child, a teenager and even a student, today’s guest knew nothing about rural Australia, in fact, she had not a care for life on the land. She went on to become a political journalist in Canberra. And then – our guest today – author, writer and rural editor for Guardian Australia Gabrielle Chan met ‘The Farmer’.Her eyes were opened to the daily routine of farming. She observed an intimacy between farmers, nature and the environment they co-existed upon. In the main street of her local community, she gleaned the complexities of culture and the climate – and what she was hearing, was a far-cry from the rhetoric being heralded in the halls of Parliament.Gabrielle Chan finds herself as a unique kind of commentator, and her newly released book, 'Why you should give a fuck about farming', voices these intricacies in a new way.But we start today, as we always do, at the beginning; in Gabrielle's early days as a child of the Sydney suburbs.Thank you to today's episode sponsor, The King's School. As one of Australia's largest boarding communities, The King's School has a proud history of educating students from regional Australia. Applications are now open 2023 Scholarships and Bursaries. Learn more at their upcoming boarding webinars events or visit www.kings.edu.au for further information or to apply.
Today I’m joined by one of the Graziher Celebrities, Jane Smith – also known as The Shady Baker from a sheep station east of Broken Hill in New South Wales. Jane’s writing and recipes have been a feature in all but one issue of Graziher Magazine – and people, like you, have grown to love her work, her food and her gentle description of her life on the land.To me Jane Smith is a true home-bod – when she has to leave, she can never wait to get home.She loves that she knows everyone in her community – never feels isolated and her favourite thing in the world is to cook for her family. All these things are unique and relatable for thousands of women (and men) across rural Australia – and so I asked Jane to start with a small reading of what homesickness means to her.The internet connection for this chat – is dodgy in parts – I think trying to find a perfect line from the east of broken hill to the isolated hills of Blakney Creek can sometimes be a hard ask sometimes!Thank you to our amazing sponsor for this episode, the team from SG Off-Road - Make adventure happen with SG Off-Road.
Our guests today are photographers. Georgie Mann from a sheep and cattle farm near Caramut, three hours west of Melbourne and Jess Howard who lives on the Sunshine Coast and originally hails from near Biloela in south east QLD.These women make up two of the eleven photographers of the Beauty in the Bush Collective on Instagram. Last week they boldly launched a newsprint publication. The Bush Journal.It’s another exciting example of private enterprise, not even that, just a handful of women, invigorated by each others influence – reigniting the way stories are rural Australia are told and sold.The story behind their coming together is one we can all take heart from. Collectively they were seeking connection, maybe even feeling a little isolated, they 'looped' up via Instagram, realised their similarities and their unique offering. So they started creating. Lots of things. An Instagram account. They printed a calendar for sale and now they have a quarterly publication.Thank you to our amazing sponsor for this episode, the team from @sg_offroad – make adventure happen with SG Off-Road.
Welcome to a little bonus episode of Life on the Land. If you listened to our podcast earlier this week with Olympia Yarger, you would have heard that we were going to share this bonus episode detailing Olympia and her husband, Eric’s experience with the current situation in Afghanistan.Eric is a former US Marine and special forces operative, who was involved in six combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last month he set about trying to get his former Afghani interpreter out of the country – and ended up helping 12 families get safe passage out of Afghanistan.When Em Herbert interviewed Olympia, she said Eric was exhausted, having spent every spare second he had on the phone trying to find seats on planes in the carnage that was Kabul Airport.
This episode deals with the experience of losing a child, which may be triggering. If you need to speak to someone, please call Lifeline, on 13 11 14There aren’t many interviews in which our host Emily Herbert has both cried and laughed until a little bit of wee came out. But there isn't many people like Olympia Yarger, today’s podcast guest.Olympia is a maggot farmer. Yes, you heard that right. She is the founder and CEO of Goterra, a rapidly growing organisation based in Canberra. Aussies throw away 20 per cent of the food they buy. Isn’t that crazy? And that waste has a huge effect on our environment.Olympia has developed waste infrastructure to solve our food waste crisis. She’s developed a system where she takes food waste, feeds it to black soldier fly larvae who munch it all up, which then excrete the goodness to create an amazing fertiliser. The maggots themselves are then made into protein rich pig, chook and fish feed. It’s a perfectly circular economy.Not only this, she and her team have decentralised the system – creating robots full of maggots which can be parked at supermarkets, hospitals, bakeries, and anywhere where there’s a lot of waste.Olympia’s journey to building this start-up – and raising more than $10-million of venture capitalist funding along the way – is extraordinary. She is darkly hilarious, intelligent and amazingly articulate. Behind this, her life’s experiences broke my heart. She has known terrible tragedy and grief, and has somehow gleaned how to move through and with it; a catalyst of meaningful change that I can only describe as remarkable and quite singular.We start our chat with her beginnings in Canberra and how her innate love of farming was unexpectedly formed when attending boarding school in Yass.This episode of Life on The Land is bought to you by a small (but big in personality!) bush-based café, fashion & gift retail store, located in the far NW NSW town of Walgett. Stone's Throw, is jam-packed full of unique gifts, homewares and more recently, a fashion line. With everything in store also online, it is an easy place to shop from the comfort of your home, offering dispatch within 24hours.Stone's Throw also specialises in corporate orders for those looking for something special for their employees and or clients this Christmas. The majority of Giftboxes are proudly and exclusively Australian-made. Custom designed boxes are also available to suit any budget.Until the 13th of October, Stone’s Throw is offering a 10% discount to listeners – just enter LIFEONTHELAND at checkout.Head to www.stonesthrowonline.com.au for all your online retail experiences or contact Katie on 02 6828 3359 for corporate orders.
Karen, her husband Dan and their four daughters Bonnie, Molly, Jemima and Matilda, produce Angus beef from their properties and feedlots across western Queensland. All four girls are determined to continue working on the land, and by the end of the year they will all be back living and working at home.On any given day, the girls might be online in university lectures, studying for exams, fencing, drafting, feeding, grader driving, maintaining aircraft, doing the accounting, dealing with Chinese customers or the Australian Government, marketing or teaching primary aged kids. The scope and skill of this modern day farming operation over 100,000 acres is utterly remarkable.For mum, Karen Penfold, the journey to launching her family’s branded beef, Four Daughters and taking it to a Chinese market has been riddled with challenges.Looking back, Karen could never have foretold how her life would play out, with a childhood spent in inner-city streets…This episode is bought to you by Farmbot. “Life’s too short to spend hours driving to check water.” Spend more time at home, go on a holiday and check your water with Farmbot. Start the conversation about adopting Farmbot.
This episode will delight all the parents, guardians and teachers listening today, who have read aloud the tales of George the Farmer and his wife, Dr Ruby to the wide eyes and excited ears of little ones.Today we’re chatting with Simone Kain, author and co-founder of the George the Farmer educational enterprise. Born and raised on a farm in South Australia, Simone lives in Penola with her farming hubby, Justin and their three young sons – George, Frank and Louis.Simone, alongside her business partner Ben Hood, writes and publishes picture books, music, free paddock-to-plate videos, apps, nationally touring performances and free curriculum-aligned resources for kids, helping them learn where food comes from and just how important agriculture is.The idea for an Aussie fictional character that inspired and educated about farming was sparked when Simone was heavily pregnant and looking for something for her tractor-and-farming mad toddler.Today’s episode of Life On The Land is brought to you by AgriFutures Australia.The Rural Women’s Acceleration Grant is a new AgriFutures program, developed to foster growth and development in women involved in Australia’s rural and emerging industries, businesses, and communities.Seven Australian women per annum will be granted a learning and development bursary of up to $7,000 for professional development to enable them to bring their idea, cause or vision to life.Applications open on Thursday, 26th of August 2021. Find out more via the AgriFutures website agrifutures.com.au.
This week, we’re back with Heidi Castleden from Hovell’s Creek near Boorwowa on the southern tablelands of New South Wales.In her lifetime, Heidi has been the recipient of not one but two organs, two livers, donated by strangers. These have saved her life and in turn given her the ability to start a business, get married and have a family of her own. Her story is beyond remarkable – the depths of her courage and resilience is something most of us would never have to encounter in a lifetime let alone by the age of 15 when organ donation first became a reality for her.This week – we hear more of Heidi’s story – the loss of her mother, the women who cared for her, her marriage to James and the birth of her daughter.Thank you to Antola Trading our sponsor for this episode.You can find Heidi at @castleden_co on Instagram and at castleden.coSign up to the Graziher newsletter or subscribe to our quarterly publication for 2 or 3 years and receive a Rachel Castle Graziher Tote Bag at graziher.com.au
Today’s guest is Heidi Castleden from Hovell’s Creek near Boorowa in southern New South Wales.On two occasions – an organ donated from a stranger – has saved her life.The first time was when she was just 15 and the second was when she was 31.At 15 years of age, after years and years of unsolved medical ailments, Heidi received a diagnosis of a rare congenital liver disease. She was told she would need a transplant in 5 to 10 years but the need came much quicker.Heidi’s life has been spent managing, waiting and overcoming a myriad of health setbacks for herself and her family. But not for one moment, will she be defined by this. In fact, she told me that some of her friends might be surprised when they hear the finer details of her story.This week is Organ Donation Week in Australia – the week in which we are all encouraged to speak with our loved ones about organ donation – and to register if that’s what we decide we want to do. You can find out more at donatelife.gov.auThank you to our sponsor Antola Trading - Check out the new season collection at antolatrading.com
Have you got yourself one of the new Rachel Castle Graziher Tote Bags yet?If you subscribe for 8 or more issues of Graziher magazine - you'll be gifted one of these gorgeous new bags.In fact, did you know that homewares and bedding designer Rachel Castle is a total born and bred country girl - she grew up in Sale in Victoria and still hopes that people can see a glimpse of the country girl in all she does.She's our guest for this episode of Life on the Land - to tell us how her rural roots have shaped the person she is today, the way she approached collaborations and how it's influenced the way she does business.
Originally from Paris, Alienor’s heart lies in adventure. She has lived in Brazil for 18-months managing a boutique hotel, has trekked across Mongolia on horseback twice and has travelled from Siberia to Paris in a motorbike sidecar.But her most recent and all-encompassing trip was here in Australia. Passionate about advocating for the plight of the Aussie wild horse, Alienor trekked the Bicentennial National Trail with her three brumbies – an expedition that took 13-months across 5,330km.Alienor started in Victoria’s Healesville and ended in Cooktown, Queensland. Around 50 people have completed the trek – more people have walked on the moon. She was the second woman to complete the trail, and the first with wild horses.Her Australian story started 16-years ago, when the then 20-year old Alienor landed in Melbourne for a three week holiday. She never took her flight home, and ended up in Central Australia working in remote Indigenous communities.Thank you to our Sponsor for this episode MaiaGrazing.
If you have a copy of the Winter edition of Graziher you’ve no doubt already met today’s guest Whitney Spicer. She’s not originally from the country but she’s young and vibrant, bubbly and creative, and she’s just the kind of women that small towns embrace because they choose to move their life and their family to the country.Whitney lives with her husband and three kids in Manildra in central west New South Wales. As a newbie to country living she still takes delight in the things others sometimes take for granted – the school bus, the local show, and the dirt roads.These are the things country folk sometimes grow tired of, but really, these things make the heart that keep small communities ticking, alive and checking in on one another - and from this strong foundations are created and they often breath confidence into other things – which in Whitney Spicers case is her work as an artist – which has seemingly bloomed since she's lived in the Country. If you would like to sponsor an episode of Life on the Land you can contact Graziher on Instagram of email Sally Jackson at sally@graziher.com.au.Make sure you don't miss an edition on Graziher with your very own subscription. For a limited time if you subscribe for 2 years or more you will receive a Rachel Castle Graziher Tote Bag in the mail as a small gift. graziher.com.au
PHYLLi Designs is the brainchild of hat maker Laura Hall. Laura has just opened her flagship store in her hometown Scone and is one of the only traditional hat makers in Australia to have a bricks and mortar presence.Ironically, she failed textiles in high school, and is also entirely self-taught. Her hats are now rocked by the likes of Matt Damon, Delta Goodrem and Elsa Pataky. There’s hope for us all!Laura returned to her early childhood hometown after the 2020 lockdown, to be near her dad who sadly had terminal cancer. Yet 18-months ago, Laura was hardly making her Sydney rent. She had made the bold decision to leave her corporate career to pursue her creative passion – sparking a journey that has led her to become one of Australia’s premier hat makers.Thank you to our episode sponsors the team from SG Off-Road – make adventure happen with SG Off-Road.
To be honest, our host Emily Herbert struggled to know where to begin when writing this intro. Tracey’s resume is incredibly impressive. She was the first female CEO of the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association. She has been a vital, driving force behind the watershed class action against the Federal Government’s 2011 live export ban to Indonesia – which has won the unwinnable, with an expected $600-million in compensation for producers and beef businesses.She has recently been awarded the 2021 Queensland Country Life Beef Achiever at Rockhamptom’s Beef Week. She has been named one of Australia’s 100 Women of Influence, owns and runs a successful small business and is the mother of four sons who are sixth generation Territorians. She has also known unbelievable tragedy and grief. But tough country calls for tough people and resilience was interwoven in the blueprint of Tracey’s childhood.Our amazing sponsors for this episode are the team from SG Off-Road – make adventure happen with SG Off-Road.
When a monsoonal low hit Thea Harrington's farm, she and her husband Dudley sat in silence for hours, in fact days while downpour after downpour battered their tin roof – it was the stuff of nightmares - there was no communication with the outside world, and no way of moving from their home, no way to quantify the devastation.For Thea - not originally from the country - there could have been no bigger introduction to Life on the Land - she'd only lived at Werrina, 30km north of Julia Creek for 18 short months before this great test of their relationship and new marriage.The result is an awe-inspiring partnership, tested over and over again - each time coming up trumps with a growing gratitude for life and the people in it.Thank you to our sponsor for this episode brought to you by the Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority, or QRIDA. For more than 25 years, QRIDA has been supporting Queensland primary producers to make a start in agriculture, improve longterm sustainability and profitability of their enterprise, recover from natural disasters and getback on track with their finances.
Today's guest on the Life on the Land is Edwina Robertson. If you don’t know who that is, there’s a very strong chance you’ve seen one of her photos. Eddie is a wedding photographer whose work is iconic in regional and rural Australia. The ‘queen of dust’ has been shooting weddings in the bush and across the world for eight years, some of which have gone viral globally.Eddie grew up on a mixed farm outside Deepwater, NSW with her two siblings, mum and stepdad. She was estranged from her biological father, who was tragically killed in a plane accident when she was just 12.After boarding school, she went on to study fashion in Sydney, before working in real estate in Brisbane. I picked up Eddie’s story in 2013, when she was at a very low point. She had been in what she described a depressive state for four months, since she had found out the guy she thought shewas going to marry had been unfaithful.Unemployed and with no idea where she wanted to go in life, she sat down and wrote a list of the things she wanted from a career. Four things instantly sprang to mind. Thank you to our sponsor for this episode brought to you by Queensland’s oldest law firm; Rees R & Sydney Jones.
Our guest today Mea Campbell is a lawyer by trade, who's good at making things happen and quick. Her massively successful social impact business was a daydream one day and a registered business the next. Within a year there was more 15,000 people signed up to take part, as well as schools and big business. ConnectedAU and its flagship The Letterbox Project, which is basically a pen pal project were inspired when Mea thought of her late grandfather and how lonely COVID lockdown would have made him. AndMea know’s loneliness too; in fact it triggered her own young family to pull up their roots near Walgett in NSW and moved to the regional city of Dubbo.This story is about so much more than writing letter’s, it’s a different form of social and cultural education - breaking down stereotypes, creating connections between the generations – and as she says what’s she’s doing is changing people’s lives.Thank you to our sponsor for this episode The Rockhampton Grammar School.We are very close to sending the Winter edition of Graziher to the printers, so make sure you don't miss out on this lovely issue, the first with our new editor Victoria Carey, by subscribing at graziher.com.au
Driving home from work is the first chance Ali Cooper has to take a deep breath in her day. The mum of three is part of the CC Cooper & Co family farming empire, nearly two million acres spread across six properties across NSW, South Australia and WA.If that’s not quite enough, Ali has also recently taken on Jamestown’s ‘The Park’, breathing new life into the cabins and caravan facilities. She leads a big, busy, full life married to fifth-generation farmer, Seth. The Coopers have been on a mission to expand and diversify their operation, contending with devastating droughts and floods along the way. Theirs is a story of unearthing opportunities and seizing the moment while dealing with the inevitable challenges along the way.Thank you to today's sponsor RB Sellars. RB Sellars is committed to remaining the affordable, accessible and fit for purpose Australian brandit is so well known for.You can help us to continue giving a voice to women and their stories in the bush by sharing this podcast with your circle – it helps us get found on all the important podcast lists. Don’t forget to check out our magazine in your local stockist, or gift a subscription to a friend at graziher.com.au.
Today’s guest is a household name in the Australian bush. It's Landline's Pip Courtney who's been gracing our TV screens for close to five decades.There have been two men in Pip's life. Her biggest mentor was her journalist father who she rarely saw, except on Saturday’s, when Pip would listen on with eager ears as he dissected the style, tone and headlines of the weekend papers. And then there was John. I think we all follow Pip’s journey with a certain degree of affection having watched on in shock and dismay as she lost her cameraman husband John Bean, in a helicopter crash that also took the lives of reporter Paul Lockyer and pilot Gary Ticehurst. Despite it, all Pip still genuinely regards herself as the luckiest girl in the world.Thank you to today's sponsor Marcus Oldham College.
This episode includes conversations about Depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Mental ill-health, if you or anyone you know needs someone to speak with about any of these issues you can call LifeLine on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue.This week, we’re taking you into the belly of the Graziher team and flipping the mic so to speak. Emily Herbert’s silky words have graced the pages our magazine for 4 years and last year she joined the Life on the Land podcast team.She's had a break from the podcast as she gave birth to a beautiful boy Huckleberry in January.The more I get to know this women the more my awe and admiration grows. She’s ridden out a really tough year in 2020 as a self confessed COVID refugee, who got married, moved back in with her parents and then fell pregnant.But in the scheme of things 2020 hasn’t been her toughest year, Em’s lived through a lot. When she was at University her best friend, Maddie took her life, which Em says split her in two. She suffered terribly including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and as she continues to work her way to better mental health, she’s also become a sensible, smart and incredible articulate advocate for this important issue – and we talk lots about this. The caveat is that Emily is not a health professional and this is her own version of her story, the advice is in no way supposed to be taken as professional.We did start the interview on a happier note, by congratulating her on the birth of baby Huckleberry!Emily has also written about her experience at University and beyond in this article for Mamamia.
And a warning before you press play - there's a bit of sensitive language in this podcast, so make sure young ears aren’t too close by. This episode also discusses topics of mental health. If you or someone who know needs someone to speak they can call Beyond Blue they offer immediate support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 1300 22 4636When you’re 20 years old, can you remember what life was like? Maybe you're 20 now. Mostly it's dominated by work, well-lubricated social events and exploring the world.This was definitely the case for Samantha Longmore from Binalong in southern New South Wales – until one night – something you could never imagine happened and for her, this carefree world was gone forever. One night, after working being called up to work a night shift at a nightclub in Canberra – Sammy had a car crash on the way home and then the ambulance she was travelling to the hospital in, also crashed and the injuries she sustained when she went flying through the front windscreen left her a hemiplegic and in a wheelchair for life.I’ve told Sammy’s story a few times now – and you can probably hear that my voice still shakes a bit when I explain - it’s just so frightfully tragic. In her typically frank way, we speak about all things in this interview, about navigating doctors and the health system as a 20 year old, finding a boyfriend while in a wheelchair, what she loves about living the farm life and the development of her own baby, woollen knitwear business OhhBullDust.Tell your friends about Sammy – she is truly one of a kind – with a whole lot more life left to give.You can find Sammy @ohhbulldustThank you to today's sponsor Allen and Unwin's novel Something to Hide by Fleur McDonald.
Our guest on Life on the Land this week is prolific rural fiction writer from Western Australian Fleur McDonald. In the last 12 years she’s written 18 books, the latest ‘Something to Hide’ is out this week. Long before Fleur was a writer, she was chasing the dream to be a farmer, hassling the patriarchy at every opportunity so she could build her skills and one-day own her own piece of land.She realised this dream when she moved to Esperance in Western Australia but her story gradually became complex and difficult, even her writing had to be done in secret sometimes.Fleur’s own tale is of a lifelong love of the land peppered with challenges; isolation, anxiety, divorce, disability and many disappointments.Thank you to our Series Sponsor - Blundstone Australia.Graziher's Autumn Edition is on sale now at your local stockist and for a limited time in selected Coles Stores. This issue is jam-packed with goodness so don't miss it.
From a school of the air childhood, where afternoon’s meant sticky hands from themolasses feed run in the 90’s drought to riding bikes, chasing birds and starting mini-businesses, there emerged a girl with a quite confidence landing her as a lawyer, an ag-tech innovator and an exciting new advocate with an inimitable spark, that’s hard to extinguish.Even in the wee hours of the early morning, while soothing sleepless babies, Elisha Parker is excited about the opportunity to spend time not catching up on sleep but working!!Elisha is from Clermont in Central Queensland. Daytime means working full time as a lawyer.Night-times mean fine tuning her innovative website cattlesales.com.au which she co-founded in 2015. There’s also two young children in the mix and handful of other community projects – not to mention the fact that she’s the QLD finalist for the Agrifutures Rural Women of the Year award this year. So what is the perfect childhood recipe to produce such a go-getter of women?By the sounds of things is just a freedom to explore life possibilities.Thank you to our Series Sponsor - Blundstone Australia.Graziher's Autumn Edition is on sale now at your local stockist and for a limited time in selected Coles Stores. This issue is jam-packed with goodness so don't miss it.
If you haven't grown up on the land the foray into rural life is often closely followed by a the feeling of isolation, being separated from your people and different from your normal environment where everything you knew was familiar and ordered. Isolation is definitely not unique to the bush it’s a challenge that so many mothers in rural Australia have experienced.Stephanie Trethewey is one of them and she’s making much of it. Her podcast, Motherland, interviewing ordinary and extraordinary rural Mum’s has had over 110,000 downloads. Her new vocation is not what Steph ever imagined , she was born in Sydney and with a career as a TV reporter she had not a thought for a life on the land. But on a quiet news day while working in Queensland, she interviewed her now husband Sam Tretheway and thought he was kinda cute and the rest is history. This is her story! Thank you to our Series Sponsor Blundstone Australia. Stephanie has also written a piece for the Autumn edition of Graziher which is ON SALE NOW. If you are interested in purchasing a subscription for yourself or a friend visit graziher.com.au
This chick, ARIA award winning Australian country music singer and song writer Fanny Lumsden is a such a legend. The energy that she gives off even via a computer screen is pretty special. Fanny is a born to be entertainer, who somehow maintains the authenticity of a girl who’s grown up on a farm, she sees the true beauty of small communities (insert her Country Halls Tour) in Australia and yet has 8 golden guitars awards sitting on her mantle piece. And is still surprised at the ongoing success or her career.Part of her story is what happened in 2020. One thing was bushfire - her home was in the middle of the Dunns Road fire. It became a mega-fire, 6-hundred thousand hectares in size. A proper Armageddon. Then on the day her 3rd Album was to be released – COVID lockdown hit. It was bad. We talk about this but not before we wind it back to a topic that’s is pure delight; her childhoods and the days of singing in the sheep shed and doing circus moves on the back of her horses!Thank you to our series sponsor Blundstone Australia.If you'd like to meet more women like Fanny, you can do so on the pages of our magazine Graziher. You can purchase a subscription at graziher.com.au
our latest guest was farmer, historian and author Maggie MacKellar who now lives in the tiny town on the east coast of Tasmania – as Maggie so beautifully told us in her interview released on Monday there’s been many bumps in her life. One thing that’s helped her process the blindsides that have beset her is writing and journalling, a discipline she does religiously each morning. Not only has it helped her overcome adversity but her words have become the basis of books and memoirs. So she shares with you, her practise and what it brings to her life on the land.
In her life to-date farmer, historian and author Maggie MacKellar has navigated some of the most horrendously unexpected undertows of life. But now, in her home with her partner, in a tiny town on the east coast of Tasmania, it's their Life on the Land that’s brought her to calmer waters again.Some of you may already know Maggie’s story, she’s been on ABC TV’s Australian Story twice. The first was the story of her husband, Mike who became acutely unwell with a mental health illness, which quickly took hold of his once healthy mind and escalated to a situation where he took his own life. Maggie was 6 months pregnant with their second child at the time. Then, soon after, Maggie’s rock, the person who gave her breath - her mother - was taken when an acute cancer took her life leaving Maggie reeling again …..When we asked Maggie if she’d like to be interviewed she was needed to think. Because stepping back in time is not something she, or her children do often …… and when she looks back now, she admits, things are no less hard or harrowing, but they do look a bit different.....Thankyou to our series sponsor Blundstone.Our Autumn issue is so close and will be arriving soon on Subscribers doorsteps. If you’d like the same surprise in your mailbox you can subscribe for yourself - or a friend - or both at graziher.com.auThanks for listening, we’ll be back next week with another story of Life on the Land.
When I’ve observed todays’ guest from afar, usually at an ag conference or the like, I feel like she’s akin to rural Australia’s version of the Queen. Always impeccably dressed. A woman of strength, who’s practical, like a farmer, in her solutions and it seems that the crowd almost parts when she enters the room.Robbie Sefton lives with her husband Alastair on a farm close to Tamworth. From town she runs her national communications business, Seftons. It’s been strategising policy, product and service campaigns for government, research organisations and some big corporates like Westpac and Woolworths for more than 30 years. Robbie’s story spans from a childhood in Deni catching rabbits, to dazzling Freo in the Alan Bond days - surviving on champagne and a full freezer of connoisseur ice-creams - to an unexpectedly arduous medical procedure she was lucky to survive then and back home to NSW again, but not before she trucked thousands of sheep across the Nullabor. Robbie’s story is not one bit as you might expect it to be.Thankyou to our Series Sponsor: Blundstone Australia. The Autumn issue of Graziher has been sent to the printers and will be arriving in subscribers mail boxes soon. If you want a copy of your own please purchase or subscribe at graziher.com.auLife on the Land is a Manson + Company production.
Georgie Robertson is a red dirt country girl from way back. Growing up on a sheep station past Ivanhoe, it was a 2.5 hour drive for the Robertson family to the nearest town. She studied via school of the air and understands the heart of country Australia because she’s lived it.She’s also one of the go-to voices for Public Relations and media communications in the bush, with a client list that includes National Farmers Federation, AgriFutures and Buy From The Bush to name a few.Running her business, The Regional PR Co, remotely from a property near Coolamon, 40 minutes outside Wagga, Georgie’s clients are regularly featured in national publications and broadcast slots.But the road to a thriving business hasn’t been linear or without its bumps.She founded her agency, The Regional PR Co in January 2018 – originally out of total necessity when she, her partner Scotty and her three daughters suddenly found themselves without a home, and Georgie without full-time work.Thank you to our sponsor for Series 3 of Life on the Land: Blundstone Australia.The Autumn edition of Graziher is close to going to print and it's another cracking issue. If you missed out on a subscription this Christmas then organise yourself a treat and sign up to receive all our issues here!This podcast is a Manson + Company production.
There’s nothing quite like the deliciousness of merino on skin. This gorgeous natural fibre is enjoying a real renaissance, and South Australian farmer and designer, Emily Riggs is helping lead the charge with her label, Iris + Wool. She sat down to chat with Emily Herbert with her tiny daughter, Lucy – at the time only 10-weeks-old – strapped to her chest. Designed from her kitchen table on the merino property she shares with her husband Tom and two young children, Emily has created a stunning collection - despite not having a background in fashion, design or retail. While combining her love of high fashion and merino wool, Emily’s label also pays homage to her own mum, Jane, whose journey with cancer is intrinsically interwoven with Emily’s own story.This episode speaks about cancer and mental ill health. If you want to speak with someone you can call Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636Thank you to our sponsor for this series of Life on the Land: Blundstone Australia.The Autumn edition of Graziher is making its way to the printers as we speak and it's another cracking issue. If you missed out on a subscription this Christmas then why not gift yourself a little something?! Do it - here!!This podcast is a Manson + Company production.
A special episode shining a light on how some of Graziher magazine's contributors (and some others) will be spending Christmas. What's on the menu, who will be there, family rituals and how to prepare for such a big event when your nearest 'big shop' is miles and miles and miles away.Many thanks to Jane Smith, Claire Mactaggart, Cara Peek, Robbie Sefton and Sophie Hansen for joining us today.Thank you to the sponsor for this episode the Rural Financial Counselling Service NSW.And thank you dear listeners for coming with us on our podcasting journey this year. We have so many more wonderful Life on the Land stories lined up for you in Season 3 of the podcast which will launch in the New Year.If you would like to subscribe to the Graziher magazine, or purchase a 2021 calendar, you can do so at graziher.com.au.
Today's guest on Life on the Land is our cover girl, Yawuru Bunuba women Cara Peek is a force. She spent her childhood days in multicultural Melbourne and as a self confessed 'geek', Cara is incredibly intelligent, so much so that she studied Law but soon found that the law was too slow for her and took matters into her own hands.Now she lives closer to her ancestors in Broome in the Kimberley where she runs her flagship event Saltwater Country Inc. and The Cultural Intelligence Project and this year she's the Agrifutures WA Rural Women of the Year.I've learned that this girl has grit and she's not about making people feel comfortable quite the opposite. What she's achieving is pretty extraordinary and it seems advocacy comes naturally to Cara. This is her story.Thank you to Seed Terminator for sponsoring this episode.If you want to read more about Cara you can purchase the Summer edition of Graziher at graziher.com.au or if you already have your copy, why not grab a subscription for a friend?
Today’s guest became a household name in Australia almost overnight. Warren women, Grace Brennan is Buy From The Bush. Last Christmas, in desperation, searching to offer her community just the tiniest germ of hope to help get through the drought for a just a bit longer, she started a Instagram page encouraging people in the city, to buy their kris kringle presents from businesses in the bush.She thought it would be a nice thing maybe for her friends and family to grab hold of – instead ten’s of thousands of people jumped on board with unbridled enthusiasm. What Grace created is movement – allowing those in the cities (and all over) an insight into the wonderfulness, ingenuity and raw talent that lies beyond.What she ( and her team ) has achieved is what Governments, Corporations and Industry groups have been trying to formulate for years – a bridging of the urban rural divide. What you may not know about Grace is that - there’s been many paths in her life that have been leading her to this point. While it may seem that this is an overnight success story Grace has (perhaps unconsciously) been working towards this for a long time. This is her story and it starts in the streets of Sydney, where her childhood was not dissimilar that of any country kid.Thank you to today's sponsor Birdsnest. They're offering you $15 off orders over $70 with the code GRAZIHER15 before December 31st.The Summer edition of Graziher is on sale now. You can buy it online now and if your into your Christmas shopping you can hop online and buy a subscription for your family or a friend or even yourself.
Today’s chat is with Grace Quast. If you’re a reader of Graziher you may have seen Grace’s gorgeous face splashed across the pages modelling for various fashion shoots, or spied her name in the byline of a story. This multi-skilled journalist and farmer is living proof a satisfying career isn’t hampered by geography. Living with husband David on their property ‘Domang’ half way between Moree and Goondiwindi, she says she’s in the business of ‘storytelling’ – whether as a photographer, a stylist or a branding consultant. Emily Herbert chatted to her the day she and David wrapped up harvest – the first they’ve had since the couple bought the family property three years ago. Taking on a family legacy and huge debt - and then enduring years of crippling drought - has been the greatest challenge of Grace’s life.Thank you to the sponsor this episode Misty View Cottages.Grace Quast InstagramEmily Herbert websiteThis podcast is a Manson + Company production. We are an independent podcast, and so every time you share our work, it helps us to keep going. You can also leave a cheeky review, which helps others find us.
It's fair to say that 2020 has been a tough year for most, certainly an extraordinary year like we’ve never seen before. But for today’s guest, young dairy farmer Tahlia McSwain from Busselton in south west Western Australia it’s been a shocker. Earlier this year she took a job as a stockwoman, escorting sheep and cattle on a live export vessel. She’d done it before and she should have been home the family dairy farm within a matter of weeks. But things went wrong. Complications with COVID 19 which are still unclear to Tahlia saw herself and the crew onboard stranded on the vessel unexpected for 170 days. This took Tahlia to the depths of her mental strength to get through the days.But it doesn't end there, shortly after she finally arrived back home in Western Australia, one of the crew members tested positive to COVID 19 whipping up a West Australian media frenzy. Also while on board she lost some of her colleagues in a nightmarish tragedy when the live export vessel they were working on capsized in the south china sea.The good news is that she’s at home now - and in a weird way - almost back to normal life. This is her story.Life on the Land is an independently produced podcast for the Graziher magazine. If you want to read more about the wonderful women of the land in Australia, you can subscribe to Graziher yourself or buy a subscription for a friend at graziher.com.auThank you to the Sponsor for this episode PharmOnline a new start up business based in Walcha new South Wales.We’ll back next week with another episode of Life on The Land.
The name Jane Cay is synonymous with trailblazing success. The mum of three is the founder of Birdsnest, the little Cooma shop which has turned into a digital commerce giant, turning over $25 million a year. With nearly 150 staff, the accolades have rolled in. Jane has been named number one in the Top 50 people in E-Commerce, and Birdsnest has been named the fourth best place to work in Australia. The business also now boasts nine in-house brands. All this, while raising her kids alongside husband Oli, on their Merino property 65-kilometres outsideCooma. Yet on March 16, 2020, everything was tumbling down. It’s a day seared into Jane’s memory as one where the store was receiving more packages returned than what they were sending out. Listen to hear her story.Thank you to the Sponsor for this episode SG Off Road. Life on the Land is an independant podcast of the Graziher magazine, if you like what you are hearing then please encourage others to subscribe and tune into these amazing women's stories.You can purchase a subscription to the quarterly magazine for yourself or a friend at graziher.com.au
Pip Brett is like a shower of confetti on a sunshine-y day. She epitomised her styling motto 'More is more, less is a bore. The founder of clothing and homewares emporium, The Sonic located in the Orange in New South Wales, Pip is a total inspiration for regional retail. She is a brightly clad creative whirlwind who innately knows how to bring ideas to life. With a fiercely loyal community and a global following Pip has come a log way from her 21 year old self when she moved home from Sydney to open her first tiny clothes shop Iglou, 14 years ago. While the turbulence of COVID 19 has been a bumpy ride for many in retail Pip describes it as the best worst thing that has happened to the business. It also sparked the merging of her clothing line Iglou and her homewares business Jumbled. Instagram @jumbledonline Website jumbledonline.comThank you to the sponsor for this episode - Graziher. If you want a reliably lovely treat on the mail each season buy yourself and a friend a subscription today.
Author, blogger and farmer Sophie Hansen is no stranger to the Graziher crowd. She regularly contributes recipes to the magazine, working alongside other rural creatives to bring an everyday eating scene beautifully to life through great photography and styling.Sophie grew up in the city, in Sydney and only moved to the country when she fell in love with her now husband Tim who lives just outside of Orange in New South Wales. When she came she brought with her a love and talent for many things - cooking, writing and community – and since being in the country, she’s found a way to use these talents to spread the word to an audience in the city about the awesomeness of life on the land. Next year Sophie will publish her third cookbook, she was the Australian Rural Women of the Year in 2016 and each week thousands of people devour her Monday newsletter which she pens from the comfort of her farm – and really she’s is an inspiration to so many women, everywhere.This episode of Life on the Land is sponsored by Seed Terminator.If you are enjoying this podcast please subscribe in iTunes (so you'll never miss an episode) and share with your friends in Australia and all over the world.
All over the country people are throwing open their windows allowing the sweet Spring air to infiltrate - homes and minds – and awaken our senses. In most parts of the country it’s a wonderful season, worth celebrating. There are still parts of the country that are dry and dusty, insipid almost and we are thinking of you. Today’s guest, Claire Austin has lived through that and it was during times of drought especially that her wonderful homegrown gardening community became all the more important.She started the Gin Gin Garden Club as a way to glean tricks from local green thumbs about gardening in a harsher climate. Now it’s become so much more than that, a welcoming community for other young local women to come together and foster their own patches of nature, an online store and even reason to take part in Graziher’s Spring Edition’s cover shoot amongst a sea of blossom.Thank you to our Sponsor - Rural Financial Counselling Service NSW Southern Region.If you haven’t got your copy already, the Spring Edition of Graziher is on sale now or you can make sure you never miss an issue by signing up for a subscription at graziher.com.au.
This episode deals with mental ill health and addiction. If this brings anything up for you, you can speak with someone right now at Lifeline on 13 11 14.Alcohol is considered by many the social lubricant of rural life. We knock off with a beer, celebrate and commiserate with a bevvy and mix a drink with every event, from the footy final to the country races. We often think of alcoholism as swigging out of a brown paper in broad daylight. But there’s an insidious reality that is far more common than we realise – that of a high functioning, professional who looks and sounds like us, but reaches for the bottle behind closed doors.Shanna Whan was one of these people. The CEO and founder of registered charity, Sober in the Country, Shan is now a national face for advocacy. She’s fit, healthy and happy but six-years ago, life looked a lot different.Living in Narrabri with her husband Tim and her blue heeler, Fleabag, she moved to Australia from Zimbabwe when she was just six-years old, her family fleeing from civil unrest. Hear her story on Life On The Land today.You can find Shanna here at Sober in the Country or here on Instagram @sober_in_the_countryThank you to the sponsor for this episode Blundstone Australia, celebrating 150 Years in 2020.We would love to know where you’re listening into Life On The Land from – send us a piccie of where you are, or screenshot your app. It gives us such a buzz to see just how diverse the landscapes are that our community lives and thrives in.We’d also love it if you could continue to support us by sharing these podcasts with your mates and loved ones. Let’s continue to give a voice to women and their stories in the bush.This is a Graziher podcast, produced by Manson + Company.
For many years now, New Zealand born Fiona Baird has been bringing fun, fashion and a feverishly hard work ethic to her work as a stock woman on live export shipments from Australia throughout all of South East Asia. Her story is so unique because she doesn’t allow the grit and grime of working with animals all day, dampen her style standards of well done hair and strong red lipstick. But it wasn’t always about live export for Fi, she’s lived a colourful life, with a few stops and starts since her childhood days on a farm in the south island of New Zealand. We started by asking her – on reflection – how she feel about the path she's led so far.You can read more about her story and she some beautiful images of her in the Spring Edition on sale now in your local stockist, or you can gift a subscription to a friend at graziher.com.au.Thank you to this week's sponsor Blundstone Australia.And thank you so much for your warm welcome of this new podcast. We are beyond stoked about how it's been received. If you like this episode – or any others – we would love it if you shared it with a friend and if your listening on apple podcasts a rating and a review is still the best way for new people to discover these wonderful stories.We’ll be back in your ears next week with our another episode of Life on The Land.
Christine humbly refers to herself as a farmer, living mostly in central west NSW but between there and two properties in the far western corner New South Wales with her partner, affectionately know as the Ginga Ninja and she has two grown children living in Canberra and Adelaide.But her story is remarkable –Christine has always had a deep love for the land and for animals – and her drive to have her own farm and be amongst the natural world has seen her face some huge adversities. She hasn’t escaped these events unharmed – but she tells Skye Manson she just loves the wisdom that comes from getting older and living life – labelling it one big beautiful mess.This podcast talks about some challenging issues including Domestic Violence. If this raises anything for you, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14.Thank you to our sponsor for this episode RB Sellers.You can purchase the Spring issue of Graziher now at your local stockist or subscribe for a friend at graziher.com.au.
This episode has some language which isn’t suitable for little ears, and deals with the aftermath of a bushfire and mental ill health. If this brings anything up for you, you can speak with someone right now at Lifeline on 13 11 14.Today's guest Georgia Mattschoss is a mum and farmer from South Australia. What a rollercoaster Georgia has ridden. A series of unforeseen circumstances have thrown some serious curveballs at Georgia over the last decade and her story, which she shares with Emily Herbert, is ultimately one of survival and triumph through some pretty dark times.A defining moment in Georgia’s life was in 2011, when her dad was tragically killed in a farming accident, something that Georgia and her family continue to grapple with up to this day. You can find Emily here on Instagram.Thank you to our sponsors for this episode Seed Terminator. The Spring issue of Graziher goes on sale this week 17th September 2020, subscriptions are in the mail awaiting delivery. Head to your local stockist to pick up a copy or you can send a friend a subscription via our website here.
Annabelle Hickson isn’t your average country girl, in fact, even though she’s written extensively about her life on the land she still feels like a foreigner travelling to another wonderful planet. She's lived in Moree and now on a farm near Tenterfield in northern New South Wales for almost a decade with her husband Ed and three children and continues to be astonished by her life, lifestyle and the people within it. Her story is about learning the worth of simple things, harnessing ambition and that sometimes a big house in the country isn’t what’s going to make you happy.This episode of Life on the Land is sponsored by birdsnest. For the month of September birdsnest are giving you $10 off your next order, for orders over $70 - simply enter the code LIFEONTHELAND at the checkout.If you're enjoying our stories please share them with a friend (or several0 via a text message or show us where you're listening on Instagram stories tagging Graziher.You can find Annabelle here on Instagram and her updates on her new publication Galah can be found here.
Our guest for today's show is Grace McLeod, a young farmer from Western Victoria.If you fancy a McLeod's Daughters joke she's already beat you to it - often seen on horseback with her three working dogs never far behind she lives her own version of Drovers Run every day.Grace is currently managing her family's two properties which straddle the Victorian and the South Australian border with around 6,000 acres of arable and 2,000 acres of grazing for just under 3,500 head of sheep it's been a busy 3 years since Grace came back to work on the farm full time.She very kindly drove to town to get reception for this conversation with Emily Herbert. They speak about a vast array of topics from mental ill-health, the challenges of isolation on the farm, this year - compounded by COVID-19 and properties by a state border to the importance of travel beyond the farm gate to gain new perspectives.Thank you so much to this episode's sponsor, Just Country. Just Country offers gear for out here, designed to keep up with the demands of life on the land, whether that’s Graziers, broadacre or hobby farmers through to rural community groups and committees. Check out their range of workwear and more here.If you've enjoyed listening to the independant Graziher podcast they help us spread the word by telling a friend (or several) - you can text them this episode or share it on your Instagram stories! Take a screenshot of your app, or show us how you listen by messaging or tagging us @graziherIf you would like to read more stories on interesting and inspirational rural women, you can do so by picking up a copy of the latest edition of Graziher magazine, or you can head to our website www.graziher.com.au to subscribe.
It's fitting that Julie McDonald is our first guest for the Life on the Land podcast. Her story is extraordinary, but many of the challenges and triumphs she's lived through, run parallel to the experience of other women all over rural and regional Australia.For Julie, her story is about falling in love; a life on the land; her husband Zanda, her four daughters; being CFO of one of Australia largest privately owned, beef enterprises, McDonald Holdings and so many more things. Sadly life was to become unhinged seven years ago, when Zanda, passed away after a farming accident on their cattle property 75 kilometres south of Cloncurry in Queensland. She shares this story and talks about life now with Skye Manson for this edition of Life on the Land.Thank you so much to this episode's sponsor, the Zanda McDonald Award.To apply for the 2021 Zanda McDonald Award click here www.zandamcdonald.comWe'll be back next week with the story of another wonderful rural women - make sure you Subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss it.If you would like to support this independant podcast publication please share it with a friend (or several).Either text them this episode, or share it on your Instagram stories! Take a screenshot of your app, and show us how you listen by messaging or tagging us – whether that is checking the waters; baking at home; going for an afternoon walk, doing whatever you are doing. Life on the Land is produced by the Manson + Company podcast production house.
Welcome to our new podcast telling stories of women who live in rural and regional Australia. Stories from all kinds of women, who have lived all kinds of lives from all different walks of life. In our first season over 8 episodes, join our hosts Skye Manson and Emily Herbert as they speak to women from all over Australia. Hear from farmers, mothers, photographers, business owners, teachers, nurses and doctors too. Hear from women who have moved to the country and women who have moved away from the country. Everyday women, we all have a story to tell.