Life on the Land
Graziher
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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.
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
Jun 12, 2022
Stereotype smashing film maker (and rural girl) Bec Bignell
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 Australians 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's 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.
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Jun 5, 2022
Cassandra Hooke thanks her love of gardening for many things
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.
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May 29, 2022
The inimitable story of Torie Finnane in life and legacy.
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.
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May 22, 2022
Sandra Scott took a desert change after a lifetime of farming
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.
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May 15, 2022
Paying $70 for 500g mince, prompted Kere to Country's misson to end indigenous food insecurity in Australia
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.
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May 7, 2022
Mother's Day Special: a mother to 12 children and your words of love
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.
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May 1, 2022
Respect, manners and breaking the rules with Wendy McCarthy AO
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.
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Apr 17, 2022
Lynda MacCallum on Multiple Sclerosis, horse therapy and burning the candle at both ends.
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.
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Apr 10, 2022
Meg Bignell isn't a farmer's wife
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
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Apr 3, 2022
Instagram's rural 'it' girl Marion Saunders from Carinda, NSW
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.
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Mar 27, 2022
100 years of the CWA of NSW with CEO Danica Leys
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 eventuall…
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Mar 20, 2022
Lyndee Severin took her motorbike to have a look at central Australia and ended up making it her life
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…
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Mar 13, 2022
Journalist Bronwyn Herbert lives in flooded Lismore
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 ne…
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Mar 6, 2022
Behind the scenes of Nicola Forrest AO's life as a wife and a mother
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 yo…
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Feb 27, 2022
Virginia Tapscott wants to talk about child sexual abuse
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…
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Jan 30, 2022
TEAM PICKS - Maggie MacKellar (Victoria Carey)
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 underst…
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Jan 23, 2022
TEAM PICKS - Emily Herbert, (Claire Dunne)
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."
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Jan 16, 2022
TEAM PICKS - Grace Quast (Shannon Dunne)
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!
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Jan 9, 2022
TEAM PICK- Emily Riggs (Sally Jackson)
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.
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Jan 2, 2022
TEAM PICKS: Goterra CEO Olympia Yarger (Emily Herbert)
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 m…
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Dec 19, 2021
TEAM PICKS: Christine Ferguson (Skye Manson)
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 gen…
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Dec 12, 2021
Overcoming overwhelm this Christmas with Katrina Myers
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 C…
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Dec 5, 2021
Championing geographic diversity with Jo Palmer from Pointer Remote Roles
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…
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Nov 28, 2021
Cressida Cains, Pecora Dairy and milking sheep while feeding children in high chairs
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…
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Nov 21, 2021
The first female President of the National Farmers Federation Fiona Simson
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 SkyMes…
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Nov 14, 2021
24 year old country girl Ruby Riethmuller's innovative approach to mental health for teenage girls
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…
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Oct 24, 2021
Life's river with beef producer, designer and private pilot Yolande Woods
Resilience is a word that is bandied about and the experts are still unsure how it forms. After
speaking 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 I
know 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 to
anyone else. Raised in the outback, her bush roots hold s…
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Oct 21, 2021
National winner of the Agrifutures Rural Womens Award Cara Peek
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.
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Oct 17, 2021
The magical bond of sisters: Jacqui Meyers and Julia Roche
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.
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Oct 10, 2021
Julia Roche: part of a new generation of artists in regional Australia.
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 Australia
To 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…
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Oct 3, 2021
A fresh perspective on agriculture with Guardian Australia's new rural editor Gabrielle Chan
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 s…
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Sep 26, 2021
Meet Jane Smith, The Shady Baker
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!…
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Sep 19, 2021
A new publication for rural Australia: The Bush Journal
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 y…
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Sep 15, 2021
BONUS: Olympia Yarger and escaping Afghanistan
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.
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Sep 12, 2021
Goterra CEO Olympia Yarger on grief and growing
_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 14_
There 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…
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Sep 5, 2021
Four farming daughters - the legacy of Karen and Dan Penfold
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…
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Aug 8, 2021
Simone Kain knows how to 'just get it done'
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…
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Aug 1, 2021
Heidi Castleden wants you to think about organ donation PART 2
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.co
Sign up to the Graziher newsletter or subscribe to our quarterly publication for 2 or 3 years and receive a Rachel Castle Graziher…
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Jul 25, 2021
Heidi Castleden wants you to think about organ donation
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 donateli…
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Jul 21, 2021
Rachel Castle is proud of her country roots
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.
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Jul 18, 2021
From Paris to trekking solo through the Outback with Alienor le Gouvello
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…
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Jul 11, 2021
Whitney Spicer still loves art, dirt roads and the school bus
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…
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Jul 4, 2021
Laura Hall uses hats to tell your life story
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.
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Jun 27, 2021
Tracey Hayes is one tough woman, who's seen it all
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 a…
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Jun 20, 2021
Thea Harrington and a once in a generation flood
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 long
term sus…
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May 30, 2021
Edwina Robertson, the self-proclaimed Queen of Dust
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 she
was going to marry had been unfaithful.
Unemployed and with no idea where she wanted to go in life, she sat dow…
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May 23, 2021
Mea Campbell on letter-writing and loneliness
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. And_ _Mea 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…
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May 16, 2021
Ali Cooper has a full farming life across six properties in three states
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 brand
it is so well known for.
You can help us to continue giving a voice to women and their stories in the bush by…
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May 9, 2021
Landline's Pip Courtney thinks she's the luckiest girl in the world
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.
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May 2, 2021
Emily Herbert knows happiness and harrowing grief
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 suf…
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Apr 25, 2021
Life on the Land in a wheelchair doesn't hold back Samantha Longmore
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 4636
When 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…
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Mar 28, 2021
Fleur McDonald's writes best selling books based on experiences of overcoming adversity in farming
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.
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Mar 21, 2021
Elisha Parker wears all the hats
From a school of the air childhood, where afternoon’s meant sticky hands from the
molasses 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 g…
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Mar 14, 2021
Stephanie Trethewey created a podcast to overcome the isolation of rural living
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 Grazi…
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Mar 7, 2021
Fanny Lumsden comes from a long line of farming families and show ponies.
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!…
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Mar 2, 2021
BONUS: Maggie MacKellar on writing, journalling and being in touch with Life on the Land
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.
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Feb 28, 2021
Maggie MacKellar was saved by 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 …… an…
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Feb 21, 2021
Robbie Sefton's story is surprising in so many ways
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…
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Feb 14, 2021
The hustle behind the headlines with The Regional PR Co's Georgie Robertson
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.
Tha…
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Feb 7, 2021
Lightning did strike twice for Emily Riggs of Iris + Wool and her family
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 4636
Thank you to our sponsor for this series of Life on the Land: Blundstone Australia.
The Autumn…
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Dec 20, 2020
Graziher Christmas Special
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.
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Dec 13, 2020
Cara Peek is not about making people feel comfortable
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 subscripti…
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Dec 6, 2020
A bush business' best friend, Grace Brennan from Buy From The Bush
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…
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Nov 29, 2020
From farming to fashion and back again with Grace Quast
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 Instagram
Emily Herbert website
This podcast is a Manson + Company production.
We…
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Nov 22, 2020
2020 has been a tough year for dairy farmer Tahlia McSwain
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…
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Nov 15, 2020
Building e-commerce giant Birdsnest with Jane Cay
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 outside
Cooma. 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 amaz…
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Nov 8, 2020
Jumbled's Pip Brett is like a cup of espresso with sparkles
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.com
Thank 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 subscripti…
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Nov 1, 2020
Sophie Hansen loves to shine a light on fellow rural women
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…
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Oct 11, 2020
Celebrating Spring in the garden with Claire Austin
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’…
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Oct 4, 2020
Shanna Whan is serious about beating booze in the bush
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…
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Sep 27, 2020
Fiona Baird brings fun, fashion and feverishly hard work to her job on live export vessels.
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 a…
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Sep 20, 2020
Christine Ferguson loves the wisdom of life's harsh realities
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.
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Sep 13, 2020
Georgie Mattschoss is cultivating conversation about mental ill health
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. He…
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Sep 6, 2020
Annabelle Hickson is still surprised by life on the land
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…
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Aug 30, 2020
Grace McLeod is the next generation of women managing the farm.
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 her…
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Aug 23, 2020
Julie McDonald - challenges and triumphs.
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.com
We'll be back next week with the story of another wonderful rural women - make sure you Subsc…
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Aug 18, 2020
Welcome to the Graziher podcast
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.
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