Ever felt like trading in your life? Amie Penny, did just that.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you walked away from the life you thought you were supposed to live?
Amie Penny grew up in the suburbs of Sydney and went on to work at an investment bank in the CBD. She loved the corporate world and always imagined herself in a successful nine-to-five career. Farming was never part of the plan.
Then, what was supposed to be a two-week break on her extended family’s farm near Cowra changed everything.
Something clicked for Amie. She surprised herself by walking away from her corporate career and, after meeting her husband, the pair pulled out a map, picked Rockhampton and packed up their horse float to start a new life. With very little money, they spent close to a year living in that horse float in someone else’s backyard while saving for a place of their own.
From there, they built their life one step at a time. They bought 60 acres, lived in sheds and less-than-glamorous houses, and kept buying slightly bigger properties as they could afford them. What started with 16 Brahman cows eventually grew into a farming business running around 1,200 Angus cattle across properties near Gunnedah and Walcha.
In this episode of Ducks on the Pond, Amie shares what it’s like to build a life in agriculture when you don’t come from a farming background — including teaching herself how to farm through Google, instinct and the occasional phone call to a neighbour.
We also dive into the big questions around the realities of starting from scratch and why breaking into farming can be so difficult for people without inherited land, Amie is also asking an important question: when do you give yourself permission to actually enjoy what you’ve created?
