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A podcast for rural women... by rural women. Hosted by Kirsten Diprose, Jackie Elliott and Jennifer McCutcheon, they seek expert advice and the stories of other rural women on issues such as succession planning, motherhood, starting a business...running for politics and much more!
Latest Episodes…
SEASON 7
FARMERS FOR CLIMATE ACTION COLLAB SERIES PART 3: CARMEL ONIONS & LEAH GARNETT
In this episode we dive into ways to help you account for all the good environmental work you do on farm. We also get insights directly from the bank, including what financial tools are out there and how to best communicate your vision with your bank manager.
FARMERS FOR CLIMATE ACTION COLLAB SERIES PART 2: ELLEN LITCHFIELD & DIMITY TAYLOR
In this episode, you’ll hear from two women who are each running farming operations in two very different landscapes...but are both proudly, climate smart farmers.
FARMERS FOR CLIMATE ACTION COLLAB SERIES PART 1: FIONA MARSHALL & CRESSIDA CAINS
In this episode, you’ll meet two women who think strategically about their own farming businesses, as well as broader issues around soil science, national food security (such as a national food plan) and how to bring more diversity into industry board rooms.
RURAL WOMEN LEAD COLLAB SERIES PART 3: JODIE HILL
There is no specific playbook for systemic change. But there are a number of tools you can try. In this final episode of our three part series with Rural Women Lead, we explore this adaptive process by looking at the space of women’s health and wellbeing.
RURAL WOMEN LEAD COLLAB SERIES PART 2: TRUDY MARR & SHERRY JOHNSTONE
Storytelling is so important for connection and information retention (there are several studies that prove this!) But have you ever stopped to think how important knowing YOUR OWN story is?
RURAL WOMEN LEAD COLLAB SERIES PART 1: JESSICA FISHBURN
This is the beginning of a 3-part mini series on leadership: focusing on self, story and change. In this episode, focusing on ‘self’, we speak to Jessica Fishburn, a women’s health physiotherapist and Director at Gen Health, in Hamilton, VIC.
ALICE BYRNES & PROF JACKI SHERMER
Farm life can sometimes be romanticised, with the wide open spaces, animals and the freedom to do what you want. You might love the bush and your community…but are you actually happy?
DR BRIDGET CLANCY & REBECCA BRADSHAW
In this episode we talk about the perception that rural healthcare means second-best or second-rate. Whereas the opposite is actually true. Rural medical students often out-perform their city-based counterparts on standardised tests.
KARIN STARK & SUSAN FINDLAY TICKNER
Some renewables, such as wind, seem to be particularly controversial in a few parts of the country right now. This episode is not diving into that. Instead, it’s looking at how we design renewable energy projects, to ensure farmers and communities have the value of renewables delivered back to them.
NATALIE COLLARD
There's sometimes a feeling in agriculture, that “climate” and “climate action” is a dirty word. Despite ‘the weather’ being every farmer’s favourite topic, the word “climate” can be seen as divisive. And you'd certainly better not talk about “climate action!” However, this episode’s guest is not afraid of “climate action”… and also wants the best for farmers. The two aren't mutually exclusive.
ALANA MOLLER & LOUISE MARTIN
It can be a hard case to argue… that your children should be subsidised to attend a private boarding school. But when you live in rural and remote Australia, boarding school is really the only option.
LOUISE MURRIHY & ROCHELLE OLSEN
In this special episode of Ducks of the Pond, we hear individual stories of grieving and baby loss, as well as a collective response from a group of Warrnambool mothers, who call themselves “the Electric Eight”. It’s a support group that started forming 13 years ago, for mothers whose babies have died.
ASHLEY MOLLOY
Ashley has been a police officer, worked in marketing, built her own home and now designs jewellery. Each chapter seems very different on face value. But Ashley sees her life as a continuity of growth; in skills, experience and understanding what’s right for each chapter of life.
SARAH NOLET & EBONY GREAVES
We are hearing more and more about the use of agtech for precision farming tech, for water level monitoring, soil carbon accounting, and so much more. So where do you even start? And is it even worth the time and effort?
CYNTHIA MAHONEY & GILLIAN FENNELL
We’re in the middle of a Federal election campaign…and you can already see that issues such as the cost of living, housing, health and crime are going to be crucial areas of focus for pretty much any candidate hoping to get elected. But what if the issue that matters most to you, or to your family or your community… is NOT one of those hot button topics?
KAREN FOSTER & JODIE FLEMING
Do you have a goal or dream that you want to pursue, but stop yourself because you feel it’s too selfish or you don’t have enough time? Sometimes we women formulate the idea that we need to be of service to others… in order to be loved. And it’s not our fault.
CATHERINE MARRIOTT & KIRSTEN DIPROSE
Agriculture isn’t just the act of growing crops or tending to the animals, as the dictionary likes to define it. It’s actually a complex system …which impacts and is impacted by a variety of things from government regulation, people, climate change, politics and so much more.
EMILY KING
Tea tree oil and nanotechnology for fly strike and foot-rot resistant sheep…. These are just some of the exciting innovations happening in agriculture. But how do you lift an entire sector or industry? It’s not always easy in farming when most of us work alone or with family.
LEXIE LEONARD
Owning a home these days is hard enough, so what about building your own farm from scratch? Dr Lexie Leonard is a vet, an animal health trainer and a farmer who is building her own farming business alongside her husband and their young children in Balmoral, Victoria.
RACHAEL MCGRATH
Women have a powerful voice in agriculture, but would you call it equal to men? In Australia, there are more than 88,000 women working in agriculture across multiple industries. The numbers are growing, but women only make up one third of the overall ag workforce.
TARA MCGRATH-WEST & BEC MALSEED
Chances are, when you were growing up, the idea of becoming a professional female footballer or even a female footy umpire for men’s games… was simply impossible. But NOW, it is.
REBECCA SAUNDERS & PAIGE CROSS
If you’ve spent a decade or more building a professional career - the idea of starting a business might seem out of reach. But you have plenty of skills already, in fact you are probably REALLY good at a couple of things… that people will actually pay you for.
MARION SAUNDERS & OLIVIA THWAITES
Clothing is not trivial, it’s actually an expression of self. This episode is not about needing to look like a supermodel or spend ridiculous amounts of money on clothes (gosh, there’s enough pressure on us as women to do that already!).
MALINDA GUEST & KATJA WILLIAMS
There are suggestions that Australia is in the middle of a loneliness epidemic; in fact one in three people experience it. Country towns are pretty good at welcoming people in, but making close, meaningful relationships takes time and it takes effort.
LOUISE O’NEILL
How do we get our men to actively participate in a stand to stop violence against women? This is a tricky conversation. Clearly, it would be great if men just stop being violent. But telling men to simply ‘stop it,’ isn’t working.
LEILA MCDOUGALL
With gender roles for men not being as defined as perhaps they once were, what does this mean for our rural men who grew up with certain ideas of 'what a man should look like?'
KELLY BARNES & CHRISSY SYMEONAKIS
Being diagnosed with a chronic illness is a massive change. And most people who have experienced this, speak about a grieving process for your old life and even your old identity, especially if it was based on being physically active.
KRYSTIE HOLLEY, HEATHER BALDOCK & DANNA KASSEBAUM
There’s this persistent notion that starting up a retail store in the main street of town is just too hard. From the high rents, cost of living crisis, to the relatively low foot traffic in country towns, finding a physical space to sell things, the ‘ye olde way’ can seem impossible.
ANGIE ARMSTRONG & NATALIE EGLETON
It’s important for community projects and local businesses to come from the bottom up. It’s the people on the ground who know what’s actually needed and how to best deliver it. But so many grants and programs are top-down.
JOSEPHINE CROFT
She’s a film producer and actor, based in Melbourne, but is part of a movement that’s making film more accessible to women. This includes job sharing on film sets, shorter hours and looking after the mental health of film crews.
 
            
              
            
            
          
               
            
              
            
            
          
               
            
              
            
            
          
              LATEST EPISODE
In this final episode of our three part series with Rural Women Lead, we explore the space of women’s health and wellbeing - including reproductive health, family violence and menopause - which are all areas that have been overlooked, misunderstood and mischaracterised throughout history.
 
            
              
            
            
          
              Previous Episodes
 
            
              
            
            
          
              CELEBRATING END OF LIFE
If you talk about death, you might be considered morbid, or worry that you'll upset someone. But is our fear of planning for death, actually preventing us from celebrating life?
 
            
              
            
            
          
              YOUR BIG DREAM IS NOT OVER
Have you ever felt like you missed the opportunity to chase your big life dream? Perhaps you feel like you're 'too old' now or the juggle of farming/ kids has made it impossible?
 
            
              
            
            
          
              WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE OUTSPOKEN
 
                         
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
     
  
  
    
    
    