WEBVTT - EXTRA: But Could You Really Move To A Farm? 0:00:10.287 --> 0:00:13.047 You're listening to Amma Mia podcast. 0:00:13.727 --> 0:00:16.767 Mamma Mere acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters 0:00:16.767 --> 0:00:21.207 that this podcast is recorded on. A rural life looks 0:00:21.207 --> 0:00:25.487 good on Instagram, rolling green hills and shaded verandahs and 0:00:25.527 --> 0:00:30.807 pretty fluffy animals, sunsets and sunrises painted across big skies, 0:00:31.247 --> 0:00:35.407 acquired a pace, a calmer mind, and a rural life 0:00:35.447 --> 0:00:39.087 also looks good in your plan for your post work self. 0:00:39.767 --> 0:00:42.927 And welcome to this bonus episode in our mid mini 0:00:42.967 --> 0:00:46.447 series about that third age, what you might want to 0:00:46.487 --> 0:00:49.527 do when you finish doing what you've been doing for 0:00:49.607 --> 0:00:53.127 money all these years. My name is Holly Wainwright and 0:00:53.207 --> 0:00:55.807 I have an incredible guest to talk about taking an 0:00:55.887 --> 0:00:59.287 unexpected pivot a little later at the most and it's 0:00:59.407 --> 0:01:03.567 Rachel Ward. Yes, you know who Rachel Ward is. She 0:01:03.727 --> 0:01:06.767 is an iconic Australian actress who isn't Australian at all. 0:01:07.127 --> 0:01:11.367 She's actually the quintessential English gentlewoman who met Brian Brown 0:01:11.567 --> 0:01:14.327 on the set of The Thorn Birds in nineteen eighty two. 0:01:14.447 --> 0:01:17.327 It doesn't get any more iconic than that, and she 0:01:17.487 --> 0:01:19.927 followed him to Australia, which was a place she says 0:01:19.967 --> 0:01:23.127 she knew nothing about, and they've lived here pretty much 0:01:23.287 --> 0:01:28.447 ever since, raising a family and working. More recently, Rachel 0:01:28.447 --> 0:01:31.927 has directed films like Beautiful Kate and Palm Beach, and 0:01:32.087 --> 0:01:37.047 now a documentary called Rachel's Farm about her rural pivot. 0:01:37.967 --> 0:01:41.207 As you're about to hear in her third act, Rachel 0:01:41.247 --> 0:01:44.327 Ward has become a farmer, and not a hobby farmer 0:01:44.727 --> 0:01:48.127 that just looks pretty on Instagram, but a farmer farmer 0:01:48.567 --> 0:01:51.007 taking on the running of the cattle property that for 0:01:51.127 --> 0:01:54.927 years was a picturesque Northern river's weekender and holiday home 0:01:55.007 --> 0:01:55.727 for her family. 0:01:56.447 --> 0:01:57.127 Not anymore. 0:01:57.687 --> 0:02:01.447 Now it's where Rachel Farm's cattle and her land regeneratively. 0:02:02.007 --> 0:02:04.007 You're going to hear her talking about deciding to become 0:02:04.047 --> 0:02:06.927 a farmer, a hands on one at sixty, and the 0:02:07.007 --> 0:02:11.207 existential crisis that pushed her in to regent farming. 0:02:10.847 --> 0:02:11.567 As it's called. 0:02:11.967 --> 0:02:14.207 You're going to hear her talking about what Brian thinks 0:02:14.207 --> 0:02:16.887 about life on the farm, clue he's not that into it. 0:02:17.207 --> 0:02:19.687 And you're going to hear about Rachel's life from a 0:02:19.807 --> 0:02:24.127 rarefied aristocratic upbringing in the English countryside to feeling pushed 0:02:24.127 --> 0:02:26.967 aside by the film industry, to what motherhood meant to 0:02:27.007 --> 0:02:29.967 her and how it all led her here to looking 0:02:30.007 --> 0:02:33.047 at cowpoo for validation that she's on the right track. 0:02:33.727 --> 0:02:36.567 So come and sit down on the verandah with Rachel 0:02:36.567 --> 0:02:40.287 Ward and I. Rachel, we need to talk about dong 0:02:40.327 --> 0:02:44.887 beetles already, because for all the sort of passions that 0:02:44.927 --> 0:02:47.167 we might come to at different points in our lives, 0:02:48.047 --> 0:02:52.967 a dung beetle obsession is particular specific and it's a 0:02:52.967 --> 0:02:56.647 clumsy way of saying, I guess you've become a farmer 0:02:56.887 --> 0:03:00.447 at a sort of surprising time in your life. Yes, 0:03:00.847 --> 0:03:04.207 and it's an amazing story. And I'd love to start 0:03:04.247 --> 0:03:06.527 with the farm itself, which has been in your life 0:03:06.567 --> 0:03:07.567 for a long time. 0:03:07.887 --> 0:03:08.127 Yep. 0:03:08.607 --> 0:03:13.247 So you bought the farmer initially as a holiday home almost, 0:03:14.087 --> 0:03:16.847 and it's grown in importance. Is that fair to say? 0:03:17.407 --> 0:03:18.407 Yeah? Spot on. 0:03:18.687 --> 0:03:21.727 We bought it as a sort of lifestyle retreat, and 0:03:22.207 --> 0:03:26.767 we bought one hundred acres and we had about thirty 0:03:26.807 --> 0:03:29.887 cars on there. And there was the guy that we 0:03:29.927 --> 0:03:33.487 bought it from. He continued to manage it. He moved 0:03:33.527 --> 0:03:36.327 to another house nearby and continued to manage it, and 0:03:36.367 --> 0:03:41.727 then it passed to Mick Green senior who managed it 0:03:41.927 --> 0:03:43.207 beautifully for. 0:03:44.447 --> 0:03:45.727 How many years. 0:03:46.207 --> 0:03:51.367 I would think about fifteen years and then young Nick 0:03:51.447 --> 0:03:55.607 took over. And that's where the documentary sort of joins in. 0:03:56.007 --> 0:03:58.807 When you buy a place as a lifestyle retreat, but 0:03:58.847 --> 0:04:02.487 it's being managed, is that then? So you and your family, 0:04:02.527 --> 0:04:04.927 your growing family, you would go up there for summers, 0:04:04.967 --> 0:04:07.287 for holiday weekends, and. 0:04:07.207 --> 0:04:08.927 You loved it right every holiday. 0:04:09.007 --> 0:04:12.407 Yeah, you weren't necessarily hands in there, but it was 0:04:12.447 --> 0:04:14.007 your place, your happy place. 0:04:14.327 --> 0:04:14.567 Yeah. 0:04:14.727 --> 0:04:18.007 We didn't travel much. We didn't go overseas much. I've 0:04:18.047 --> 0:04:20.127 never been to Bali or places like that, so we 0:04:20.247 --> 0:04:22.967 just always went. Every holiday, we'd get in the car 0:04:23.007 --> 0:04:23.327 and go. 0:04:23.367 --> 0:04:27.607 Up to the farm. So the kids are very country kids. 0:04:28.767 --> 0:04:31.887 They went to school in Sydney, but every holidays we 0:04:31.967 --> 0:04:34.047 went up there and they had their life up there, 0:04:34.087 --> 0:04:37.887 and they had their ponies and you know, learning to drive, 0:04:38.087 --> 0:04:40.687 and we're quite near Scott's Heads, so they all learnt 0:04:40.687 --> 0:04:45.287 to surf and yes, and I was incredibly sort of 0:04:45.327 --> 0:04:48.487 hands off and thought that I had really nothing to 0:04:48.527 --> 0:04:51.327 contribute as far as the farm went. It seemed very much, 0:04:51.767 --> 0:04:52.927 you know, a man's domain. 0:04:53.807 --> 0:04:55.127 And Brian was. 0:04:55.207 --> 0:05:00.287 Very keen that we were participated locally, that we had cattle, 0:05:00.407 --> 0:05:05.807 and that we weren't just there as people who weren't 0:05:05.847 --> 0:05:08.367 part of the community. So we were from the beginning 0:05:08.407 --> 0:05:11.047 very much part of the cam unity. At one point 0:05:11.047 --> 0:05:15.127 we were even showing cattle or even that the Maxville 0:05:15.167 --> 0:05:16.887 Show with our cattle. 0:05:17.007 --> 0:05:20.047 So but you know, but very just enjoying it. 0:05:20.127 --> 0:05:22.287 Lucky to have, you know, to be able to have 0:05:22.327 --> 0:05:25.087 that escape to the country, and that's what we did. 0:05:25.407 --> 0:05:27.847 And you grew up in the country, correct, So was 0:05:27.887 --> 0:05:30.647 it something that you were very keen to have that 0:05:30.767 --> 0:05:33.367 part in your child's life, in your life as you were. 0:05:35.247 --> 0:05:39.327 Yes, I think I probably romanticized it, and I did 0:05:39.367 --> 0:05:42.047 grew up in the country. I didn't want to move 0:05:42.087 --> 0:05:43.847 full time to the country. I mean, I was very 0:05:43.887 --> 0:05:48.847 wedded to, you know, my career in entertainment, so I 0:05:48.847 --> 0:05:52.967 didn't see myself being a farmer at that stage. But 0:05:53.447 --> 0:05:56.607 as it went on, I mean, it was really not 0:05:56.927 --> 0:06:01.727 until the bushfires that I had the big switch. And 0:06:02.527 --> 0:06:04.967 it was really not until I read Charles Massey's book 0:06:04.967 --> 0:06:08.327 and understood about call it a read Warbler, that I 0:06:08.367 --> 0:06:12.607 really understood about other forms of farming and that there 0:06:12.767 --> 0:06:17.247 was even other forms of farming and that I went, oh, 0:06:17.607 --> 0:06:19.167 maybe I can do that too. 0:06:19.967 --> 0:06:24.367 So in the documentary, which is beautiful, I think I 0:06:24.447 --> 0:06:27.807 really really loved it. The part that sort of expresses 0:06:27.847 --> 0:06:33.087 this period, your daughter says that she was worried about you. 0:06:33.087 --> 0:06:35.647 You were very distressed. I mean, I can't imagine why 0:06:35.727 --> 0:06:41.247 by the climate crisis, the climate catastrophe, and that was 0:06:41.487 --> 0:06:45.087 it was like you were burning to do something about it, 0:06:45.127 --> 0:06:47.527 to somehow be part of a solution. 0:06:48.087 --> 0:06:51.527 What was that time like hard? 0:06:51.767 --> 0:06:54.087 I mean it was a yeah, it was brought on 0:06:54.367 --> 0:06:58.607 by my fear of I mean I really believe that 0:06:58.367 --> 0:07:02.727 the I would say today the fear mongering actually of carbon, 0:07:02.767 --> 0:07:07.807 the whole carbon issue, and I was, you know, I 0:07:07.847 --> 0:07:11.167 felt terribly impotent because I you know, on the in 0:07:11.247 --> 0:07:13.807 the media obviously we heard how that it was an 0:07:13.847 --> 0:07:18.727 existential problem, and yet sort of governments really didn't seem 0:07:18.767 --> 0:07:22.007 to be acting as if it was an existential problem. 0:07:22.167 --> 0:07:24.607 So it was that that thing of like, well, are 0:07:24.607 --> 0:07:27.127 they going to do something or are they not? And 0:07:27.367 --> 0:07:29.167 who if they're not, what are we going to do 0:07:29.207 --> 0:07:33.567 about this situation? Because I was certainly after I witnessed 0:07:33.567 --> 0:07:36.727 the fires and then went and there was you know, 0:07:36.727 --> 0:07:39.407 a lot of talk about this being beyond just the 0:07:39.487 --> 0:07:42.047 normal bushfire, and that this was you know, as hot 0:07:42.527 --> 0:07:45.367 as we're ever going to get, and and everything went, 0:07:45.527 --> 0:07:47.127 you know, it was obviously going to go up in flames. 0:07:47.167 --> 0:07:50.887 But I think I was a bit ignorant about what 0:07:51.047 --> 0:07:57.087 aspect of climate change was in was inciting those fires 0:07:57.207 --> 0:08:01.887 or was creating those fires? I don't necessarily think. I mean, 0:08:01.887 --> 0:08:04.847 I think we had a big drought, and we were 0:08:05.167 --> 0:08:09.527 and we have forests which are full of uh fuel. 0:08:09.767 --> 0:08:11.567 Yeah, so it was a. 0:08:13.287 --> 0:08:16.127 It was timely and was it really because we had 0:08:16.127 --> 0:08:17.687 too much carbon in the atmosphere? 0:08:17.727 --> 0:08:20.487 Is it really climate change or is it just a 0:08:20.567 --> 0:08:23.847 very long drought with a heavy load of fuel. So 0:08:23.967 --> 0:08:24.487 I think. 0:08:24.327 --> 0:08:29.407 Today I'm more circumspect about that and I'm less concerned 0:08:29.567 --> 0:08:35.247 about that aspect of climate. I'm certainly, you know, really 0:08:35.247 --> 0:08:37.847 working hard that we get more biodiversity and we hold 0:08:37.887 --> 0:08:39.047 more water in our. 0:08:39.047 --> 0:08:42.887 Land, because when you are on the land, whether you're 0:08:42.927 --> 0:08:45.767 living there full time or not, you're much closer to 0:08:45.847 --> 0:08:49.407 these disasters, like literally, but also emotionally and in terms 0:08:49.447 --> 0:08:53.327 of your stress levels about them, in terms of fire, flood, drought, 0:08:53.407 --> 0:08:55.047 and all of the rest of those things. You can 0:08:55.087 --> 0:08:55.447 feel it. 0:08:55.527 --> 0:08:57.807 You can almost well you're right in the middle of 0:08:57.847 --> 0:09:00.887 it usually and it has enormous consequences to you as 0:09:00.887 --> 0:09:03.327 a farmer and to the community that you love. 0:09:03.487 --> 0:09:08.487 Yeah, so at the time, this the anxiety around climate, which, 0:09:08.527 --> 0:09:10.767 as you say, you've kind of shifted a little on. 0:09:10.847 --> 0:09:13.927 But you say in that you say in the documentary 0:09:13.927 --> 0:09:16.567 that also you've become a grandparent. You're looking at your 0:09:16.567 --> 0:09:20.527 grandkids and thinking what's going to happen for them? What 0:09:20.607 --> 0:09:22.247 kind of world are we giving them? 0:09:22.327 --> 0:09:23.847 That was all part of the sort of you know, 0:09:24.047 --> 0:09:27.847 definitely adding to my fear load of what was the 0:09:27.887 --> 0:09:30.687 future of my grandchildren, because you know, I felt that 0:09:30.847 --> 0:09:32.567 I was okay, I mean, I'm not going to be 0:09:32.687 --> 0:09:37.087 probably around when probably around when everything comes home to roost. 0:09:37.287 --> 0:09:40.127 But I obviously, you know, with having grandchildren, it brings 0:09:40.167 --> 0:09:44.447 that very it brings that into focus, the fact that 0:09:44.487 --> 0:09:48.367 your grandchildren are going to be here, you know, after 0:09:48.527 --> 0:09:53.887 they have prophetically said that the world is nigh so. 0:09:54.367 --> 0:09:56.567 And you One of the things about getting older I 0:09:56.567 --> 0:09:58.807 think sometimes too, is you struggle with the idea that 0:09:58.887 --> 0:10:01.447 not everything's getting better. In fact, quite a few things 0:10:01.487 --> 0:10:04.567 seem to be getting worse and sometimes there's the anxiety 0:10:04.567 --> 0:10:07.447 about what can I do about that? How is it 0:10:07.487 --> 0:10:09.807 too late for me to participate? I guess this is 0:10:09.847 --> 0:10:11.407 a lot of the stuff that was going on that. 0:10:12.047 --> 0:10:14.447 Yes, it sort of trivializes to a lot of the 0:10:14.447 --> 0:10:17.647 things that you're doing. It feels very trivial, like making 0:10:17.687 --> 0:10:20.607 films and making TV shows. And I just felt I 0:10:20.647 --> 0:10:23.567 needed to, you know, push my energies in a different direction. 0:10:24.087 --> 0:10:27.007 The impotence was alleviated by the fact that I realized 0:10:27.047 --> 0:10:31.607 I had three very strong motivating factors in my life, 0:10:32.207 --> 0:10:34.327 which was the fact I had a farm, and after 0:10:34.367 --> 0:10:36.967 reading the Call of the Reed Warbler, I realized I 0:10:37.007 --> 0:10:40.847 could actually change the direction of my farm and the 0:10:40.887 --> 0:10:44.527 way I found And I also understood that farmers, you know, 0:10:44.767 --> 0:10:47.887 had to take a bit of responsibility about where, you know, 0:10:47.927 --> 0:10:51.887 biodiversity was heading and growing monocultures and clearing land and 0:10:52.447 --> 0:10:56.127 pumping out carbon. And then as a consumer, I just 0:10:56.327 --> 0:10:59.927 completely changed the way I understood my food dollar, how 0:10:59.927 --> 0:11:02.847 my food dollar worked, and how I could, you know, 0:11:02.967 --> 0:11:06.447 buy according to my values. And I also kind of went, 0:11:07.367 --> 0:11:09.847 if I'm going to call myself an environmental the first 0:11:09.847 --> 0:11:11.647 thing I've got to look at is how I spend 0:11:11.727 --> 0:11:12.327 my food. 0:11:12.127 --> 0:11:14.047 Dollar and the power of your person. 0:11:14.127 --> 0:11:16.687 That's right, because that has an enormous effect on the 0:11:16.727 --> 0:11:18.247 way farmers farm. 0:11:18.407 --> 0:11:24.167 So in the film, this begins in a way. It's 0:11:24.207 --> 0:11:28.247 a beautiful film because your property is beautiful, your enthusiasm 0:11:28.327 --> 0:11:32.047 and commitment to this project is beautiful. Your farm manager 0:11:32.447 --> 0:11:35.047 is such a great foil because he's kind of like 0:11:35.527 --> 0:11:39.167 steady on Rachel. I go all the time at the 0:11:39.167 --> 0:11:42.367 beginning of that, because obviously you've got a great narrative 0:11:42.487 --> 0:11:45.767 arc in the film in that you know, you get 0:11:45.767 --> 0:11:47.847 your soils tested, you work out what you're doing, you 0:11:47.887 --> 0:11:50.047 work out what you're aiming for. This is a massive 0:11:50.127 --> 0:11:52.327 learning curve. One of the things I was watching thinking 0:11:52.367 --> 0:11:55.487 when I was watching it is it's very exciting and 0:11:55.607 --> 0:11:59.527 energizing to learn new things, right, especially if you're a 0:11:59.527 --> 0:12:01.767 bit of a point in your life where you're feeling 0:12:01.807 --> 0:12:03.967 a bit lost or I mean, I don't want to 0:12:03.967 --> 0:12:06.767 put work in your mouth, but feeling a bit lost, 0:12:06.847 --> 0:12:09.887 or what's my role now or my career I'm not 0:12:09.887 --> 0:12:10.407 sure where. 0:12:10.607 --> 0:12:13.767 Careers basically winding up kids have gone, you know. And 0:12:13.807 --> 0:12:18.487 I still felt credibly energetic and like I had something 0:12:18.527 --> 0:12:21.727 to offer, but trying to find where that how you 0:12:21.807 --> 0:12:26.807 are going to contribute is a horrible moment. It's a 0:12:26.887 --> 0:12:30.207 very sort of until you also knowing that you're going 0:12:30.287 --> 0:12:32.527 to have to go on a big learning curve. That 0:12:32.607 --> 0:12:37.007 first step is it's hard to make, isn't it When 0:12:37.047 --> 0:12:40.887 you change your life, change careers, whatever, you get divorced 0:12:41.127 --> 0:12:43.807 or you know, those huge life changes and you know 0:12:43.887 --> 0:12:46.967 that you've got a massive hill to climb before it 0:12:46.967 --> 0:12:50.367 gets easy again. And it's yeah, and I was very 0:12:50.367 --> 0:12:53.127 resistant to putting those that first foot out. And I 0:12:53.247 --> 0:12:57.207 knew that if I I'd never made a documentary before, to. 0:12:57.287 --> 0:13:00.887 Make dramas directing actors. 0:13:00.927 --> 0:13:04.207 Yeah, yeah, so it was a totally different entertainment form 0:13:04.287 --> 0:13:04.527 for me. 0:13:05.127 --> 0:13:07.127 And I didn't want to be in it. I wanted 0:13:07.167 --> 0:13:09.167 to bring attention to all. 0:13:09.087 --> 0:13:13.727 The wonderful farmers, these early adopters of this type of farming. 0:13:13.847 --> 0:13:17.527 And there's after reading the book, I was just suddenly 0:13:17.527 --> 0:13:20.487 made so aware of how heroic some of these early 0:13:20.527 --> 0:13:23.127 adopters have been and how they were still you know, 0:13:23.487 --> 0:13:26.727 going forward and doing it without really very little recognition. 0:13:27.687 --> 0:13:32.927 And yeah, so I didn't want to be in it. 0:13:33.367 --> 0:13:36.647 And then my producer, Beteina Dalton, said, oh, well, you 0:13:36.727 --> 0:13:38.527 have to be in it has to be your journey. 0:13:38.567 --> 0:13:40.007 And I said, well, it's going to be about a 0:13:40.047 --> 0:13:42.647 minute and a half long because I haven't you know, I. 0:13:42.567 --> 0:13:45.007 Don't know anything about this. 0:13:45.647 --> 0:13:48.127 And I think she knew somehow that that was going 0:13:48.167 --> 0:13:51.567 to be Obviously the entertaining bit the fact that I 0:13:51.647 --> 0:13:54.247 knew nothing about it, but I still had to talk 0:13:54.287 --> 0:13:56.567 about it, and I still and you're not really when 0:13:56.567 --> 0:13:58.687 you're in the middle of your journey, you're very often 0:13:58.807 --> 0:14:02.727 not aware of what your journey is, what the you know, beginning, middle, 0:14:02.727 --> 0:14:06.007 and end is. And you know, we're all very used 0:14:06.047 --> 0:14:10.847 to the structures of a heroic journe and I certainly 0:14:10.847 --> 0:14:13.287 didn't have an end to the to the story. I 0:14:13.407 --> 0:14:17.127 had the person going on the journey myself, but and 0:14:17.407 --> 0:14:19.247 I had it to a certain point, and I had 0:14:19.247 --> 0:14:22.447 the amassing the knowledge and the wisdom and all of that. 0:14:22.567 --> 0:14:26.407 But then what and luck nature hands you a few 0:14:26.487 --> 0:14:27.167 good plots. 0:14:27.527 --> 0:14:30.607 Nature definitely hands me some good two good chapters. 0:14:30.727 --> 0:14:34.607 Yeah, after the break, Rachel tells me what life on 0:14:34.687 --> 0:14:35.967 the farm is really like. 0:14:36.407 --> 0:14:38.847 Stay with us. 0:14:40.167 --> 0:14:43.407 One of the things that is really interesting about the 0:14:43.447 --> 0:14:46.607 story is that you it's it's very hands on work, 0:14:46.647 --> 0:14:48.607 and at one point you decide that you need to 0:14:48.607 --> 0:14:52.367 move to the farm permanently to do this properly. And 0:14:52.407 --> 0:14:56.767 you're learning everything that the that the farm managers were 0:14:56.767 --> 0:15:01.007 doing before, which you I've heard you say, which looks 0:15:01.127 --> 0:15:03.527 like very hard work to me, But I've heard you 0:15:03.567 --> 0:15:05.207 say that it was fun, like it's fun that you 0:15:05.247 --> 0:15:05.567 love that. 0:15:06.367 --> 0:15:07.407 Yeah, it's a bit physical. 0:15:07.447 --> 0:15:10.247 It's a bit physical, but it's not that ba I 0:15:10.287 --> 0:15:14.567 mean a lot of you know, farmers, they definitely need strengths, 0:15:14.607 --> 0:15:18.207 particularly strength in their hands. I find that that's you know, 0:15:18.247 --> 0:15:21.447 I talk a lot about this being female friendly, and 0:15:21.487 --> 0:15:23.807 it is in a way, because you're those things that 0:15:23.847 --> 0:15:26.167 you bring as a woman into the cattle yards. You know, 0:15:26.207 --> 0:15:28.967 we are more gentle. We're gentler with the animals, I think. 0:15:29.607 --> 0:15:31.607 But there's a lot of things I can't do. They 0:15:31.647 --> 0:15:34.407 have something called an onto tractor called a PTO. Any 0:15:34.447 --> 0:15:36.967 implements that you're using, you have to put the PTO 0:15:37.207 --> 0:15:40.647 into the tractor. And I still can't do that, and 0:15:40.647 --> 0:15:42.367 it's just because I don't have the strength in my 0:15:42.447 --> 0:15:44.527 fingers to do it. And there are a couple of 0:15:44.567 --> 0:15:46.967 things that you just it's not so much strength it's 0:15:47.007 --> 0:15:50.647 the mechanical know how and that comes from sort of 0:15:50.647 --> 0:15:54.967 growing up beside your father, your your farmer father, who's 0:15:55.127 --> 0:15:57.527 just over the years has shown you a bit. I 0:15:57.607 --> 0:16:00.927 mean like Mick just has you know anything on the farm, 0:16:00.967 --> 0:16:03.367 any implement on the farm. He just has a knowledge 0:16:03.367 --> 0:16:05.647 about how to fix or how to oil or how to. 0:16:06.087 --> 0:16:07.127 Keep up with those things. 0:16:07.207 --> 0:16:10.527 That's my been my biggest learning curve is I'm not 0:16:10.647 --> 0:16:14.767 very far, but it's just and everything breaks all the time. 0:16:14.887 --> 0:16:18.887 You know, you're constantly getting people into fix the tractors well. 0:16:18.927 --> 0:16:23.007 And also and I know that obviously the documentary consolidates 0:16:23.047 --> 0:16:25.727 these events, but anyone who lives on the land would 0:16:25.727 --> 0:16:27.967 know it's true. There's always a thing. So there's a drought, 0:16:28.047 --> 0:16:29.927 or there's a fire, or there's the muffler fires or 0:16:29.927 --> 0:16:33.727 there's whatever. Yeah, and it is hard work has discussed. 0:16:33.847 --> 0:16:37.927 But did you is it harder? I guess did you 0:16:38.087 --> 0:16:40.567 love it as much as it appears that you did it? 0:16:40.687 --> 0:16:43.407 Did it give you the kind of meaning that you 0:16:43.447 --> 0:16:44.367 were looking for in it? 0:16:44.847 --> 0:16:49.207 Yes, in many ways it did. I certainly love being 0:16:49.367 --> 0:16:54.567 on I love a rural lifestyle, and I didn't realize 0:16:54.607 --> 0:16:57.887 how much I would enjoy it, and I think maybe 0:16:57.927 --> 0:17:00.087 it was the time of life. You know, I was 0:17:00.847 --> 0:17:03.927 not really interested in, you know, a social life anymore, 0:17:04.087 --> 0:17:06.847 or you know, in the entertainment industry was getting harder 0:17:06.847 --> 0:17:09.127 and harder, and you know, obviously the gender and age 0:17:09.247 --> 0:17:10.447 issues come into that. 0:17:11.607 --> 0:17:14.287 Did you feel that keenly as part of why you 0:17:14.367 --> 0:17:16.447 were pulling away from from that? 0:17:16.847 --> 0:17:19.207 Yeah, there's a lot of brick walls in the entertainment 0:17:19.207 --> 0:17:21.927 industry and there's a lot of frustration, and as there 0:17:22.007 --> 0:17:24.047 is in farming. I've probably chosen. 0:17:25.367 --> 0:17:28.207 Gone from farming is like, oh, I thought. 0:17:28.007 --> 0:17:30.367 You know, I came up against nature, but we're up 0:17:30.407 --> 0:17:33.927 against so much more than nature. But the supply chains 0:17:34.207 --> 0:17:38.727 are really only geared to the big business and to 0:17:38.807 --> 0:17:42.767 sort of corporate farming and industrial farming, and that's really 0:17:42.967 --> 0:17:47.847 not what we want always. You know, it certainly fills 0:17:47.847 --> 0:17:51.007 a place, but it's certainly for anybody who wants to 0:17:51.047 --> 0:17:55.087 live a rural lifestyle. It's very difficult to maintain a 0:17:56.287 --> 0:17:57.327 life on the land. 0:17:57.527 --> 0:18:00.647 So any idyllic vision of like this is going to 0:18:00.687 --> 0:18:02.447 be lovely. I'm going to be sitting on my veranda 0:18:02.567 --> 0:18:04.567 and the cows are we moving in the pastures, And 0:18:04.567 --> 0:18:05.407 it'll be is that. 0:18:07.487 --> 0:18:08.847 It's not that I wish it was. 0:18:09.367 --> 0:18:11.487 Yeah, sure, if you want to lose a lot of money, 0:18:11.847 --> 0:18:15.327 you know every year. Yeah, but every every farmer has 0:18:15.447 --> 0:18:19.247 somebody's got a second job in town. It's not possible 0:18:19.487 --> 0:18:21.527 really to make a living on farm. 0:18:21.967 --> 0:18:24.367 And that's and that means. 0:18:23.967 --> 0:18:27.167 That no young people are attracted to it. So the 0:18:27.207 --> 0:18:30.367 average age of the farmer is about sixty five. And 0:18:30.607 --> 0:18:32.687 I don't know who's coming up. My son actually has 0:18:32.767 --> 0:18:34.607 moved to the country, but he wants to try and 0:18:34.647 --> 0:18:38.327 grow hemp. So you know, he looks at mine and goes, well, 0:18:38.367 --> 0:18:40.447 that's not a career for me. I can't make money 0:18:40.687 --> 0:18:44.487 on what you've got set up. So I find very 0:18:44.567 --> 0:18:47.407 much now that I'm in a position of or that 0:18:47.487 --> 0:18:49.887 I'm involved much more in advocacy than. 0:18:49.727 --> 0:18:52.167 I am in the farming farm. 0:18:52.327 --> 0:18:56.087 I see, you know, I just think the government and 0:18:56.247 --> 0:19:00.567 the farming bodies are not paying enough attention to what's 0:19:00.607 --> 0:19:03.647 going on with small farms and rural lives. 0:19:03.447 --> 0:19:05.447 And what they need, what they really need. 0:19:05.807 --> 0:19:09.367 Or what those wholes the whole, the whole hint to 0:19:09.447 --> 0:19:13.207 land really from the coast three hundred kilometers towards the 0:19:13.207 --> 0:19:14.687 Great Dividing Range or whatever. 0:19:15.327 --> 0:19:16.567 That's all small farms. 0:19:17.607 --> 0:19:21.447 It sounds like the sort of to use a clumsy word, 0:19:21.487 --> 0:19:25.447 the sort of mission or purpose that brought you into 0:19:25.487 --> 0:19:29.687 this has morphed, right, and it keeps morphing, it keeps 0:19:30.207 --> 0:19:34.007 And there's a bit in the documentary where Brian, you know, 0:19:34.087 --> 0:19:36.927 your husband of forty years, is talking about you becoming 0:19:36.927 --> 0:19:40.367 a farmer, and he says she's always been searching for things. 0:19:40.407 --> 0:19:43.127 She always throws herself into stuff. He says, I wouldn't 0:19:43.127 --> 0:19:44.367 want to be a farmer. I don't want to work 0:19:44.367 --> 0:19:48.567 that hard. But is that true that you think you've 0:19:48.687 --> 0:19:52.127 or you know, you've always looked for I don't want 0:19:52.127 --> 0:19:54.567 to say causes, that's the wrong word, but like, no, 0:19:54.647 --> 0:19:55.007 you want. 0:19:54.927 --> 0:19:57.567 To us, you want to throw Really I'd like to have, 0:19:57.847 --> 0:19:59.807 you know, just stuck at what I started with, which 0:19:59.887 --> 0:20:02.367 was like Brian as a as an actor, and you know, 0:20:02.527 --> 0:20:05.527 men don't necessarily have to change their careers. 0:20:05.647 --> 0:20:07.647 That's interesting, right, you know, Brand. 0:20:07.487 --> 0:20:09.407 Stayed as an actor and it's all you know, and 0:20:09.407 --> 0:20:11.447 he's produced and now he's writing books and stuff. 0:20:11.487 --> 0:20:15.087 But he wasn't forced to move on. A lot of. 0:20:15.047 --> 0:20:18.407 Women, you know, are used by dates come much sooner 0:20:18.447 --> 0:20:20.247 and then we have families and that gets them the 0:20:20.247 --> 0:20:21.207 way changing. 0:20:21.527 --> 0:20:24.327 No, you don't think that's changing. You think that we're 0:20:24.407 --> 0:20:26.207 still like women are still very. 0:20:26.207 --> 0:20:28.407 Much like oh, in the entertainment industry. 0:20:28.447 --> 0:20:31.887 Yeah, and that's also true. You think as much behind 0:20:31.927 --> 0:20:34.087 the cameras in front of it, like filmmakers. 0:20:34.127 --> 0:20:36.607 Oh, I think then there's many more jobs for women 0:20:36.687 --> 0:20:40.007 behind behind the camera. I think there are more not necessarily, 0:20:40.247 --> 0:20:44.727 not necessarily as directors or people in in ch you know, 0:20:44.767 --> 0:20:46.847 who get an opportunity to tell their stories. 0:20:46.887 --> 0:20:49.647 I don't think there's there's a bit more women doing that. 0:20:49.967 --> 0:20:53.807 I heard you telling a story about as young as 0:20:54.207 --> 0:20:58.447 in your words, like beautiful young women that you were 0:20:58.487 --> 0:21:01.607 growing up at these posh English tables and they're pretty 0:21:01.647 --> 0:21:04.007 young women's always sitting next to the most important person 0:21:04.047 --> 0:21:05.447 at the table. And then if the women get older, 0:21:05.487 --> 0:21:07.127