Nicole Sandland was about to move to Germany to further pursue her professional dancing career when she fell in love with a bloke from the land. She went away for three months but came home, and what happened next was a whirlwind romance. Nicole and Luke packed up their life in Adelaide and moved to Jamestown in regional South Australia, near Luke’s family farm. The pair opened the town’s first gym, and then moved onto a property out of town, and then COVID hit. But unlike a lot of people, Ni...

Felicity Burton, a keen horsewoman from the age of five, is an exceptional camp drafter, and always knew she wanted a career on the land. And life on the land with kids has certainly had its ups and downs. Felicity was in the early stages of her second pregnancy, with twins, when she took her 20-month-old son Kory on a quad bike ride. They’d fed the horses. Put the dogs away. And we’re just moving a few sheep into the next paddock when they had an accident. With broken ribs and a shattered co...

What’s it like seeing someone else grow your baby? That’s a question I couldn’t help asking today’s incredible guest Jade Cooper. As you're about to hear, Jade hasn’t had the easiest of lives, but that hasn’t stopped her from going after the things that matter. Jade was just 18 months old when a lump was discovered on her kidney. The next three years involved countless trips to Brisbane for chemotherapy, radiation and checkups. Jade went into remission at just three years old, and her childho...

Nicole Seekamp always knew she wanted to be a basketball player. But a goat farmer? Well, that wasn’t part of her plan. When she was 14, she left her hometown of Renmark in South Australia and moved across the country to Canberra and the Australian Institute of Sport. Over the next 20 years, she played for not only our national team, the Opals, at the Commonwealth Games, but all over the world. By 2019 she was on track for her first Olympics. But as the 2020 season drew to a close, Nico...

I was speaking at the Rural Women Unite event in Charters Towers last month when I met Lisa Hodgkinson, a mum of 4 from Clermont in central Queensland. Lisa met her husband Glen when she was 18. By 19, the couple were married. And 2 weeks after they tied the knot, just as Lisa turned 20, she found out that she was infertile. It took 3 years, two pregnancy losses, and two more cycles, before their eldest daughter Mia was born. They continued to try for more kids, all via IVF. With their fourth...

Melissa McGilvray knows a thing or two about her world turning upside down. Because on two very ordinary days, nearly 20 years apart, that’s exactly what happened to her. Mel’s husband Garth went to chop some firewood, when the unthinkable happened. The tree he was cutting fell on him, and he died. As traumatic as it was, Mel knew she had to go on, for her, and for their little boy Oli. And then, a few years later, the universe weaved its magic, and Mel fell in love with Oli’s godfather, and ...

When people go on a reality TV show to find the love of their life, it doesn’t always end in a baby announcement and a full-blown commitment to each other. But when Clare Hockings decided to try to find her life partner on Farmer Wants A Wife in 2023, well, things kind of ended that way. Clare was raised in Scone NSW, Australia’s horse capital. And later in the country music capital of Tamworth. She worked in childcare and the local stockyards and spent her weekends with her horses. So she kn...

I met Deb Frecklington at Beef Week in Rockhampton this year at a cocktail party, and before she knew it, I’d roped her into sharing her story for the first time like this. Deb is a proud Queenslander who grew up on a cattle property. She’s worn many hats throughout her career including producer, and, politician. Amongst it all, she’s a mum to three girls. Deb has served as the Leader of the Opposition, and the Shadow Minister for Agriculture just to name a few roles. She’s currently the Stat...

Meredith Boddington, or Merry, as she likes to be called, went through her 20s and 30s looking for Mr Right. Raised on a sheep farm near Naracoorte in South Australia, Merry trained as a teacher. Her work took her across South Australia and into Victoria. But still no Mr Right. And then she met Wayne. A farmer who was also from Naracoorte. It turned out the person she had been looking for for all those years was a bloke from her country town! Merry and Wayne hit it off instantly, and after th...

Belle Baker grew up on a property in the South-East of South Australia. She loved working with the cattle and sheep and dreamed of a career on the land. But when the time came for her to decide what she was going to do with her life, her dad told her to go and get a real job, because the farm wasn’t going to be an option for her. After years of travel overseas, and studying in Sydney, Belle returned to South Australia. In her mid 30s, she became a mum and a single parent to her son at the sam...

Stephanie March was 17 she met her husband Cameron and they got married a few years later. Life was good. They went on what Steph describes as a ‘killer honeymoon’ and fell pregnant very easily. Not long after, their daughter Lexi was born, and then their son Bill. And that’s where everything changed for their family. Bill was born with his heart on the other side of his body. He was diagnosed with an incurable, rare and lifelong condition that affects the respiratory system as well as organ ...

Milly Taylor grew up near Paris. And she never intended to live on a farm, let alone a farm in Australia. But while on a University exchange to Melbourne where she was studying aero-space engineering, Milly met Michael Taylor. Michael was also studying engineering, but he had always planned on returning to his historic family’s farm, Taylors Run, located in Kentucky, New South Wales. They were living in Melbourne when they welcomed their first child, and still there when they fell pregnant wi...

Sandra Knowles is the wife of Tasmania’s Premier, Jeremy Rockliff. But that fact is the least interesting thing about Sandra. Her career has spanned law, postings overseas working in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, helping run the family farm and now, as the Director of Tasmania’s Farm Innovation Hub. On top of all of that, Sandra raised 3 daughters on the land, born within 4 years of each other, while her husband was away... a lot. It’s been quite the adventure, and not always e...

Kim Peake is a mum of three who grew up in rural New South Wales, so when she fell in love with a stud cattle man, Nick, her world didn’t shift that much. Kim and Nick were married during one of the worst droughts the district had seen in 50 years and they welcomed their first daughter, Ruby, not long after. A few years later, Holly was born, and then Kim found out that she was pregnant with their third, a boy, Barney. Each child was born with the same rare disease that required major surgery...

Kate Rose has lived a truly extraordinary life. She's been a pastry chef in London, owning her own business and working for some of the biggest hotels in the city. She’s also been a soldier in the Iraq war. She was deployed when her two sons were just 9 and 4. And when she came home, she had two little boys who were terrified she’d leave them again. Kate also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and heartbreakingly, her marriage ended. After moving home to Australia, and 10 years in t...

When Kaia Wright fell in love with the croc-wrestling, helicopter-flying, outback wrangler Matt Wright at 24, she had no idea what the next stage of her life would entail. While all her friends were spending their weekends at cafes or the beach, Kaia and her top-end husband Matt were chasing pigs, wrangling crocs or spending time in remote bush camps. By all accounts, Matt and Kaia appeared to have it all. A successful business, a top Netflix show, and two beautiful kids, Dusty and Banjo. But...

Today's episode is special for two reasons, firstly, it's our last episode of our Autumn season, proudly sponsored by Nutrien Ag Solutions. Secondly, you're about to hear Emily Mealey's story, and she's a Senior Account Manager in Insurance at Nutrien, and a mum of two. She's based in Dubbo, and met her husband at the tender age of 18 after having a minor car prang! Financially as a young family, things were tough, really tough, but Emily and her husband made it work. A few years later ...

Chris Bath has been a much loved and respected journalist since the late 80's and many of us, including myself, grew up watching her on our TV screens. She's interviewed Presidents, Prime Ministers and popstars, and pushed herself way outside her comfort zone when she carved up the dance floor on Dancing with the Stars! Chris met her husband Jim Wilson at work. The news anchor fell in love with the sports anchor, it's like something out of a movie, and very funny! In 2015, Chris resigned from...

Tara Parchert lives in the Lockyer Valley in Queensland, and runs a vegetable operation with her husband. She's busy raising two little girls, but has given birth to four. Tara fell pregnant with identical twin girls. After some pregnancy complications, she delivered them at just 26 weeks. Everything seemed to be going okay until 5 weeks later, when one twin got an infection... she didn't make it. Tara and her husband Had to grieve one child, while support the other one who was st...

Rebecca Gilchrist is a clinical psychologist who has a passion for supporting rural women; and she's pretty well placed to do that give she's also a rural mum and a farmer based on a 6th generation sheep and cattle station. Bec had her first baby on a plane; yep, on a plane, mid air when she was just 33 weeks pregnant. It was a very traumatic experience for her, although at the time, no one else knew that. In our chat, you'll hear about how her professional training has helped her, particular...

Ella Palmer is a nurse, and a mum of three who lives on a cropping and sheep farm in South Australia. Her motherhood journey has been heavily impacted by what happened to her when she was just 10 years old. After weeks of ongoing sickness and a misdiagnosis, Ella was in the fight of her life after her dad checked on her in the middle of the night to find her nearly unconscious. Unbeknownst to everyone, her appendix had ruptured three days earlier. Little Ella was in the fight of her life, wit...

Raechel Whitchurch writes songs about things that matter. Her childhood was spent performing in her family band and instilled a connection to rural Australia. She spent most of her early years living in a caravan while travelling and performing, before establishing herself as one of Australia's most promising new country artists. Her debut album ‘Finally Clear’ debuted at #1 on ARIA Australian Country Charts, and her highly anticipated sophomore album, ‘what a time to be alive’ will be releas...

*A quick heads up, this episode contains some coarse language, and also discusses mental health and suicidal thoughts. If you or anyone you know needs help, contact Lifeline immediately on 13 11 14. Sophie Love runs a small farm near Port Macquarie in New South Wales. She bought it herself aged 40, while single, and childless. She never thought she wanted kids, until, well, she did... after meeting a man she went on to marry. Soph has always dreamed of running her own property, and agai...

Kate Mitchell fell pregnant with her first child just six months after meeting her husband in a rather unique way, while playing lawn bowls! They now have three children, and their third, their little boy Darcy, changed everything. As far as they could tell, he was a happy and healthy toddler, when at 16 months old he suddenly had a seizure on their sheep farm on the south coast of WA and nearly died. Kate had to give her own baby CPR as she desperately phone for help, with the phone signal d...