Growing up as one of four children on a sheep farm in southern New South Wales, I think I always knew that it would not be me that was coming home to work as the 'farmer'.
This was never implicity suggested, it was just a feeling. For females who've grown up on a farm, I'll bet many of you had the same feeling.
Today's guest Jess Howard certainly did. She grew up on a farm in western Queensland and a career or life in agriculture didn't quite feel 'right' to her - but with such a strong attachment to the land and place where she grew up, this has always been an uncomfortable feeling.
As she carved her path in jobs and vocations internationally, there was always a yearning to return home, to be able to 'contribute' to agriculture and her family's long held love of life on the land. Is this a feeling you've ever had? I most certainly had.
Here are my musings on this - Just because you don't want to be a 'farmer' does not mean you don't want to be a part of the life on the land, to help build up the industry at large, the communities that live there and do something with your talents that honour your family's values and business direction.
Up until now, it's been hard for families to recognise, support and celebrate the multitude of skills that could be put to good use in an agricultural operation.
Don't get me wrong - this is definitely changing now, but it's a quandary that's been felt by women all over, and at a very deep level. If you're not a 'farmer' then your not really involved.
I'm not sure if this is making sense, so I'll let you listen on this conversation with Jess Howard, editor of Bush Journal and one of the women of the Bush Collective - an instagram platform celebrating the beauty of bush life through incredible photography, seriously there's nothing second grade about this account.
You can pre-order the Beauty in the Bush Collective's hard cover book - Bush Life here.
