This special A Friend of Mine episode is a live roving interview from the 45th Murrumbateman Field Days – a testament to the power of community support and collaboration. More than just a showcase of agricultural innovation and local craftsmanship, the field days brings together people from across the region, reinforcing the strong ties that bind the community.

Held on October 19 and 20, the Field Days offers everything from advanced farming equipment to locally produced goods, all set in a relaxed, family-friendly environment that embodies the spirit of Murrumbateman. 

Murrumbateman is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. It is on the Barton Highway, about 30 kilometres north-west of Canberra, and is part of the Yass Valley Shire. 

Surrounded by rolling green vineyards in the heart of cool climate wine country, the Murrumbateman region is home to 20 world-class boutique wineries.

At times you will hear the sounds of our surroundings whether it's some of the 15,000 people in attendance, machinery, carnival rides, livestock, or even a helicopter. These sounds make it seem like you’re standing right there with us, sharing a quick catch-up.

Meet our four special guests.

Jess Templeton from The Rural Nursery shares her journey from childhood weekends spent in her parents' rural supply store to launching her own plant business, highlighting the importance of family support and passion for gardening. Her mother, Julieanne Pascoe, reflects on the challenges and rewards of integrating their children into the family business Murrumbateman Rural Supplies, recognising how their involvement has helped shape their work ethic and community ties. 

Fiona Kildey from Polaris Canberra celebrates her 16th Murrumbateman Field Days. Fiona discusses how engaging with the community has been a cornerstone of her business philosophy. She highlights the importance of creating connections with customers and other businesses, emphasising that success comes from collaboration rather than competition. 

Steph McCall from the Murrumbateman Community Association discusses her journey from the Middle East to becoming an integral part of the local volunteer scene, showcasing the collective effort that brings the community together. 

TAKEAWAYS

• Jess's journey into running The Rural Nursery stems from her family's rural background and love for plants.
• Growing up in a family business environment shaped Jess's understanding of hard work and community.
• Community support and volunteering are vital for the success and growth of rural towns.
• Fiona emphasises the importance of treating customers and staff with respect and kindness.
• Steph's involvement in the Murrumbateman Community Association highlights the value of local engagement and collaboration.
• The future of Murrumbateman lies in balancing growth with maintaining its unique rural charm.

LINKS

Murrumbateman Field Days - https://mfdays.com/

The Rural Nursery + Murrumbateman Rural Supplies https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057278897124

Polaris Canberra - https://www.polariscanberra.com.au/

Murrumbateman Community Association - https://murrumbateman.org.au/

ABOUT OAK MAGAZINE

This episode was hosted by Kimberley Furness, founder + editor of OAK Magazine. We are a proudly independent media publisher dedicated to sharing stories and amplifying voices of female change makers and women in business in regional and rural Australia. OAK is an award winning community ecosystem of print, digital, audio and events. We have demonstrated outstanding quality, innovation and impact through our print magazine, podcasts and audio version of OAK Magazine. OAK is where you will find in-depth chats and courageous conversations with women in business from regional and rural Australia.

Stay social and connect with OAK Magazine on Facebook and Instagram.

For more inspiring stories, visit OAK Magazine website. Hosted by Kimberley Furness, Founder + Editor, OAK Magazine.

Hello, Jess, and welcome to the podcast.

Hello.

Thank you for having me.

My absolute pleasure.

It's a beautiful Sunday and something that lots of people love to do on a Sunday is go to their local nursery.

You just have to come to the Murrumbaton field days.

And here it is.

Yeah.

So we are here, set up with all of our new stuff, ready for our opening to show everybody what we've got.

Tell me about the business.

How has that come to be?

How have you come to be part of the business, more specifically?

My parents own the rural supply store, so I've always had something to do with the rural lifestyle.

So while I was in high school, I got really into plants, so we thought we'd just join them together and make two businesses out of one, I guess.

So growing up and having parents who run a business, what has that been like for you?

When you looked at them, what did you see?

Like, hard working, Were they always at home?

Was there something that you admired about it?

Definitely hard working.

They were never at home.

I spent all of my holidays and weekends in the store.

I've kind of always been part of the community, so it's not just my parents, but I've always been around.

So we've been business owners for a really long time and it's really good.

I do look up to them.

They run a really good business.

It's probably one of the most successful ones I've seen.

So I'm really proud of them.

Yeah, that's beautiful because normally I would interview people and they've got their little kids with them and you know, they're like, I've brought the kids along and I know myself when I go to a field days or an event, I've got mine.

And I mean, there's obviously benefits of that.

But you also think, I wonder what they think, being dragged along, you know, as a kid with their parents who are business owners.

But here you are, all grown up and you can tell us, did it have any adverse effect on you?

It definitely did.

I never wanted to be a business owner ever.

I looked at it being really hard.

I always loved that my parents were business owners and that they were doing it really well.

And I never thought that I could do it like they did.

I thought you had to be a certain type of person with a certain stamina.

So I'm really giving it a go.

So how have they enticed you into the business and to obviously follow your love of plants?

It's really funny.

I kind of fell into the love of plants.

So Because I've always been in the rural lifestyle.

I started off coming out of school.

I actually wanted to do landscape construction.

So I went and did my cert 3 in that kind of area.

And while we were there, we kind of did a bit on plants and that kind of thing.

And I found that I much rathered watering plants and talking about plants and actually building stone walls.

So that's where that kind of came from.

And outside of that, I went and got a job upkeeping a massive rural property, Cabricorn Park.

So we did all sorts of stuff there from.

I mean, doing cattle and sheep and horses and.

But we, yeah, upkept all the beautiful gardens and the rose bushes along the highway and they had a golf course, so we maintained that.

So from there I just kind of learned a lot more and I got more confident in knowing about it.

And I would come home and my mum would say, I don't know why this isn't growing.

Why, why isn't my rose doing this?

Or why isn't this doing this?

And I went.

Actually, the answer to that.

And so, yeah, Mum and Dad kind of worked out that I was doing quite well in that field and they thought, you know what, you would do really well at this.

So while I was actually working in a nursery at the time, yeah, Mum came to me and said, I'd really like to put a nursery in the shop.

What do you think about coming back and working for us full time?

So that makes them good business people, I think, to, yeah, identify.

Oh, there's something there.

I think we could make some money out of this.

And if it's your kid.

Oh, double bonus.

Why not?

Why not?

My poor parents.

They actually.

They came to me and said, oh, we'd really love to start this up in the next couple of years, come and do it for a little while and then we'll make it bigger and better.

And unbeknownst to them, I was actually pregnant at the time and was waiting for a good time to tell them, so I took the job.

And then about three months later went, hey, I'm really sorry, but I'm gonna need maternity leave.

So they weren't particularly impressed with that, but, no, they were love their grandson, but, yeah, so it's taking a little bit longer than they hoped.

But they love it.

They love that it's a family business and my son really gets in amongst the plants and she uses my Ollie as a.

Like a marketing thing.

He's on Facebook all the time.

Look, Ollie's playing with this plant.

Ollie's doing this, Ollie's doing that.

So it's a very generational thing.

Tell me about business.

What's your journey been like?

Have you picked up certain things really easily and really quickly?

What parts are you struggling with and who are you going to to learn how to do business?

It's a little bit funny.

I kind of catch myself sometimes.

Sometimes I find myself that I've just picked up maybe what particular plants need or how they grow or something like that quite easily.

But the Italian names, oh, I'm not doing well on that.

If I see the word written, I'm like, I know what that is.

But if somebody says it to me out loud, I'm like, oh, my God, I'm sure I know that word.

So that catches me a lot.

But the business side of it, I guess I just learned it from my parents.

I haven't done a business course.

I probably should and I would like to.

So I've actually been on and looked to see if I could do it online while we kind of get this up and running.

But, yeah, majority of it.

Mum, she was teaching me how to do the business out of the rural nursery.

So she was off for a couple of months last year and I took over her job.

So I've kind of learned it through her.

And you kind of learn as you go.

I mean, having the really small nursery at the start, you learn your audience.

So we've had a lot of people come in, you work out what people of Murrumbateman like the best.

You learn what doesn't work here, you learn what doesn't grow here.

And, yeah, I'm picking up a lot of regulars and people coming back asking for particular things.

So we're getting more of a feel of what to hold in the nursery and that kind of thing.

That makes sense, though, especially those parts of where you are trying to see what is resonating with your customer.

What are the people of Murrumbatum loving at the moment?

Because I know that Jo, who dropped me off here to meet you, she loves the gardening gloves.

She does, yep.

She really loves the gardening gloves.

I love the gardening gloves.

And when I first started working for my parents, they've always done the basics because people just want cheap and they want to use it and then that's it.

So it's always been black plastic gloves, green overall pants and that's it.

And I thought, no, rural women of Murrumbateman want flowers on their gloves.

They want watering cans that look like elephants.

So I have slowly, over time, Started to order in very small amounts of very pretty things and they've done really well.

And I think my dad's only just starting to let me know that he agrees with me.

So now that I've got my own space, I've got it all.

I've got the flowers, flowery gardening gloves, I've got the little watering cans, I've got the secateurs that have like prints on them so you can get all dirty and rural and still feel pretty aw.

I love it.

That should be your marketing tagline.

So you've grown up in this community.

Tell me, what is it that you love about it?

Why is it that you've stayed?

You know what, I can't even put a finger on it.

I've always loved the small community feeling.

Murray Bateman, it's has a really beautiful community.

And you can always tell when somebody walks into the store that they're either not from here or they've just moved in.

You can always tell them apart from a murrumbateman person.

And it's really great to meet new people that come in because you're like, oh, have you just moved in?

And they're like, yeah, we've just, you know, we've just come in in the last month and we say, well, welcome.

We hand them a pamphlet that has everything in Murrain Bateman on it.

And I said, you need anything, you come here because the community is so tight that we all know each other.

You come in, somebody says, oh, I need a plumber.

I said, here, here's three.

I need a fencer.

Well, yep, I've got your fencer here.

We all support each other.

It's really great.

I think now that we're getting a little bit bigger and we've got a couple more cafes and a couple more kind of restaurants going in, there still doesn't seem to be competition.

Nobody's worried, everybody's really excited and we're leaning on each other.

And I don't just say that about Murray and Bateman.

I say it about kind of the Yass Valley.

Because I'm not the only nursery in the Yass Valley.

There's at least one big one in Yass and then there's a few like home based ones.

And I don't want to tread on their toes and I don't want to, oh, their prices are, you know, lower.

I need to go lower.

If I don't have something and I know they do, I will send someone there.

And the community has always been like that.

You don't have it.

I will call that store for you before you drive the distance and to make sure that they have it.

We're very family orientated.

It is about the community.

It's not about money making and that's what I've always loved about it.

You go into the pub on a Friday night and you're pretty much greeted by like 80 people that just say, hi, I love it.

I want to be part of your community.

It's also like just the yellow Pages just come and see you.

And I don't even know if yellow Pages is your gen, so I'm not even.

It's okay.

I know what the yellow Pages are.

I don't think my kids know what the yellow pages are.

So looking towards the opening of your store and then beyond it, I mean, you're opening at the perfect time.

The weather's just switched on.

People are wanting to get in the garden.

Christmas is coming up so you know, it's got to look nice for everyone that comes over.

What challenges though do you think you're going to face in the next 12 months?

Our biggest challenge probably will be winter because obviously the gardening aspect is really only a summery spring kind of time.

A lot of people only like to get in their garden in the warmer months.

So we are hoping that our landscaping market will kind of keep us going through winter because that doesn't stop.

We do have a couple of local landscapers who use us to supply them to do backyards and things like that.

So that's probably my biggest fear is that it's going to get really slow during the cold months.

But we do have indoor plants and all your kind of homey ware stuff.

So hopefully that will push us through.

It's just about having strategy, knowing it's coming up, planning for it and having something in place.

Thank you for being on the podcast, Jess.

I can't wait to listen to your mum tell me all about the story as well and how proud she is that you're opening the Rural nursery.

Thank you for having me.

Hello Julianne.

Welcome to the podcast.

Thank you very much for having me.

I just spoke to your daughter and she was telling me all about her wonderful business and of course that business comes through you having a business as well.

So she's grown up with parents who are business owners.

Tell me a bit about how you got into business yourself.

Our business grew from my parents business, so my mother and my stepfather owned a real shop like ours for 20 odd years.

My husband worked for them for about seven or eight years.

And then we had the opportunity to purchase one of our own.

That was sort of where we came from, to get into it.

We both came from rural backgrounds, so it was kind of an easy thing to move into.

And it was in our own town.

I'd grown up, so it was.

It was an easy decision to make to do this.

I have to ask then, have you ever thought about doing anything else?

I did.

I was a real estate agent for, on and off for about 16 years, so we planned on incorporating the two together.

So when we bought the shop, we thought because I sold real estate in the Murrumbateman area, we thought we could put both businesses together.

But the shop was so busy and doing quite well that the real estate side of my business was suffering.

And if you.

You either do something really well or you don't do it at all.

So it was kind of the decision that real estate would stop and we would just concentrate on the.

On the shop.

Now, Jess was saying growing up, she'd spend a lot of time around the shop as well.

So it has been a constant in her life.

As a mum, what has it been like, you know, bringing your daughter along the journey?

And because as businesswomen, that's what we have to do too.

We just can't leave them at home.

They got to come along for the ride.

That's very true.

I probably feel very sorry for my children because technically we have five children between us, and Jessica, being our eldest, basically was dragged into the shop to work on weekends.

Luckily, she loved it.

She was quite passionate about being there all the time.

Our very youngest, she loved to come into the shop and customers would give her their change.

So she used to make money quite well.

Our son worked for us on and off when he finished school, so the kids all kind of were brought up in the shop, but it was.

It was hard, like working the long hours we did, especially when the shop was new and you had kids in school, it wasn't particularly easy on them.

We weren't around a lot.

Weekend sports kind of suffered a bit for it because we worked six days a week to build a business up.

And Jessica, I think, just followed in our footsteps of gardening.

She's good with people.

You must be proud, even just sitting here and watching her interact with customers and obviously sharing her knowledge about plants.

Absolutely, extremely proud.

What she's put together this weekend, I didn't have anywhere near the vision that she had.

And when she pulled this off, to sit back and look at what she did was great.

And the work that she's put into getting ready to open our new nursery.

She's put an awful lot in.

She's the mum, she's putting a wedding together, she's building a house and starting a nursery all at the same time.

So very proud of her and she's got a lot of vision that I don't necessarily have.

So it's nice to see what in production your kids do.

I bet it is.

In terms of the nursery, where did that business idea come for you?

When did you spot in her that, oh, look, I could help her along a little bit here and sort of mentor along with that nursery alongside your business?

It's been many years in the making.

We always wanted to do a nursery and the shop didn't have one.

The love of plants has grown through generations of us, generations and generations of gardeners.

So it was a given that we always wanted to put plants into the shop and we didn't necessarily have a lot of space nor the time.

So it's kind of one of those back burner things that's always been in the back of our mind that we would have loved to have done.

So, Jess, to come on board and be just as enthusiastic and her having the energy to run with it and the ideas to run with it, it's been good to support her.

It's.

It's been an easy thing for me to support her and let her run with it.

And I was just thinking how hard it is for startups, you know, starting from scratch and here she is, I suppose, having you there to support that.

Those first formative years where you're trying to find your feet, I just can't imagine how helpful that would be as a business owner.

Yes, it certainly has made it a lot easier and at the moment it's all incorporated into the one business.

So the rural suppliers is basically financing it and supporting it, so we basically can build it, get a reputation, try and build a good clientele and that kind of thing before it has to stand on its own two feet.

So quality of being able to do that for any business.

I mean, most of us start and we have our insurances and our workers comp and our wages and rent and all that that we have to contend with straight away.

This business.

Yeah.

Sort of being able to be kind of babied along and then hopefully within the next few years it'll just, it'll stand on its own two feet and be able to run.

But yes, it's a luxury that a lot of people starting up businesses don't Have.

But that's okay.

It's like having a child and raising them, isn't it?

You're there for those formative years and just help them get on their feet.

And then there's the big wide world.

That's right.

And her being the oldest has to look after us in retirement.

So there's a game plan.

Absolutely.

What would you say her biggest strength is with Jess?

Just standing at the side listening, wanting.

To know her ability to communicate with people.

I think she's very good with people.

She's very sociable, she's easily approachable.

So, yeah, she's.

She's got that ability to talk to people.

I think spending so many years in the.

In the shop as a child and growing up, her confidence levels are high enough to stand on her own two feet and back herself.

She's got to learn that somewhere, though.

Julianne comes from somewhere.

I am going to switch gears pretty hard right now.

Before we came in, I had heard that there were some politicians around yesterday, I believe.

And you switched from businesswoman to politician like that.

Would that be right?

I have a passion for our district.

We did have a visitor yesterday which was lovely to see and any support we can get is fantastic.

And I said, I grew up in this area and I've watched it gone from a tiny little country town to basically what it is now.

We sometimes have to be very careful on our opinions of the town and the growth and things because the older community are really anti it, the younger community are thriving on it.

On a business level, we want to see the town grow from someone who grew up in the town.

It's a bit sad to see the little old community go, but that's progress and I believe if the town's going to grow, it needs to be done properly.

There is no point putting infrastructure and new developments into Murrumbateman if it's not sustainable or it doesn't have any backing.

And we've seen that time and time again.

So that's kind of a passion I have in that respect, that if you know a town needs to grow but needs to be done properly, how do.

You find the courage to have a voice in those situations?

I have to say I don't.

If I did, I'd probably run for council.

I don't.

I have a lot of passion and I'm happy to back others that have got the strength and the know how to move forward and make changes.

And I'm more of a happy to be a support person.

As I said, I have a lot of passion, but I don't necessarily have the upfront brunt to do anything about it really.

But it's so good that you've used your voice, you've used that opportunity to express how you feel and your opinion and I think that takes courage even to pull all those things together, especially when you're in front of a politician.

But as you said, sometimes you don't get that opportunity and you got to take it when it's a there.

Tell me, what is it about this area that you absolutely love and even why someone should come and visit here for a weekend, for a little day trip?

M is a beautiful area.

I won't necessarily say the whole of Yashire is a beautiful area, but Murray Bateman is certainly a beautiful area.

Our vineyards majority are run by families that have either grown grown up in the area or have moved to the area quite a while ago and want to see it grow.

So the, the businesses that run in this town and basically the people that run them all are usually very lovely, compassionate people who want to see growth in.

In our town, it's an easy thing to enjoy.

Mara Boatman.

Beautiful.

Well, well done on raising a daughter that has confidence, that has passion, and obviously is about to launch her own business.

And what an incredible mum you are to be there as she does it.

Thank you very much for having me.

Hello, Fiona, and welcome to the podcast.

Thank you, Kimberly.

I'm really excited to be here and having a chat.

I'm excited too, because you have shade and chairs, which is just so lovely when you're mid field day.

This is true, but I feel bad I didn't offer you water to hydrate yourself as well.

That's good.

It's all right.

What number of field days is this for you?

This is my 16th.

16Th.

I actually can't imagine coming to anything 16 times in my career.

You would be an old hand at this.

You would know exactly how to pace yourself through a day.

Absolutely.

Look, it's all about making sure you're hydrated, you've got your lollies to have a little bit of a sugar hit during the day and just making sure you bring your food.

And why do you come back year after year?

Well, it's part of my local community.

So I come back and I love to see how the kids have grown and how there's grandchildren that have come.

With some of my clients, I have clients that just like to come and say hi.

So we get all our regular clients, we get to meet the new clients.

Murrumbateman has the area has expanded.

There are a lot of more small acreage farms, people that have come down from big cities.

So it's exciting because I live on a farm and, you know, I can say to them, hey, I've made all the mistakes, so don't do that.

Come here, let me educate you.

Let's have a chat.

And this is where I am when you're ready to do something.

So it's not a hard sell.

Has there been a field day over those 16 years where it's been really hard to push through?

And I suppose as a business owner, that's that resilience, isn't it?

You get knocked down, you get back up again, you find a different way to do something.

There have been some challenging field day shows over the years.

I think being beside the helicopter.

One year, Hooly Dooley, I went home and my head was shaking from it taking off and, you know, having to hold the camper trailers down because we came with our camper trailer business that year.

I've been up near the tractor pool.

That's loud.

The year we didn't have any communication because the show, because this particular show is run by volunteers.

And the show had grown, but the community had grown and the communications just couldn't deal with it.

So we had no comms.

So that was a real trust issue.

Like, you know, you had to go, okay, I know you.

Yep.

You take that $1,200 piece of product out and yeah, we'll just run your credit card later or just pop into the shop.

But that's when you're dealing with people that you really know and really solid.

That's almost that regional rural part, isn't it?

Absolutely, Absolutely.

I've had a lot of clients come through today that are in all the surrounding towns.

They don't sit within my area that I sell my product, but I'm like, you know what, come here, I'll educate you.

But you go and see your local Polaris agent down there because they're good people.

It's making sure that they're getting the same experience across the board with your businesses.

And that's probably the point we need to touch on what business have you brought today?

Because I know you've got more than one business as well.

I do.

I have a few.

So today I've only bought my Polaris Canberra business.

Okay.

So that they're my side by sides.

They're a really integral part of farming.

Just, you know, doing your firewood.

I would have to actually say the best thing about Mine is, it gave my old 17 year old dog an extra three years of life.

He had the mindset of a child but his body was failing and I could still take him out and about.

So that's really precious to me.

I have another business that is TJM Canberra which is a four wheel drive business.

We do all the four wheel drive aftermarket and make sure that people can tour safely and recover their vehicles safely.

And I've just taken on the Weber store.

I love to cook, but I'm now learning how to cook on a barbecue.

So some pretty exciting stuff.

And across the board you can see that Canberra word come out all the time.

It's because we're a local family now.

Talking about family, you've got your family involved, you've got your husband here.

Your son just introduced himself and can I say the way your son introduced himself.

So you've said, you know, this is Kimberly, but he straight out with a hand.

What is he, 19?

He's 19.

Oh, he's about to turn 19.

Yep.

About to turn 19.

Straight out with the hand.

Hi, I'm such and such and then nice to meet you.

Yes, well that.

Are you proud when you see that?

I'm super proud.

I'm super proud and I have clients that come in here and go, oh my God, look at him this year.

Oh my God, are you kidding?

Look at the size of him.

That's the beauty of some of these clients.

They just come every year to support me.

Just that confidence to come up to someone and put their hand out.

Where do you think that's come from?

Has that been watching mum and dad interact with the public as business owners?

Absolutely, absolutely.

So he is, I said, he's about to turn 19.

He has been every Murrain Bateman Field Day show.

I was lucky because my parents lived here so they would come and bring him out for his period of time and then of course, you know, have to go sit on all the tractors.

And so when he was little, but he got to a point where he's like, I don't want to go and stay with the grandparents, I want to come to the show.

And we also have a daughter, she's 21, she's at university now studying marketing.

They would come, she would run my whole cash straw, my F plus, my till.

So they had that respective money.

They just know how to talk to people.

You know, we've taken them on photo shoots and magazine shoots and they've always been around adults.

But I think that's also my upbringing because I'M an army brat and we traveled the world and you had to be polite because you got.

It was only just our family, we didn't have the support of grandparents and cousins out and uncles.

We had to actually just.

If you wanted a conversation, you went out with mum and dad and you met somebody who had something cool to talk about and that's what you had to do.

So you're a business owner now.

What were you before that?

What's your journey into owning your own business?

So Armibrat travelled the world, fell in love with travel.

I believe that if you travel you can have more respect for people and cultures because you have to be respectful of a culture when you step into another country.

I came back to Australia, we always boomeranged in and out of Australia and because I love travel so much, I went, why wouldn't I sell travel?

Because I like my five star hotels and.

But I like, you know, going into the bush and meeting orangutans and just some really cool stuff.

So I started working for Flight Centre and just loved it.

And then I met my husband and he is a professional golfer and we used to run golf courses.

So that has a business component.

I did not study to be an accountant, but I run the whole back end.

Accounting, ordering, hr, dealing with the tax department and contracts.

But it's all come from that.

Neither of us have a uni degree.

Our daughter is our first one to go to uni and you know, that wasn't how we did things.

My son is not taking that path.

He is exactly like us.

He's learning every aspect of the business.

He has to learn what a balance sheet is and a profit and loss and take all the good stuff that we know and get rid of all the bad stuff and bad habits that we have and become the next generation of something cool.

That's so lovely.

When I think about having that piece of paper and I mean I've talked about it on several podcasts, like, I don't have a piece of paper.

It was all that on the job experience.

And yeah, it's a bit of a scratchy thing there where I'm like, oh, I really would love one and I wish I had one.

But as you said, sometimes that on the job experience is just so valuable, like outdoes a piece of paper.

Some days it does, it does.

But in saying that my husband and I are taking on a new brand.

There is a fourth business.

Are you not busy enough?

No.

There is a fourth business coming in the next couple of months, that is.

I'm really, really excited by this new business.

It's heaps of fun.

Sorry.

Just even at that.

How long have you been in business?

How many years?

Well, we started on the first of the first of the first as our.

Particular company, so 24, 23, 24 years.

And you still get excited about a new business?

Yes, because this one's really fun.

Business is fun.

Okay.

The products that are coming outside of the business that you get to play with is going to be very, very fun.

We were at this launch for this particular business, and my husband's like, oh, I don't want my daughter to leave and go to university.

And, oh, you know, is it a waste of money?

Because we didn't need to do that.

And I said, you need to understand what she's studying.

She needs to have this kind of background to be able to strive where she wants to be.

He's like, oh, okay.

You know.

And I was like, well, she's paying for it.

It's her hecs bill.

She's going to have to do it.

We'll just help her get there.

She needs to.

And she understands the value of money, so she's going to this union.

She's like, I can't believe some of these people are just here.

What a waste of money.

Because they're not passionate.

So we go to this presentation and this young girl called Kiki, who is German, is the head of the marketing for Australasia for this particular company.

And she runs through this big presentation, and I'm just sitting there going, this chick's so cool.

She's like 24.

She's just got the coolest product and she's so excited and passionate.

We walked out of the room and I turned to my husband and said, that's what your daughter's studying.

That's what she'll be doing.

And he just went, oh.

So I rang her and I went, your dad just saw what you're actually studying in this presentation.

He goes, oh, thank God.

Marketing is one of those things.

It is very broad, but it's also really hard to see sometimes.

So if you are able to.

Yeah, yeah.

Like travel.

Yes, absolutely.

Now, having so many businesses and having kids and you keep mentioning sport as well, so obviously a very active family.

Where do you find balance?

Like, what does that look like for you?

My kitchen.

Your kitchen?

Love to bake.

Love to bake.

I love to cook.

So my favorite thing, I get in there and I make my lemonade scones and get out my Country Women's association cookbook and make My caramel slices and my jam coconut slice and, yeah, that's.

How I relax when I pull out mine.

My nana gifted me a CWA cookbook and that's it.

Invokes memories of her when I bring it out.

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Eliminates so important.

Tell me about this region.

What does it mean to you and what would bring someone here?

What is it that they could do on a day or a weekend around the region?

I think you're pretty special.

Like, yes, you.

You live on a property and you've got, you know, your neighbours aren't right beside you, but you've actually got to create your own community.

So whether it be through pony club or just, you know, the local raffles at the pub during the week, that's where the ball clubs and the football clubs and the soccer clubs are all making their money to be able to provide things for the clubs again.

Yeah.

Back to the sport.

I know there are the scouts and the Girl Guides.

You know, I grew up that way as well.

But you need to participate in your community.

I think a lot of newer communities, people move out of town and they just.

They drive into their properties and you don't see them because they go, I just don't want to deal with anybody.

That's okay, too.

But in the field days, they do come out because.

And you do get them to start talking and they get excited about being in this space.

But you've got to invest in your own community.

I've just come back from a New South Wales rural women's gathering in Hardin yesterday, and community was a really strong theme and what it means to all of us.

And community sometimes isn't where you live, but it's the people you surround yourself with.

But really just the difference between a metro community, where sometimes it doesn't exist, but how special it is for us in rural areas and how we really need to nurture that.

Yeah, I mean, things are different now.

When I was growing up and you, we lived in Canberra, you still had your street parties.

They don't do that anymore.

But it's actually looking out for your neighbours and looking out for your old neighbours as well.

Like where we live, we've had our street change over, you know, Christmas time, we're in a little cul de sac, we do a Christmas party and we're starting to get that change.

As the oldies are moving on, we've had a few pass away and it's just, you know, making sure that the ones that are left are being looked after.

But it's great Seeing all the little kids coming out and you have a cricket game and, like, that does get missed now.

Like, it's just not there.

So you've got to stand up and you've actually got to show that you care.

The new neighbors that moved in, I went over and gave them some muffins.

Here's my phone number.

If you get stuck with the kids, you know, if the power goes out, give us a yell, you know, just.

That's what you gotta do.

You just gotta be a good person.

I want you as my neighbour, Fiona.

You'd be lovely.

I'm hoping my other neighbours sell because they're not there all the time.

I was like, oh, but the new ones that came in, they've got four kids.

And the mum was like, oh, my God, I'm so sorry.

They're so loud.

And I said, I don't hear them.

I said, I actually hear them if I'm outside.

But I love the sound of hearing the kids having fun outside, because that was me 17 years ago when my kids were little.

So, yeah, let them go hard.

So tell me, what does the next 12 months look like for you with four businesses?

Well, I'm in my gap year because my son's graduated, so we're done with school now, so we're not volunteering in our basketball club.

We've taken a bit of time off, so it's just buckling down.

So we're going to buckle down.

We're creating something for my son to work in, hopefully this new business that we're about to kick off.

I told my daughter it's pretty exciting, so maybe she'll grace us with her marketing skills.

And we were just going to get them to be good, solid businesses.

And at some point, hopefully my husband and I'll get to travel.

You are an incredible businesswoman.

Actually.

I feel like you'd be someone we'd need on a panel to really nitpick and get some insights.

If you could leave us just with one piece of advice.

What should we be doing as business owners?

Be invested.

What does that mean for you?

Be invested in your staff and your customers.

I always say to everybody, you treat them the way that you want to be treated.

You know, if you want to be treated like a princess, well, then you treat your staff and your clients like princesses and kings.

Kings and queens, I should say.

I love it.

Well, it's a busy day.

There are so many people milling around the Polaris and obviously having a look.

And I know that the husband and the son doing a Good job being very busy, so I'll let you get back to it.

Thank you for being on the podcast.

Oh, it's been a pleasure.

Thanks for the chat.

Hello, Steph, and welcome to the podcast.

Hi.

Thank you for having me.

You're my last stop for the day and it's just so nice to take a seat because you have sensational hot weather.

It's like that first hot day of a change of season for us, and it's just nice to now just sit back and reflect on what is, you know, a fantastic field day.

Thank you very much for coming.

I hope it's not too hot.

We've managed to find a very nice shady spot by the containers, if you can picture that.

Well, I think my car is parked near the sewerage tank, so this.

So this is actually quite good.

So just if you could just take us through what your role is in terms of field days.

We're actually here as the Murrumbateman Community association that has the umbrella of the Murrumbateman Field Days team.

And we just have a little site on the corner where we help people facilitate and tell people where things are on or, you know, if they need water facilities or anything like that.

But the team, the Field days team, are actually the people that have done the majority of the work.

They're the ones that generate the field days.

They get the volunteers on board, and the community association, which I'm a volunteer in, we just help and sit in the background quietly and let that team get on with all that work.

They're amazing and all credit to them, really, but we just come along for the day because we just sort of facilitate, as I said, with just helping people, giving people direction, and just being a bit of a support to the fielddays team as well.

It is an important role, especially for someone like me that hasn't had a map today.

And, you know, I've got Jo asking me to meet her at certain spots.

I've got no idea where I'm going.

So people like you are just an absolute blessing.

And we thought we did this last year where we'd not done it before.

And last year was really good because we were in a fairly central place.

Lots of footfall, but not really thinking that we would be that busy that people would just ignore us a little bit.

But it was amazing how people still wanted to come and talk to us as an association to find out about what was happening in Murrumbateman itself, what was happening in the region.

And that's where our volunteer Work comes into play where we're actually also sharing that information as well.

So it wasn't necessarily all about the field days, but just the fact that people that are coming to this event are actually also very interested in the town itself as well.

And that's why we decided to do it again this year.

And it's been really good again just to be there as a little bit of a backup and a support.

Well, tell me, how did you come to be a part of this beautiful town?

We actually moved to Australia from the Middle East 12 years ago and we were originally in Sydney and my husband is in the forces.

We had moved up to Far North Queensland and then his role changed and he moved to Canberra.

And we had actually previously, six years prior, driven through from Orange down through the back roads to get to Canberra and we drove through Murray and Bateman and stopped to use the facilities and fell in love with it.

And when my husband was being posted to Canberra, I said, shall we consider moving to Murrumbateman?

And even though at the time there were no schools in Murrumbateman itself, we still just fell in love with the area.

And because of that, I then got involved in the association.

And even before we get to that part of how you've become a part of the association while your husband was in the forces, what was it like for you, Steph, to have a job during that time?

Was it hard to hold one down or wasn't that even on your radar?

I mean, if you've had kids at that time, it must have been hard.

Anyway, to be honest, being a forces wife, moving around as often as we have done, we've moved around eight times in Australia.

So for me to have a permanent job has been difficult.

So for me, I've become basically self employed.

I've dipped in and out of work where I can.

Previous to that, I was working for a large pharmaceutical company as a sales manager and the director of sales.

So I was very full on working with corporate details, marketing, sales, traveling around a lot.

Met my husband a little bit later in life, but I'm also an army child and so I had an appreciation of his role.

So I knew that when we were going to set off and travel the world that I would just look after the kids, but also find other things in that time that would fill my day if I wasn't with the children.

And that led to volunteer work.

Volunteer work.

I think you are such special people to be able to do that because it's something that we need, like we need Volunteers for events to run for our community.

There are so many necessities.

I mean, there's always a call out for people to help with school canteen these days, it just seems we're pulling back from that.

In terms of your volunteer career and especially with the Murrumbatum association, how did you get involved in that?

Funnily enough, five years ago, we moved literally into Murrumbateman the weekend of the Field Days.

And I was being nosy and I thought, oh, what's that going on down the road?

So we walked to the Field Days, because we live over towards the east of Murrumbateman and we walked through our greenways, which probably was a bit of a mistake because it was a bit of a hike.

But when we got here and we saw what was going on, I didn't realise that this was actually a volunteer group that had done all of this.

To me, it was just maybe a big event that was being organised by a corporate organisation.

And to find out that this was actually done purely by the Murray and Bateman Progress association and its Field Days team blew my mind.

Because I thought how all these people have come together and have created this event and that's when I thought, you know what?

I'd quite like to step up and just do what I can.

And that's basically how I got involved.

Found the organization representatives took me a little while to sort of gain some confidence because again, I think people with volunteer work, they think, oh, I'm going to be hassled all the time, they're always going to want me.

But what I've learned is that what you can give, be it an hour, be it two hours, be it just standing on a market stand or just answering questions, fielding calls or helping people go to the right area, that all helps.

And that's actually how I got started.

So I knew nothing.

When I arrived, I knew nothing.

And so what has it been like sitting around that table?

What have you seen in terms of growth in yourself as well as the association and its impact on the community?

I think what we've realised is that it's all about saying to people, it doesn't matter what walk of life you come from.

As I said earlier, I think some people feel a little bit nervous that they might not know what they can offer.

But through it all, I've met people who are from lawyers to environmental lawyers to people that just like reading grant applications, you know, and actually finding grants or sourcing or calling up and just saying, I've got an idea, can I submit it.

Sometimes we can help, sometimes we can't.

Sometimes we have to say to people, that's not what we do, but we can push you and put you in touch with the right person.

That's what I think I've really learned about being more accepting and understanding.

Sometimes people can unfortunately get quite agitated and cross because they're not always getting what they want.

But I think it's important to say, well, look, come and talk about it.

Don't sit in the eighth row of the Coliseum and complain about things.

Come and talk and let's try and meet a middle ground.

And that's what I think I've learned about living in this town.

Trying to find that middle ground is really important.

Important.

What do you think your greatest skill is that you bring to that table?

Well, earlier on, when you asked me that question, Joe said, talking, which I'm slightly nervous about, because I do talk a lot.

But I think what I brought to the table was the fact that I was new and a couple of other new people also came and joined on board as well last year.

And just looking at things slightly differently, I always think of myself as being quite a young mum, but I appreciate that.

I'm nearly 60, so I sort of have to think, no, actually I'm not as young as I think I was.

But also trying to see those sort of issues and concerns through possibly younger families as well, but also appreciating that I've got younger children, so I'm sort of still on that side.

Same page, I think, but trying to realise that they've also got different needs and different requirements and also they might not know what the association has done and trying to share that and say, look, this is what we can achieve.

So when you come to the rec ground, for example, a lot of what you see here is what the association has built and has funded.

That's through grant funding, that's through events like this, that's through just volunteer support and work and saying to them that sometimes, you know, when you want to have things done, you do have to step up a little bit and try and get those things on board.

In terms of working with council, how has that process been?

Have you learnt a lot through that, being so close to government?

I think that there's been a huge understanding of they are also very limited and what they can and can't do.

I've come from a different country where local authorities have slightly different parameters.

So for me to have come to Australia to learn about the differences, those differences, I've had to realise that there are limits.

I've also learned that a lot of what we see locally, I think throughout any state is that a lot of rural areas do rely very heavily on grants and that there is a lot of pressure on council or the perception that it's up to council to do.

And that's not necessarily the case.

That's where again, going back to volunteering becomes very important because people do actually need to step up, put forward cases and actually go to council and try and get them to also link with those projects and get things done because we still need them as well.

So tell me about the people that you work with.

What sort of backgrounds are they from?

So to me, I always thought volunteers were people who had nothing else to do, which is not so far from the truth.

They always say, don't they, if you want something done, give it to someone that's busy.

But what I've learned with this association is that you have a really mixed group of people.

You have people who are retired, you've got young mums with children, you've got people who are in full time work and you've got people that are at home.

And I'm still going to say they are still working, but they're not necessarily maybe out in the employment force.

You've got people that come from government level, APS level, you've got people who come from legal backgrounds, environmental law, and you've also got people who have been in administrative roles, secretarial roles, rural farming, fencing, anything.

It's very diverse and that's what's important, that's the message.

It's not just a bunch of people who think that they know everything.

It's about everybody coming together and pulling in what we all know.

I didn't know anything about grants or application for grants.

Now I know a little bit.

I still don't know know everything.

I know that I can go and talk to people and ask them for their help and their advice and also understanding the laws of the land as well, crown lands, what can be built, what can't be built, learning about project management, things like that.

And my background is really just marketing and sales.

But the fact that people are so helpful and want everybody to succeed, I think that's what, what's the most important.

Thing about volunteering with our children.

We very much try to set a good example for them and it's a little bit of you can't be what you don't see.

So if they see us volunteering and being a part of our community we can only hope that that example follows through.

And I know Steph, earlier on, in one of the other podcast episodes we've done for the Field Days, had mentioned that, you know, her family were really involved in community and volunteering and thus, as kids they were to.

What are your kids up to?

My children are at home at the moment.

They will come down later and they help with packing up.

To us, that's important that they are involved in that level.

They know that we're part of the association and that we do a lot of work.

They are at that age where they understand it's important and if they want stuff to happen in their community, that they can just give a little bit of their time.

So we don't say to them, you're coming because we're involved in all of this, but we do say to them, we would appreciate you coming down and helping.

So we'll go back and pick them up and then they'll come down and they'll just help stalls pack up, they'll help clear up, they'll do the bins.

It's just about them being involved and see that that's important.

And that's come from my background as well.

My dad was in the army.

We used to do a lot of stuff for events and I just realised that if you want to do it, get it done, you have to join in.

Such a good example.

Tell me, what do you love about Murrumbatum?

How are you selling this to someone?

Well, funnily enough, I used to be a real estate as well.

This is right up your alley.

I will only put down what I fell in love with, Maram Bateman, was the fact that the rural lifestyle to me is very important.

I do come also from a farming background and to us it was about being in an environment where we can have that lifestyle.

It's very important for us also to try and maintain that and to educate people.

They can have it to a degree both ways.

We are obviously very near to Canberra, which I think is a massive selling point for work and for industry, but also that Murrumbateman will also become somewhere where people will want to live and work and Murrumbateman will grow and that it's important to try and find that balance.

I love it.

I just love the little town.

It's been amazing to be here.

Do you know, I'm very similar to you.

I've driven through just for a toilet stop once before.

Hard to get coffee and fuel and everything.

Just as you come out of Canberra but when we talk about just the whole Gas Valley in general, it's such a beautiful part of the world.

Yeah.

And I think that the realization that the Shire is and has got so much to offer, it's beautiful, it's stunning.

There will be a lot of development that will be coming in, but I think it's important that we find that balance.

That also the growth in the Shire is very important.

The Field Days in particular brings in $7.4 million to the Shire every time it's on.

So it's not just about the Field Days, it's about the knock on effect of that.

It's about people coming to Yass, shopping, visiting Murrumbateman, visiting the wineries in Murray Bateman, staying in the hotels, eating in the restaurants, using the other facilities that the area has.

That's what this Field Days brings to the Shire, which I think is really worth noting.

Well, I hope that everyone's enjoyed the series and got to know a little bit about the region, what makes this community so special and obviously have been able to feel like they're here with this because of all the sights and sounds that is happening today.

You won't know this, but we've had to move three times now.

Finding the shade and also moving away from people packing up.

Yeah, the snake demonstration, people packing up, the water truck, going past the helicopter.

It is all happening and at least you can feel like you've been a little part of it right now.

Thank you, Steph, for volunteering.

Like, I'm not sure anyone ever thanks volunteers enough and I hope that we all do really realise the work that you put in and things wouldn't happen and maybe it is at your level where it's helping the town that you live in.

It could just be at school and helping in canteens.

I know that they are struggling at the moment.

We just have to get better at that.

I'm probably talking more my generation being 40 and having sort of four kids in that school system and probably admitting that I've never done school canteen.

Oh no, don't tell anyone.

Oh God.

But even listening to the.

I know I need to do that.

I'm not too busy for that.

I'm busy but I'm not too busy for that.

I think it's just give a little, be proud of that and don't worry about the rest.

What you give, even if it's just half an hour or an hour, it's so important.

So don't stress over that.

If you can't do more, that's all.

That's all we need.

I'm going to leave it on that.

That's a beautiful message.

Thank you, Steph.

Cheers.

Thank you.

Bye.