0:02

Following is a

0:02

conversation with Rachel Ward,

0:06

English-Australian actress, film

0:06

director, screenwriter and now

0:10

cattle farmer where I spoke to

0:10

her from her farm in eastern

0:13

Australia. Tools For Nomads is sponsored by

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Topdrawer. Topdrawer's mission

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Topdrawershop.com. I'm Thom Pollard from early on,

1:16

I wanted to squeeze as much as I

1:20

could from life by looking for

1:20

adventures all over the world.

1:25

As a documentary filmmaker, I

1:25

basically became a professional

1:29

adventurer for expeditions to

1:29

Mount Everest got to the top and

1:33

2016 under a full Buddha moon. I

1:33

helped build an ancient styled

1:39

ship made of two and a half

1:39

million reads and sailed it 3000

1:43

miles to Easter Island, from the

1:43

coast of Chile. All these

1:47

adventures were really a way for

1:47

me to meet fascinating and

1:51

passionate people. These people

1:51

are everywhere you go in small

1:55

villages in remote corners of

1:55

Nepal, bustling cities in

1:59

Bolivia, sometimes your next

1:59

door neighbor, and tools for

2:02

nomads. I'm going to introduce

2:02

you to some of these people

2:05

nomads like me who are driven by

2:05

creativity and their passion for

2:10

discovering the answers to

2:10

life's big questions.

2:16

Try to listen to this episode

2:16

and have it not affect the way

2:20

you think the next time you go

2:20

to the supermarket for

2:24

groceries. I hope in a good way.

2:24

I'm a glass half full kind of

2:29

guy. I prefer to spend time with

2:29

people who see a silver lining

2:33

in every cloud. I listen to

2:33

people who tell me stories of

2:36

hope and potential within the

2:36

setbacks of their lives. Have a

2:41

nose we all have a few. Today's

2:41

guest understands rising and

2:46

falling. She's an actor and a

2:46

film director and now a farmer

2:51

in the 1980s. She gained

2:51

international fame when she

2:55

starred in a 10 hour us mini

2:55

series on the best selling

2:59

Australian saga written by

2:59

Colleen McCullough. The Thorn

3:03

Birds, Cornwall, England born

3:03

Rachel Ward became a household

3:08

name going on to star in

3:08

successful Hollywood films like

3:13

against all odds. She married a

3:13

fellow actor and she met while

3:17

filming The Thorn Birds,

3:17

Australia's Brian Brown. She

3:20

migrated to Australia. That's a

3:20

long way from home and they

3:24

raised a family and now our

3:24

grandparents. While Rachel's

3:29

been featured on the cover of

3:29

Vogue and cosmopolitan her next

3:33

cover shot will probably be for

3:33

a holistic farming or

3:37

conservation magazine. 33 years

3:37

ago, she and Brian bought their

3:42

farm in Australia 350 hectares,

3:42

which to me is about 1000 acres

3:48

where they raised cattle. Until

3:48

recently the farm was managed by

3:53

others. But when the Australian

3:53

bushfires swept across the

3:57

continent, devastating 1000s and

3:57

1000s of acres, destroying

4:01

properties, human lives and

4:01

taking the lives of countless

4:05

wildlife. I read some estimate

4:05

that over a billion animals and

4:10

birds lost their lives in the

4:10

fires. Rachel had a bit of an

4:15

epiphany and wanted to embrace

4:15

regenerative farming on her

4:19

farm. And she's producing a film

4:19

about that it's called standing

4:24

on the soil Lucian with the ever

4:24

talented documentary filmmaker,

4:28

Bettina Dalton, who, by the way,

4:28

introduced me to Rachel, after

4:33

my episode with Valerie Taylor

4:33

for tools for nomads, which I

4:36

hope you've heard, Tina also

4:36

produced Valerie's film playing

4:41

with sharks. So what is

4:41

regenerative farming? Think

4:45

about it as holistic indigenous

4:45

farming the way it was done

4:48

hundreds of years ago, if not

4:48

1000s of years ago without the

4:52

use of chemicals, which kill

4:52

virtually everything, not only

4:56

the weeds and bugs that they're

4:56

intended for

5:00

Like the herbicide glyphosate,

5:00

it's applied to the leaves of

5:04

plants to kill them. You've

5:04

probably heard of Monsanto's

5:07

Roundup, these herbicides have

5:07

been classified as probable

5:11

human carcinogens by the world's

5:11

leading cancer authority.

5:17

In the teaser to the film

5:17

standing on the soil, Lucian,

5:20

Rachel proclaims that there must

5:20

be a better way to farm. And

5:25

then she says around the world,

5:25

and in Australia there is it's

5:29

called regenerative farming. And

5:29

she's going to see in this film,

5:34

if it says game changing as it

5:34

promises to be, and she wants to

5:38

meet the farmers trying to start

5:38

a revolution. Here's my

5:43

conversation with Rachel Ward.

5:46

Hi, Rachel, thank you, I really

5:46

enjoyed the teaser of the film

5:51

to standing on the soy illusion,

5:51

it's really cool that you are

5:55

one of the stewards of the

5:55

topic. I'm an example of someone

6:00

who's having a go, who's gone, I

6:00

cannot sit on the fence any

6:04

longer. I'm you know, we must

6:04

jump in.

6:08

We must, you know,

6:08

we must sustainability is not

6:12

enough. We have to, we have to

6:12

start regenerating. We have to

6:18

start in, you know, phasing out

6:18

plastics, chemicals, whatever.

6:23

And we have to get so serious

6:23

about this, this this subject.

6:28

One of the things they say about

6:28

regenerative farming is that you

6:31

have to change the paddock

6:31

between your ears. So it's in

6:36

that's a really hard thing to

6:36

do. You know, how do you not

6:40

increase consumption? You know,

6:40

how do you move forward without

6:44

consuming? How do you? How does

6:44

anybody progress in an area

6:49

where they necessarily have to

6:49

consume for their jobs? I mean,

6:52

I'm just setting up an Airbnb,

6:52

and I have to bet get things for

6:56

that place, you know, and I'm,

6:56

it's a toss up between, do I

7:00

make this work? Or how do I do

7:00

it so that I don't use more

7:04

plastic, you know, buy more

7:04

mattresses, whatever. So it's a

7:09

constant balancing act, isn't

7:09

it? Anyway, I digress, Get back,

7:14

get me back.

7:15

That well, that

7:15

was a very good digress, because

7:19

it was actually deep into the

7:19

heart of the matter of the big

7:23

picture of our existence on this

7:23

planet. And it was easy. Not

7:30

that life is ever easy, per se.

7:30

But we didn't really have to

7:34

worry about micro plastics in

7:34

the oceans, or 90% of the sharks

7:39

being hunted out of the oceans,

7:39

which is just an indication of

7:43

all the fish being fished out of

7:43

the oceans of all the the

7:47

rainforest being burned down to

7:47

make room for cattle for 99 cent

7:53

hamburgers at McDonald's. And

7:53

and it mattered in a way but but

7:58

it was off the radar. And

7:58

suddenly we're starting to get

8:03

these warning signs, these dire

8:03

warning signs. And it's time on

8:08

an individual level. And even on

8:08

the smaller level to make

8:14

changes. And you have been

8:14

farming for decades, I believe.

8:21

And, and something made you

8:21

shift can tell what was your

8:26

moments or epiphany, if you

8:26

will, that said,

8:30

Oh my gosh, I've that we can't

8:30

keep doing this the way we used

8:35

to?

8:36

Well, it's funny,

8:36

isn't it your little wakeups

8:38

that you have, I mean, of

8:38

course, there was so many things

8:41

that were shaking me and waking

8:41

me and perturbing me and

8:46

actually sort of leading me to

8:46

an existential crisis, which I

8:49

basically had a sort of major

8:49

meltdown after the fires in

8:55

Australia. And, you know, I

8:55

think that one of the

9:00

silver linings of this terrible

9:00

fire that we had here was I

9:04

think it did wake up a lot of

9:04

people. And I was certainly one

9:08

of them because I was one of the

9:08

early early areas to get hit.

9:14

And I was my farm was consumed

9:14

with fire. So I was one of the

9:18

first one because it really got

9:18

raging in in 20, beginning of

9:22

2019. So when they hit here, I

9:22

was sort of just curious, I was

9:28

just, you know, I was coming

9:28

back from the beach, and I

9:30

suddenly saw this, you know,

9:30

this sort of extraordinary black

9:36

cloud over the horizon. And I

9:36

was basically going for a sticky

9:40

beak, you know, just over quite

9:40

close to me and I just went Ah,

9:44

there's a terrible fire over

9:44

there. Maybe a tankers exploded

9:47

or something like that. Anyway,

9:47

of course, as I got closer and

9:50

closer, it became evident that

9:50

the whole mountain was on fire.

9:56

And there were sort of people

9:56

racing around and there was this

9:59

sort of very very eerie wind that was blowing

10:00

and the sort of incredible sort

10:04

of silence of no birds, or the

10:04

birds had gone. But you just saw

10:11

this apocalyptic scene of the

10:11

fire approaching. And I still

10:17

was, you know, I was about five

10:17

kilometers away, and I went out,

10:20

it'll burn itself out here. As I

10:20

was returning, I saw I kept

10:25

seeing the fire bombs, you know,

10:25

the, the, the, the, the fire

10:29

sends out these sort of, well,

10:29

they're sort of fireballs, they

10:33

call them. And a fireball hit my

10:33

back road as I was going home

10:39

and I and I saw it catch fire.

10:39

And I raced back to the to the

10:43

farmers who were on the road,

10:43

you know, basically ushering

10:46

people out of the area. And I

10:46

raced up and said, you know, the

10:49

road to Taylor's arm is now on

10:49

fire. And they said, Madam,

10:54

there is nothing we can do about

10:54

it, just get out of the way.

10:57

And, you know, as I went up that

10:57

that road back up that road, it

11:01

had already moved so far ahead.

11:01

That there were, you know, there

11:06

were people on the road with

11:06

sort of tragic little hoses that

11:10

they were sort of trying to put

11:10

out the fires started leapt

11:14

across the road. And you just

11:14

saw the futility of their

11:18

efforts as the fire just took

11:18

hold. And yeah, I came racing

11:22

back to my farm. And I basically got my pathetic

11:25

little hose and I watered all

11:29

the gutters, I I wet all the

11:29

gauges, I put the hose up on the

11:33

roof. I put the sprinklers on on

11:33

the lawn. But again, mine was

11:38

sort of pathetically futile,

11:38

really, to what was coming? And

11:44

yes, I saw it. Suddenly, I saw

11:44

it raging now behind the farm,

11:47

and that, you know, these

11:47

flickers of red, but just this

11:50

sort of powerful smoke this

11:50

extraordinary churning blackness

11:55

of the smoke. And I rang my

11:55

husband and I said, who was in

11:59

Sydney? And I said, I don't

11:59

think we'll have a farm by the

12:01

morning. And, and,

12:06

I mean, he just said, Get out of

12:06

there, get out of there. And so

12:10

that's what I did is I wet

12:10

everything I could. And then I

12:14

didn't even take anything

12:14

because I couldn't begin to sort

12:17

of go what is more precious than

12:17

anything else? Honestly, I can't

12:21

even imagine it sounds like a

12:21

complete nightmare. It was like

12:26

hell, it was like you'd gone

12:26

down into some hellish place.

12:30

And you just felt it was very

12:30

shocking. It was shocking for

12:36

the damage it had done. It was

12:36

shocking for the trees. I mean,

12:39

I went for a walk around the

12:39

perimeter of the of the

12:41

property. And I could hear in

12:41

the forest, just this crash,

12:45

crash crash as the trees that

12:45

have been burned over the last

12:49

few days just gave up and fell.

12:49

And just the smoldering that was

12:55

was continuing. And you just,

12:55

again, this silence apart from

12:59

the crashing of the trees, this

12:59

there was just nothing there. It

13:04

was eerie. It was it was like

13:04

the end of the world. What can

13:06

you say? So if you're not moved

13:06

by that to do something? What

13:10

can I you move by? Yeah, so it

13:10

was really after that. And it

13:14

was really after having

13:14

grandchild my first grandchild,

13:17

actually, that I just woke up to

13:17

what the hell can we do more?

13:24

And the miracle was that

13:24

actually I could do a lot. It

13:28

sounds like that view into

13:28

Armageddon really woke you up, I

13:33

can't even imagine. But then

13:33

after the fires dwindled down

13:37

and went away, it sounds like

13:37

you did a deeper dive into

13:40

looking at what the use of

13:40

chemicals for farming was doing,

13:44

not only to the top soil, but

13:44

the long term effects on human

13:49

health. Because the introduction

13:49

of so many chemicals and

13:53

pesticides over the decades and

13:53

decades of modern farming has

13:57

really gotten into everything.

13:57

So is that right? They call it a

14:04

novel entities, which is really

14:04

chemical pollution. And we now

14:10

have three 350,000 different

14:10

chemicals in, in our world to

14:17

you to use. And we have the

14:17

plastic production has increased

14:22

by 79%. Since they started doing

14:22

that,

14:28

you know, started itemizing

14:28

started recording what the

14:31

changes that were the planetary

14:31

boundaries. So it's just not

14:35

good enough to sustainability is

14:35

no longer good enough. We need

14:39

regenerative practices. And if

14:39

we don't, if we keep on crossing

14:44

those boundaries, we are so much

14:44

on a route to self termination.

14:49

It's It's, uh you know, how many

14:49

times can we be told that how

14:54

much more evidence do we need

14:54

how many more people that are

14:58

doing these records? and data how much more do we

15:00

need to recognize this? There

15:05

you go, there's my spiel. And

15:05

that's why my husband would have

15:09

moved to an to another room 20

15:09

minutes ago by now and

15:15

you spared him Did

15:15

you say why don't you go take a

15:18

walk right now because I'm about

15:18

to go off?

15:21

look, he's not

15:21

here. He's actually not here but

15:23

and he's, he's very much a city

15:23

fella. So it was really me and

15:28

my farm manager. And I credit

15:28

him with coming to me and saying

15:33

I really want to try this it's

15:33

not what he said it's not

15:35

working the way we're farming is

15:35

not working inputs are too high.

15:39

And you know, we are completely

15:39

at the mercy of these changing

15:45

these huge degrees of change,

15:45

whether it be drought or, or

15:49

floods, which we have

15:49

constantly, you know, drought,

15:52

flood, drought, right flow,

15:52

flood, and we just can't keep up

15:56

with the, with the extremes of climate

15:58

and, and the expense of the

16:03

inputs. And the and because food

16:03

is so low, the price of food is

16:07

too low. We are just spending on too much

16:09

stuff and not spending on the

16:14

right kind of food and not

16:14

encouraging the right kind of

16:18

food.

16:21

You're listening

16:21

to my interview with Rachel

16:23

Ward, English, Australian

16:23

multiple Golden Globe nominated

16:28

actress, film director,

16:28

screenwriter, and now cattle

16:32

farmer. We're talking about a

16:32

recent epiphany after the

16:35

Australian bushfires of 2019 to

16:35

switch her farm to a

16:39

regenerative farm.

16:42

You know, we can do

16:42

it, we can do it. Um, it just

16:47

somehow needs people. You know,

16:47

I think that's why regenerative

16:51

farming is so exciting because

16:51

there is it's very hopeful, and

16:55

it's very doable. And people are

16:55

getting on board. And it's not

17:00

and it's not hard. And it's

17:00

fabulous to do it. It's a great

17:04

experience to start working with

17:04

nature and walking side by side

17:08

with nature. And there is

17:08

answers to every problem at the

17:10

moment. We have so much rain

17:10

here we've had a summer of

17:14

unrelenting rain and floods. And

17:14

the grass is way over my head.

17:20

We have this grass called

17:20

soteria. And it's a really quick

17:23

growing grass and it goes to

17:23

seed very quickly. So you know,

17:27

so our fences get, we have now

17:27

electric fences. And we have now

17:32

moved from 30 paddocks to 90

17:32

paddocks. So you can imagine how

17:37

many, you know little electric

17:37

fences we have and we have to

17:42

slash the for the fences because

17:42

electricity doesn't doesn't work

17:46

unless you have the garage, the

17:46

wet grass grounds the

17:50

electricity. So, you know, most

17:50

people would be just spraying

17:54

chemicals under those fences,

17:54

you know, and just dealing with

17:57

it and you deal with it, the

17:57

beginning of summer and

18:01

everything dies under the fence

18:01

and job done. But you know, what

18:06

are you doing? What are you

18:06

doing underneath those fences?

18:09

What are you killing? What

18:09

habit? Are you perpetuating? You

18:14

know, if you use a chemical

18:14

there are you going to use the

18:17

Kemaman like my next door

18:17

farmer, my ex farm manager

18:21

sprays out his field field with

18:21

glyphosate. Before he then

18:28

before he plants seed before he

18:28

he direct drills his seed in but

18:33

he completely annihilates his

18:33

fields before he does. And he

18:39

and he grows this grass,

18:39

monocultural grasses and he has

18:43

fat cattle and he sells fat

18:43

cattle but he is you know, he is

18:49

he he will go under because of

18:49

the amount that he spends

18:52

getting those cattle fat. So he

18:52

sprays he plants, he sprays with

18:59

water, you know, he has to

18:59

irrigate his fields as well to

19:03

get it to grow. And you know,

19:03

yes, he goes to the cattle yards

19:06

and people pat him on the back

19:06

the size of his cars and the

19:10

amount of money he gets for his

19:10

cars. But

19:14

it isn't the way forward it's

19:14

it's it's leading to a dead end.

19:19

I cattle may not be as you know,

19:19

ridiculously fat as their cattle

19:24

but they don't need to be you

19:24

know, they don't need to be and

19:30

you know we've got a very

19:30

distorted view now I think of of

19:34

how, how big have fat out

19:34

everything everything needs to

19:39

be no cattle don't need to be

19:39

that big to have to have a great

19:43

taste of your cattle on grass

19:43

fed finished cattle. You don't

19:47

need to have these monster cows

19:47

that had stuffed with grain in

19:51

feedlots. You can chemicals.

19:55

Yeah, do it with nature, just

19:55

what nature provides. Yeah,

19:59

yeah. Yeah, you do some talking?

20:03

Well, it's a

20:03

conscious decision and it's

20:07

easier to not do anything you

20:07

had sent me into this this

20:11

realm, you said, look up this,

20:11

this person and that person. And

20:15

here's a couple of individuals

20:15

to research before you speak

20:18

with me and, and I looked them

20:18

all up and I spent hours and

20:23

hours watching videos go My

20:23

gosh. So you you've said one guy

20:28

to look up is Charles Massey,

20:28

and he talks about regenitive

20:32

agriculture.

20:32

goosebumps when you

20:32

say his name, when you say his

20:35

name, I have a physical reaction

20:35

isn't that bizarre, because I

20:39

think he's, you know, and people

20:39

like him, are just offering so

20:43

much hope they are the heroes of

20:43

today. And they are such, they

20:47

are individuals, they're so

20:47

brave, because they started a

20:51

long time ago. And they started

20:51

without any precedent really,

20:55

and they just recognize what was

20:55

going on. They're smart, smart

20:58

guys, and they smart farmers.

20:58

And they recognize what was

21:03

happening. And they heard

21:03

whispers of this other way of

21:07

farming, because it's been going

21:07

on now for 4050 years, you know,

21:11

people have been doing it. Allan

21:11

Savory started a long time in,

21:15

in, in, in Zimbabwe. And, you

21:15

know, the so that, what do they

21:19

call the early adopters, they

21:19

call them and they are just

21:23

doing it without any road

21:23

without any

21:27

blueprints at all. They are

21:27

just, you know, having a go

21:30

failing, having another go

21:30

failing. And finally getting to

21:34

a point where this works, you

21:34

know, I am up and running just

21:37

without inputs and working with

21:37

nature. And there, I mean, his

21:41

book called The reed warbler was

21:41

one of those books. I never had

21:46

a teacher that changed my life.

21:46

But I hadn't really ever read a

21:50

book that changed my life. But

21:50

this book changed my life, I

21:54

read it, I could not put it

21:54

down. And I just read it with

21:57

such hopefulness because he was

21:57

so smart. And he was he was

22:03

answering all the psychological

22:03

issues, too, that were blocking

22:06

people from going this way. You

22:06

know, he talked about humanity

22:10

and our resistance to change.

22:10

And he talked about the kind of

22:14

people that were more open to

22:14

change than others. And he,

22:18

yeah, he put that in historical

22:18

context. So you could see how

22:22

change had happened throughout

22:22

the world towards, you know,

22:25

obviously a civilizing society.

22:25

And you could see that it was

22:29

always the early adopters that

22:29

made the changes that have

22:34

well, you know, it's very hard

22:34

to say that a brought us to the

22:36

civilized point now, because

22:36

obviously, it's deeply

22:39

uncivilized position now that

22:39

we're at, because we're

22:41

destroying ourselves. It's been

22:41

it's very hard, you know, we

22:45

have a culture of in Australia,

22:45

of our,

22:50

our wealth is has come from the

22:50

sheep's back. So our wealth has

22:55

been established before even

22:55

before mining on with the

22:59

farmer, the farmer bought us

22:59

riches here, you know, that

23:03

farmers develop this country.

23:03

So, you know, they are like

23:07

those sacrosanct sank people

23:07

that you cannot criticize, you

23:11

know, I mean, luckily, my farm

23:11

manager woke me up younger than

23:15

me. He's, he was reading, you

23:15

know, his influence was

23:18

different. He was on the land,

23:18

he was looking for answers, he

23:21

realized that it wasn't viable,

23:21

anything was viable. And he

23:24

said, I'm going to change my

23:24

practice to regenerative

23:26

practices do you want to do you

23:26

want to come with me? So we

23:30

joined our herds, and we are now

23:30

farming together. And we are now

23:34

what's called doing what's

23:34

called sell grazing, which is

23:38

you, you break up your paddocks

23:38

into smaller entities and you

23:41

move your cattle around like a

23:41

wild herd, like like a Wild Herd

23:46

would move. So you have dense,

23:46

you have much denser herds. So

23:52

they move our cattle move daily.

23:52

In the summertime, sometimes

23:57

they move twice daily, but it's

23:57

easy peasy. It's just a question

24:00

of opening a gate. Yeah. So it's, you know, and some

24:03

people that isn't, doesn't suit

24:06

them. But does it really suit

24:06

them going, you know, plowing

24:10

their fields, but spraying their

24:10

fields, we don't have to do any

24:15

of that. In the end, we want to

24:15

be lazy farmers. We are aiming

24:20

towards being lazy farmers and

24:20

letting the sunlight and the

24:23

cattle do everything nature do

24:23

everything for us. So Rachel for

24:29

the benefit of the listener, the

24:29

idea of moving a herd, from cell

24:33

to cell or paddock to paddock,

24:33

it allows the grass to fully

24:37

regrow right before moving the

24:37

cattle back into that area

24:42

again, where they're of course

24:42

going to eat all that fresh

24:44

grass. In being in fully growing

24:44

it is using the photosynthesis

24:49

to pull the carb or excess

24:49

carbon out of the atmosphere and

24:53

back down into the ground. And

24:53

this is what we've lost of

24:57

course by a huge

25:00

Soil losses and degeneration is

25:00

our soil has blown away, I'm

25:06

I've built carbon in my soil,

25:06

building carbon in your soil

25:10

allows you to hold water in the

25:10

soil. And of course brings down

25:15

you know, encourages nutrients

25:15

and all this all the nutrients

25:18

actually that are in the

25:18

atmosphere that actually then

25:20

come down, or the minerals that

25:20

come down into the soil through

25:25

photosynthesis. And that whole

25:25

very simple process, you know,

25:29

send the photosensors sends

25:29

sugars down, and then the

25:33

microbes in the soil turns the

25:33

sugars into carbon. I think I've

25:38

definitely missed some

25:38

scientific link there. But

25:40

essentially, that's what

25:40

happens. Wow. So it's a win win

25:44

win all round. But it is hard to

25:44

change, you know, it's hard to

25:47

get your head around, it's hard

25:47

to take that first step. I mean,

25:50

as a as, as, as a woman, and in

25:50

this world, you know, I've had

25:54

to change careers, three or four

25:54

times now. And it's hard to

25:58

suddenly go, Okay, I've left

25:58

that behind, I'm going to have

26:01

to step out, and I'm going to

26:01

have to change everything, I'm

26:03

gonna have to re educate myself

26:03

and start again.

26:07

But you know, that when it's

26:07

urgent, it as easy as it is, we

26:12

have to, yeah, we have to, yeah,

26:15

Rachel. So you

26:15

know, I mean, a lot of people

26:18

I'm, you know, I was born in

26:18

1961, I love to work and I

26:23

there's something that was born

26:23

into me, I don't know if my mom

26:26

or dad had it in their genes or

26:26

something, but I just can't see

26:31

letting time go by without

26:31

pursuing something I'm

26:35

passionate about. And, and you

26:35

know, and you've had a

26:38

successful careers and, and now

26:38

in, in this farming genre, and

26:44

melding together the documentary

26:44

realm, which is really exciting.

26:49

You are you, you have every

26:49

right to relax right now. And

26:54

you are on full tilt. And this

26:54

is beautiful. And this is what

26:58

gives people like me a lot of

26:58

hope, and belief that there is a

27:03

reason to be confident and

27:03

positive about good change

27:08

happening. Because your people

27:08

like you are out there going,

27:12

You know what, no, I'm not gonna

27:12

just sit by and hope somebody

27:16

else does it. You're doing it

27:16

and it was it born India, was it

27:20

your mom, your dad, a

27:20

grandparent, like who, who

27:24

inspired you?

27:26

I'm lucky, I'm

27:26

lucky that I actually was able

27:29

to be to become empowered to do

27:29

something. Because I had a farm,

27:34

you know, how to farm. And, you

27:34

know, that was all set in

27:37

motion, I think. Do it. You

27:37

know, we're making The Thorn

27:40

Birds all those years ago, I

27:40

sort of fell in love with I

27:44

mean, I did grow up on a farm.

27:44

So I had it in me. I grew up in

27:47

the country. And although my

27:47

father didn't actually farm, I

27:52

was surrounded by other farmers.

27:52

And we actually, we were in

27:55

cropping and sheep country. And,

27:55

but then I moved away from that

28:00

as soon as I could, you know, it

28:00

was a sort of like that useful

28:02

thing that rushed to the city to

28:02

know you wanted to be with a lot

28:06

of other people you want to, you

28:06

know, feel like you don't want

28:08

to feel like you've stuck on a

28:08

farm.

28:13

And now look at you!

28:14

If only I'd known

28:14

I'd have stayed there.

28:18

So what can people

28:18

actually do? It seems like a

28:20

huge problem. And how can one

28:20

individual actually affect some

28:27

element of change?

28:29

Everybody has

28:29

everybody buys food. And that is

28:34

the most empowering thing you

28:34

can do. If you are more

28:38

conscious about what what food

28:38

you buy, and where it's come

28:41

from, that is where the big

28:41

change will happen. We also have

28:45

a paddock to plate business that

28:45

I do with my daughter. So we are

28:49

now bypassing retailers who are

28:49

not moving fast enough and who

28:54

are not on this regen bandwagon

28:54

have not understood that is not

28:58

enough to be organic,

28:58

sustainable, we need to be

29:02

regenerating. So we are now offering

29:04

regenerative meat directly to

29:08

customers. You know, the more

29:08

that customers demand it, the

29:12

more it will happen. I mean

29:12

retailers are just responding,

29:15

obviously responding to demand.

29:15

So the more we make a fuss about

29:19

when we go into a restaurant and

29:19

we say excuse me, is that? Is

29:23

that a happy pig? Does that come

29:23

from industrial farms? Or is

29:27

that pig? Is that bacon from a

29:27

natural farm? Is that grown

29:31

outside? Is it healthy? Or is it

29:31

grown in a concrete block with

29:37

1000s of other pig held in

29:37

birthing cages? It's the best

29:42

it's the most it's the most

29:42

powerful thing you can do is to

29:46

change farmers is to change the

29:46

way we farm and to change the

29:49

way we eat and to demand that we

29:49

do not our food is not full of

29:53

chemicals until more and more

29:53

people go That's enough. I you

29:57

know, I have to write I have to

29:57

march I have to

30:00

You know, I have to shake it up,

30:02

Rachel, that's,

30:02

that's incredible. I'm, I'm

30:05

inspired. And the best part of

30:05

this story, if you could sum it

30:09

up is it's there's a tragedy

30:09

that's, that's unfolding. But

30:14

there's a lot of hope. And

30:14

you've had you ended this and

30:18

moved it into this direction of

30:18

hopefulness and possibilities.

30:23

And I would imagine that in

30:23

that, that on its own is, would

30:28

would, would I be making an

30:28

assumption to say that that's

30:31

what inspires you and, and get

30:31

you out of bed in the morning?

30:34

That, that you're making a

30:34

difference? Is? Is it listening

30:38

to other people? Yeah,

30:41

Absolutely. Its

30:41

purpose. And, you know, I'm 64,

30:44

I thought, you know, my life

30:44

would be I was scared of it

30:47

winding down, because I don't

30:47

feel like it should be winding

30:50

down. So to find something that

30:50

I can be so actively engaged in

30:54

and move out of the film

30:54

industry, which was the most,

30:58

you know, incredibly frustrating

30:58

place to be. So, you know, it's,

31:02

that's fabulous. But it's also

31:02

it's, it's inhabited by this

31:06

whole world, and people are onto

31:06

this are so inspired themselves.

31:12

And it's a it is a community of

31:12

people who have like minded

31:15

people who are actually getting

31:15

out there and, and, and, and

31:19

making a difference. It's to me, it's a no brainer,

31:21

but it is it is about changing

31:25

the paddock between your ears,

31:25

it is about having conscious of

31:30

all of those choices you make in

31:30

your life. And can we do this

31:34

without chemicals? Yes, we can

31:34

do it with Yes, we can do it

31:38

without chemicals. Yes, we can

31:38

feed the world without

31:41

chemicals. So I do feel you

31:41

know, and I like that I'm

31:44

producing. I'm producing food, that is debt

31:46

is good for people that is

31:50

healthy for people that is got

31:50

as much in it that nature can

31:55

naturally provide.

31:57

Rachel Yeah, you

31:57

you now that the earth is like

32:00

this, this this system, and

32:00

everything we do does have an

32:04

impact and, and it matters how

32:04

one individual chooses to walk

32:10

forward and step on the planet,

32:10

whether it's gently or with

32:14

care, as a steward of the

32:14

future, or just conscious

32:19

without any consciousness

32:19

whatsoever. And, you know, part

32:24

of that, and I want to ask you

32:24

about, you know, what all of us

32:29

are born, you know, with dreams

32:29

and ideas, and there are many

32:33

young people who grow old, never

32:33

having achieved their dreams and

32:39

the things that they they loved

32:39

as a child. And so, you, you now

32:46

you've done this, you've you've,

32:46

you've achieved dreams, and I'm

32:49

sure there are many that you

32:49

never went after, but some that

32:53

you have. And so to it to a

32:53

person listening, whether

32:56

they're 15 years old, or 35 and

32:56

kicking ass in Wall Street,

33:01

thinking they made it, what do

33:01

you say to people? Like, what

33:05

can they do? You know, just to be confident to go after

33:08

their dreams? Is there any kind

33:13

of nugget of wisdom in there?

33:16

Seems like I've

33:16

achieved my dreams. I mean, not

33:18

really, I mean, you know, I feel

33:18

more fulfilled and more

33:22

purposeful now, because I feel

33:22

that whatever I do, it's for I'm

33:28

convinced it's the right thing

33:28

to be doing. And that is an

33:33

excellent worthwhile thing to be

33:33

doing. It's contributing to,

33:38

it's leaving a positive

33:38

contribution, rather than a

33:41

negative contribution. And, you

33:41

know, in the entertainment

33:45

industry, I didn't think I was

33:45

leaving a negative contribution,

33:47

particularly. But it was a

33:47

incredibly frustrating and time

33:53

wasting occupation to be

33:53

involved in so much time of

33:58

unemployment, so much

33:58

frustration of trying to get

34:00

projects up and running and, and

34:00

so much external things that you

34:06

couldn't control the art of your

34:06

control. So I wouldn't say I

34:11

fulfilled my dreams in that

34:11

space.

34:15

I did, I had a couple of great

34:15

projects that, you know, made me

34:19

a reasonable amount of money

34:19

early on, and that sort of

34:23

sustained me from then on. But

34:23

now moving to another country,

34:28

being a migrant, that all

34:28

carries enormous

34:32

difficulties and struggles and I

34:32

would say that life is an I'm

34:38

somebody who's, I think probably

34:38

feels deeply reacts over

34:43

sensitively to things and I've

34:43

definitely had my struggles and

34:50

I think that there's no point

34:50

believing that life isn't full

34:53

of that. If course it is part

34:53

that's part of life and to

34:56

believe that you're actually

34:56

just going to be that fulfill

34:59

your dreams. You know, in the end, you hope

35:00

you go there are little moments

35:04

where, where you've had little

35:04

miracles, and but, you know,

35:08

most of the time we're

35:08

struggling, most of the time

35:12

everybody's struggling and to

35:12

pretend otherwise, that there

35:16

are some people out there who

35:16

have this miracle life where

35:19

they're not struggling is, I

35:19

think, really dangerous. And I

35:22

think, you know, obviously our

35:22

media never stops promoting

35:26

these people who seem to have

35:26

these sort of idealistic lives

35:29

and it's so dangerous and so

35:33

it's so crushing for anybody

35:33

else out there who is struggling

35:37

day to day. And I think it's a

35:37

comfort that everybody's

35:40

struggling, you know, my life

35:40

looks on the surface. And at the

35:44

moment, it's very good because,

35:44

you know, arrived at a place

35:48

later on in life where I have

35:48

been through my struggles, and

35:52

I've been through and I got to a

35:52

place where I can wake up every

35:55

day and feel purpose if I've

35:55

just got a new bit of

35:59

biodiversity in my paddock. And

35:59

I'm and I, and I don't have

36:03

grand, grand ideas, you know, I

36:03

don't have grand dreams, my

36:06

dreams are small, and they're

36:06

very possible to to attain, you

36:11

know, if I see a different kind

36:11

of bird on my property, I go,

36:16

that is that's as good as it

36:16

gets.

36:22

Rachel's film is

36:22

standing on the soil Lucian, a

36:26

feature documentary brought to

36:26

you by wild bear entertainment.

36:30

In association with Newtown

36:30

films, I will provide a link in

36:34

the show notes to the teaser for

36:34

standing on the soil illusion.

36:39

It's slated for theatrical

36:39

release in Australia in October

36:43

of this year. Stay tuned. For

36:43

those of you in the United

36:46

States and elsewhere, the

36:46

theatrical event releases will

36:50

be coming soon after. Thanks for visiting tools for

36:55

nomads a look into the lives and

36:59

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36:59

creative people like Rachel

37:03

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