Losing a loved one is a worst fear for most, and something that Sarah Guthrie and Georgia Lillie have in common.

Sarah’s son Ford died 10 years ago from an accident when he was only 17.

Georgia’s husband James died of an aggressive cancer seven years ago, leaving her and her two young boys behind.

While they both lived close by in Western Victoria, neither women met until they were encouraged to swap books that they each wrote about their grief. For Sarah it’s an intimate book remembering her son's life and documenting her grief afterwards, and for Georgia a children's book for her sons could remember their dad by.

Grieving in a regional community can sometimes feel like you’re under a microscope and these authors talk about their unique experiences of coping with grief in such a tight knit community.

There is a lot of resilience, relatability and humour in how Sarah and Georgia talk to Kirsten about their loved ones and their lives after a great loss.

Thank you to Weighting for Happiness for sponsoring this Season of Ducks on the Pond. Listen to the episode to hear their special offer. And listen to the Before Dieting podcast - for a systems thinking approach to health.

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This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!

How much do you know about your soil microbiology? Dr Aurelie Quade makes a very good argument for why we should know more about it… including improving farm productivity and lowering inputs.

Originally from a forestry community in France, Aurelie fell in love with the desolate landscape of Australia when she arrived here 20 years ago.

Initially doing her PhD in plant pathology, she said she became bored at trying to fight nature and instead wanted to learn to work with it, leading her to become a highly sought after expert on soil microbial activity, soil health and resilient production systems.

She speaks about encouraging farmers, particularly smaller producers to learn more about their soil health, run their own tests and experiments and make changes to ensure you’re getting the most from your soil.

Her expertise at her consultancy, Soil Resilience has been used by producers, corporate farming and regional bodies and her long term goal is to help Australian farming systems grow and to get more out of their soil health.

Dr Quade has a far ranging discussion in this episode from the politics around soil carbon, the complex language of climate change and the future of farming.

Thank you to Weighting for Happiness for sponsoring this Season of Ducks on the Pond. Listen to the episode to hear their special offer. And listen to the Before Dieting podcast - for a systems thinking approach to health.

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This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!

Unrealistic body standards are inescapable for young women. Between diet culture, food rules at home, and stick- thin models all over our screens, it’s hard to feel in touch with what our body needs.

Nurse, midwife and systems-thinking expert Bronwyn Fletcher spent her childhood fixated on understanding what was and wasn’t healthy - she later found she wasn’t always given the right information. Turns out eating less and moving more doesn’t always equal weight loss and more importantly being thin doesn’t always mean being healthy.

After interviewing a thousand women on their experiences with food, eating and their body she created the Weighting for Happiness project. This program takes a systems based approach to weight management, encouraging women to look at the underlying emotions they have towards food and showing why habit based approaches like dieting and medications often backfire.

From Victoria’s Secret models, the Biggest Loser and Ozempic, Bronwyn addresses why it is so hard to feel in touch with our bodies in a society that wants women to look a certain way.

You can learn more about the Weighting for Happiness project and listen to Bronwyn’s podcast Before Dieting.

A huge thank you to Weighting for Happiness for supporting us at Ducks on the Pond, as the Season Sponsor!

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This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!