First time farmer

It’s a big call to leave the familiar comforts of life in the city for the wide-open spaces of farm life. But it’s even tougher to make the move in the middle of crippling drought. It was harder than Kaitie Nash thought, much harder, and that took a toll on her mental health. Social media became a way to connect and build an online community. She’s also since improved her farm skills too, and directly prior this interview, had been out mending fences.

Kaitie was a city girl, who was offered an opportunity she couldn’t refuse. Her husband’s family purchased the neighbour’s property and asked them to join the family business near Coonabrabran in country NSW.

I think I had an expectation of everything being very much what you see on Farmer Wants a Wife. And you can imagine how disappointed I was that it was not that!

Instead, Kaitie watched their cattle getting thinner as they waited for rain.

“Looking at what actually goes into keeping these animals alive, but also trying to keep them thriving as well as trying to keep yourself thriving. It was just huge. Like it was unreal,” she shares.

Kaitie remembers so many surprises, like turning the tap on and finding there was no water because the pump had broken down, using the dishwater on the plants to keep them alive, realising that all the fences you drive past in the country were actually built by someone.

Over time, I definitely deteriorated, especially with my mental health.

Kaitie felt the weight of the isolation, the drought, and adapting to a new way of living. She remembers if she had those feeling in the city, she’d take herself down to the local coffee shop.

But here, the local coffee shop is 100 kilometres away. Kaitie managed to find her way to the other side of those feelings and now is very much at home on the farm. However, she uses social media to share the truth about country life and is a sounding board for others who are experiencing similar challenges.

“People who are in farming, they know and understand it. But for those who don’t know, or understand, I want to give them an insight.”

Kaitie is still awestruck at how much goes into farming. The science from studs, to cropping blows her away.

“I thought, you put it in the ground, it rains, and it grows, but it doesn’t!”

There are pests, storms, and so many other variables.

Some days are incredible. And other days, you feel the world is against you.

What makes the fact that Kaitie is still on the farm even more impressive, is she was bitten by a snake in the early days. After being unable to reach her husband, she ushered her children inside the house and managed to call an ambulance. It wasn’t until her husband saw the lights and sirens from afar, that he realised something had happened. Thankfully, it was what’s called a ‘dry bite’, which means there was no venom,

“I was very lucky,” she recalls.

Kaitie is on a personal mission to meet as many first-time-farmers in person as possible. She wants to build something her children are proud of, and help others along the way.

To connect with Kaitie, you can find her on Instagram @kaitie_nash.

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