Can regenerative farming and a focus on nutrition truly transform our lives? Join us in this heart-warming conversation with Matilda Brown, daughter of renowned actors Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward, and Scott Gooding, 'celebrity chef' and author of The Sustainable Diet. Together, they share their unexpected journey into the world of regenerative farming, their thoughts on food sovereignty, and how their combined passion for cooking, creativity, and healthy, sustainable living, led to the creation of the Good Farm Shop.
Family, passion, and determination play a significant role in Matilda and Scott's story. Discover how Matilda's mother, last Monday's guest Rachel Ward, infused her artistic background and love for the environment into their family farm - then into her new film about it, 'Rachel’s Farm'. We'll also explore how Matilda navigated the film industry herself, before finding a surprising calling in their evolving business. And how Scott's expertise in nutrition and holistic living, and extraordinary experience of healing from debilitating injury, has been instrumental in their journey.
Finally, listen in as we discuss the challenges and triumphs of running the Good Farm Shop, as an ethical, regenerative food business. From learning about holistic land management and meeting extraordinary farmers, to creating ready meals that nourish the body and soul, Matilda and Scott's story is a testament to the power of love, passion, and a commitment to regenerative living.
Head here for automatic cues to chapter markers, and a transcript of this conversation (please note the transcript is AI generated and imperfect, but hopefully serves to provide greater access to these conversations for those who need or like to read).
This conversation was recorded at the family farm on 10 April 2023.
With thanks to Blair Beattie from Farmers Footprint Australia for taking the driver’s seat on our journey to visit Rachel and family.
Title slide: Matilda, Scott & family (sourced from The Good Farm Shop website).
See more photos on the episode web page, and for more from behind the scenes, become a subscriber via the Patreon page.
Music:
Regeneration, by Amelia Barden, off the soundtrack for the film Regenerating Australia.
Find more:
The Good Farm Shop.
The new film Rachel’s Farm, including trailer, tour bookings, now with more info including guest panellists, and plenty to go on with.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matilda (00:00):
That was the world that I grew up in.
I was on sets for as long as Ican remember, in the makeup
trailer, sitting next to thedirector watching Dad and Mum on
do their thing growing up,watching Dad on the TV in our
room while he's sitting next tome and him being shot to death
(00:21):
or his brain's blown out, Tryingto compute that as a young, all
those .
.
Scott (00:25):
did he always makes you watch his movies?
Anthony (00:31):
G' day, Anthony James here for The RegenNarration on
Nyikkina Warrwa Country, justoutside Derby in the Kimberley
region of far north-west-westernAustralia.
And a very strange andwonderful day it's been here
with some big but friendly wetin the heart of the dry season,
green and dripping around me.
(00:52):
Right now the savanna smellsdelicious, especially where we
are back at Wendy's permacultureparadise at Kimberley Cottages.
More on that later.
But today a vegan woman andpaleo diet guy walk into a bar.
Well, in their case they meeton a podcast.
(01:12):
Aren't podcasts romantic?
That vegan was Matilda Brown,daughter of famed actors Brian
Brown and Rachel Ward, and actorin her own right.
Rachel was my guest on thepodcast last week talking about
her new film Rachel's Farm,which Matilda plays a powerful
(01:32):
part in.
It's the story of Rachel'sunexpected and inspired turn, as
a grandmother no less, toregenerative farming A change
Matilda initially didn't want abar of.
Matilda (01:47):
The regen thing, was this whole new thing for us?
Mum had been talking aboutregen quite a lot and I'd sort
of been like la, la, la, la,just not, it didn't, it was her
thing, she was talking, shetalked to Mick about it, but we
weren't really listening until,i think one Christmas we spent
quite a long time up here andthat's when, like it really kind
(02:08):
of, oh okay, it started to makesense and coincided with, you
know, the fires.
Anthony (02:15):
The paleo guy was Scott Gooding, star performer in My
Kitchen Rules, author of TheSustainable Diet and subject of
an extraordinary recovery fromdebilitating injury through
nutrition.
Scott (02:30):
The nutrition sent me a very loud, clear signal that if
you give your body the rightinputs, it opens up the capacity
and the bandwidth to heal andrepair.
Anthony (02:44):
As Til and Scott came together, so did many other
threads, and they set aboutthinking how they could access
regeneratively sourced meat thenhow to make it available for
others.
The Good Farm Shop was born,but oh the trouble they found
with incumbent systems and somepersistent personal and cultural
(03:06):
narratives.
A recent series of pivots,though, is seeing them
successfully combine theirrespective skills to help weave
a healthy supply web togetherstemming from the regeneration
of farms like Rachel's.
Before we start, it's greatthanks to Joann Eastwood and
(03:27):
Laura Fisher for becomingtreasured subscribers of the
podcast.
It's the way this independent,ad-free, listener-supported
podcast happens, so if you'realso finding value in this,
please consider joining Joannand Laura and a great community
of supporting listeners.
With as little as $3 a month,or whatever amount you can and
(03:47):
want to contribute, you canenjoy a variety of benefits,
like hearing from me behind thescenes, event invitations and
advanced news here and there,and, of course, you'll continue
to receive the podcast everyweek.
Just head to the website viathe show notes regennarration.
com/ support and thanks again.
(04:08):
Now it's back to the Brown/ WardFamily Farm on Gambaynggirr
Country in the Nambucca Valley,New South Wales.
Let's take a seat with Til andScott at dusk on the back
veranda of their log cabin.
Til and Scott, it's great to bewith you out back at this
little cabin, overlooking thefields here.
(04:29):
Thanks for being with me.
Scott (04:30):
Pleasure mate.
It's a pretty lovely spot right.
Anthony (04:33):
It is a lovely spot.
I think the place to start isselecting itself, in that sense,
Til, with your history withthis place.
And, of course, having spokenwith your mum about the film and
everything that's going on here, what's your sense of
connection, which I guess hasbeen for what, all your life?
Matilda (04:51):
Yeah, so mum and dad were filming The Umbrella Woman
in the area and fell in lovewith this part of the world and
then went looking to buy a farmand they found this one first
and they bought it.
And that was when my sister wasabout eight months and I'm two
and a half years younger thanher.
So it's always been here sinceI've been here And, yeah, we've
(05:15):
come.
you know, it's so much a partof the family.
We come every holiday, longweekends.
I mean it kind of feels like wegrew up here and well, whale
Beach, where I was until I wasnine, and then Birch Grove.
Anthony (05:32):
So I'm wondering I was really moved, actually, of the
moments in the film that isreally like oh wow feeling.
That was when you spoke abouthow your mum was struggling
before all this took hold.
So I'm wondering for you how itfeels now to be here.
Does it feel different to theway it used to be?
(05:53):
Like what layering has itdeveloped over that time?
Matilda (05:59):
Mum's always.
Mum's so into whatever sheloves, which I do talk kind of a
little bit in the documentary.
Mum is, she's a bull at a gatewith whatever she's doing And
you know she's always wheneverwe're at the farm there's a
level of relaxing, but there'salso mum kind of going.
(06:20):
Wouldn't it be lovely if we hadyou know a river or something
or a dam going along there, youknow, and dad's like I think
it's fine the way it is, youknow.
Scott (06:31):
But you know, the next minute, the last two hours, is
testament to that.
Yeah, yeah, digging logs out ofa river so it can be clear and
free of debris.
Matilda (06:41):
And With a vision, with a vision, like that lake, for
example, wasn't here.
That she, that was sort of likea dark gully with you know some
of the catfish.
Scott (06:51):
She dug it with a bare hand.
Took her four years Amazing.
Anthony (06:56):
There will be photos of this for listeners.
Matilda (06:59):
Yeah.
Anthony (06:59):
It is something to behold now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that'sincredible.
Matilda (07:02):
No, it's amazing.
So she's someone who's veryaesthetic, like that is mum.
She's very, you know, shereally appreciates beauty.
She would always be sort ofdriving along her back oh, look
at those flowers, look at thecolour of those flowers.
Like she's so visual.
She was saying her motherinstilled that in her Yeah Would
stop the car and have themwatch.
(07:23):
Yeah, and that's definitely thepast.
Scott (07:26):
She dresses a party or a dinner table Like that to her is
the exciting part of it, Likedressing it.
And then when people come, it'slike, oh God, they're here now.
Anthony (07:37):
You know making things look wonderfully, stunningly
beautiful, like that's that'sreally interesting to me, Cause
it's like the artists backgroundmeeting the farm life now.
but they're not, they're notapart there.
And of course explicitly in thefilm, but even just in the farm
work.
Matilda (07:56):
But I mean like a Regen farm.
It really isn't like for hershe struggles with the Regen
part.
She loves the Regen kind ofphilosophy of it, but she
doesn't like the scruffiness ofit.
So she really has to kind ofwrestle with that, like, oh, i
really want to clean those logsup, but it's like, well, they're
supposed to be, you know if youdon't really you leave them.
(08:17):
It's part of the ecology, youknow.
But you know it's a beautifulproperty because of you know the
love that mum puts into it,above soil and below soil, and I
don't think that answered yourquestion.
We went on a bit of a yeah, wedid, didn't we?
Anthony (08:32):
I mean, it still leaves me partly wondering how I guess
yeah, how the place feels toyou now in light of all that.
Matilda (08:39):
It doesn't feel that different.
Anthony (08:40):
Really No.
Matilda (08:41):
So the feeling is You mean like the Regen, like the
farming we were doing, versusthe Regen now.
Anthony (08:46):
And I guess, incorporating what you were
feeling so deeply about your mum.
That's different now, becauseshe's absolutely on fire.
Matilda (08:54):
Oh, yeah, well, that's different.
Mum's always well, mum's alwaysstruggled with depression which
.
I don't think, not, I don'tthink that's in the documentary.
Anthony (09:06):
Yeah, it's more in you that it shows.
Matilda (09:08):
It's a subtle hint to it.
Yes, yeah, so we've always, youknow, we've always.
That's always been a big partof mum.
But she's like when she hassomething that sets her on fire,
that she's passionate aboutshe's, you know that goes away.
(09:29):
She's really, she's reallyinvolved.
You know, it's like being inthe flow.
That is like medicine for her.
And I think she also is someonewho she holds the weight of the
world on her shoulders, alittle bit like she with the.
You know, she's always been anadvocate for the environment.
She's always cared about thatand wanted to do, you know,
(09:52):
wanted to help it if she can.
And I think with the farm therewas such an opportunity.
You know she thought like well,great, like here's my chance to
really to do my bit, which shetalks a lot about in the
documentary.
But I think the thing that wassort of surprising for all of us
was just how much it gave herhow much it like regenerated her
(10:13):
to have that, And also likeshe's such a strong physically
like she's a lean, lean, leanmachine, but she's physically
like nothing will stop her, Likeyou didn't see down at the this
afternoon, but like she's inthere pulling the logs up.
Scott (10:29):
She's not just really directing like she's Well, the
film is just pulling up.
Anthony (10:35):
Yeah yeah, It's brilliant.
Well, back up a bit before wego forward with the shop and
everything and how you guys gotthe the bug and came together.
But going back a bit furtherfor you.
Scott, you sound like you'vegot the background from her part
of the world too.
Hey came from the UK.
Scott (10:51):
My gather From the UK, yeah, so how did you come to be
here?
So I left the UK when I was 23.
So I'd done.
I grew up in pubs in and aroundLondon for about my mum and dad
ran pubs for about 37, 38 years, so that was my childhood.
And then I went to uni and Idid exercise science there,
(11:17):
which I hated.
uni I enjoyed the course but Ihated being a student.
I spent the least amount oftime on campus as I could And
then I guess it was a.
it wasn't a particularlyvocational.
It wasn't obvious to me what Iwas going to walk into.
You know, it was exercisescience.
It's like maybe now there'smore opportunities, but then to
(11:40):
me anyway it didn't seemparticularly obvious what job I
was going to.
So I remember finishing uni,going back to my mum and dad's,
and I was like I've now got tomake that decision.
You know, i'm out of school,i'm not going to do any other
course anytime soon.
I'm now on the brink of thatdecision that I've got to make,
that what is my job, what is mycareer?
(12:00):
And so my mum and dad at thatpoint had been doing the same
thing, the same job, for like 30years.
There was a bunch of peoplearound me that hadn't gone to
uni, that were in theiroccupation for the fifth, sixth,
seventh year, and I was like,right, i've got to make that
decision.
Like now, i know that you canjump around and it doesn't
(12:23):
matter, fall into things, youknow.
Whereas then I was like what amI going to be for the next 40
years?
So I wasn't equipped at thatpoint to make that decision, nor
did I want to.
So I went right.
I'm going to go on the otherside of the world.
So I remember sitting on thetoilet reading a magazine and it
(12:47):
was a little article aboutwhere to be for the millennium,
The top 10 places to be Andnumber one was Rio de Janeiro.
Number two was Sydney, like Iguess, because it's so far.
you know, it's one of the firstcities in the world to
experience welcome in the newyear sort of thing, And then
(13:07):
sort of in parentheses was andalso hosting the Summer Olympics
.
So I was like, oh, be there forthe millennium and stick around
for.
So I got a couple of thousandpound together and called a mate
and said let's go, And thenthat was it.
Anthony (13:28):
Wow, it's so interesting when you do look
back now.
I mean the decision you in partput off, deferred.
But you can look back and seeyou.
You were on to it, yeah, butwhat's become your defining
passion?
You're on to it already interms of the body and health.
I mean not to the same extent,I guess, but that you can see
that you were already on thepath after all, on the path.
Matilda (13:51):
Well, yeah, he went on to be a personal trainer for
years.
Anthony (13:53):
So did I, by the way.
Matilda (13:54):
Oh really.
Anthony (13:55):
Yeah, i went to this Yeah.
But I've been lit up to gardenpath in other things first and
then went.
Then went to that.
Scott (14:01):
I was like, oh, this is good, yeah Well that that in in
of itself isn't a clear andobvious path either, like I
because of so I get to Australiaand I've got a working holiday
visa, so I'm OK for a year to towork legitimately.
But it was just easy gettingconstruction jobs, and I'm not
(14:24):
sure I did hospitality, but Iwas working in construction And
then at the end of my work inholiday I jumped into tourist
visas and I'm not supposed to beworking, you know like,
legitimately I can't get.
I can't use my an ABN or taxfile number, So I stuck around
construction because you getcash in hand And then I hurt my
(14:46):
back So I couldn't do so.
I entered that world of workerscomp which is Shocking, like
it's good that it exists and ithelped me.
But anyway, that's anotherstory.
And so I couldn't.
I couldn't now lift anything.
I was convalescing and part ofthat work workers comp system,
(15:11):
they and it's good, like theyget you talking to career
guidance counsellors And she shewas like, ok, well, you know,
let's put a CV together and youknow what's your background and
what have you studied.
I was like, oh, i did like adegree exercise science.
She's like well, you've got tobe a PT.
Then I was like that was soThat greated against who I am
(15:38):
inherently, really The thoughtof standing up or sitting down
or whatever and telling someonewhat to do and how to do it.
I'd never done anything likethat in my life All through.
You know, i avoided any publicspeaking or presentation, like
that was just not me.
So I was like, but I kind ofjust went.
I was like, oh, yeah, i coulddo that, but you know, i don't
(16:00):
feel like I'm qualified.
She's like you've got toexercise for science degree,
like you're overqualified, butactually so much time at laps
that I had to go and do a thirdthree and a third four, which is
going over like such elementarystuff.
But it was fine because it kindof delayed the, the impending
standing up in front of theother than what to do.
So I kind of yeah, it wasn't.
(16:22):
I sort of fell into it and youknow I'm passionate about it and
I still am, but it wasn't, andI had it.
I had a.
I didn't know what I wasexperiencing at the time, but it
was a full blown panic attackthe night before my first.
Was it really?
Oh yeah, i was just likewrithing around in the bed just
going fuck, i can't do this.
Matilda (16:42):
Like a husband and a wife.
What Was he?
Scott (16:44):
your first client.
Matilda (16:45):
It's like a husband and a wife, like this, like I
remember I don't know how- itcame about.
Scott (16:50):
But I met this guy.
Somebody introduced me to thisguy who had a PT business and
had done for like four or fiveyears and he was going back to
the UK And he handed me and toldall his clients what the deal
was.
But he handed me a client listwhich was like, okay, i'm up and
running already.
This is coming in fast.
(17:13):
You know, like Monday morningis my first session.
So it was a husband and wifewho had been training with this
guy for a couple of years.
So you know they hadexpectation on that.
You know it wasn't their firstPT session, but yet it was mine.
I would construct a sessionwith every possible event
eventuality.
Be like okay, well, what if heturns up and he sprained his
(17:36):
ankle over the weekend and hecan't run?
So you know what if she turnsup and she's pregnant?
You know like, just send myselfmental over the.
How did it go?
It was all right.
It was all right, yeah.
It was so critical of myselfthat no sessions for years were
any good, really.
Yeah, i didn't enjoy it forlike two years until I settled
(18:00):
into like being okay withtalking to people and telling
them what to do.
Anthony (18:05):
I'm already picking up like the rigor of your
preparation.
We can put that lens on.
It is something that you seemto have carried through and
ultimately has held you in goodstead with the rigor you apply
to now your own health and ofcourse what you guys have
embarked on together.
Is that true to say?
Scott (18:24):
His own health for sure, Yeah, I guess.
So I'm not whimsical, I don'tjust go with the flow
particularly well.
So I do prepare and I doprobably over prepare, and I
certainly did then.
I probably less so now.
But yeah, you're very, veryprepared before you do things.
(18:45):
Yeah.
Matilda (18:46):
Any talk he's ever had to go to.
You know, since we've beentogether.
Yeah, the preparation is a lot,a lot, but also it's like you
know, the low level anxiety thatyou get as well, like it's.
I mean, you've definitelygotten more chilled about it,
for sure, as you do when themore things you do, and also the
(19:08):
less weight you put on it.
I guess now there's otherthings as well that make it put
in balance, I guess you knowwhen you're doing things like
that.
You're kind of more, much morechilled about it these days.
Scott (19:19):
Yeah, i kind of almost enjoy it now, like you know.
I'd rather stand up and speakto like a thousand people than I
would one, yeah, that's forsure.
Like I was doing a presentationlike the more the better,
because you do go into thiswonderful flow, call it what you
will, but you do go into, youknow, and if you time it right
(19:42):
with the anticipation, a bit ofcaffeine, some you know lines
main, and some rhodiola, likeyou kind of get to this like
point and time where your focuscouldn't be any greater and I
thrive in that space, like youknow.
It's like all these words cometo you.
(20:03):
You're way more articulate thanyou are in your normal day to
day.
You kind of you recall, andyour vocab is like it's as good
as it'll ever be and I kind oflove that.
Anthony (20:14):
Yeah, I hear yeah yeah, it's kind of cool, but still
not really when you're whenyou're working directly with
people.
Are you saying that it's harderto access that sensation than
when you're presenting to biggroups?
Scott (20:27):
No one on one's fine, like so I do a bit of coaching
and things like that, that'stotally fine.
But I would have more anxietyif I was to walk into a room
armed with a presentation andthere was two people sitting
there in the audience six orsomething yeah, that'd be my
nightmare.
Yeah, Yeah, like 600, great.
Matilda (20:48):
Mind you, you have done that a fair few times you
always come back and I'm likehow was it, babe?
Anthony (20:51):
and you were like great yeah it's normally six and not
600, yeah, there we go, let'skeep it real.
And then that's the same six,right the guys again.
That gets easier something likethat.
And I know you've written reallyfrankly about having your like
talking about Rachel's feelingsbeing challenged over time, that
(21:14):
you've had similar moments ofhitting places like that
yourself and you.
You wrote a recent blog whichreally stood out to me around
your personal narrative shift.
So the blog wasn't that longago.
Was this the shift?
the shift itself wasn't longago as well?
that that personal narrativeshift, and and how has that been
for you?
Scott (21:36):
I guess it's twofold.
So one shift came prior to meuntil maybe like six or seven
years ago, where I found it verydifficult, if somebody asked me
like how was your day, to say,you know, i would always err on
the side of oh, you know, it wasall right, even if it was a
(21:57):
pretty good day.
That's the most I could manage.
But most of it was like most ofthe most of my responses were
oh yeah, just like really busyat the moment, like yes, you
know it was.
It was a negative, somewhatpessimistic, and so what I
realized I'd been doing is likechalking up only the shit days
(22:18):
or the hard days.
And so I started to like tuneinto that and so so I would only
chalk up the shit days.
And so then, when you look backand you reference how your days
have been because you've onlychalked those ones up, the
negative, you know the harderdays like that's your only.
And so when you start to chalkup the good days and the average
(22:44):
days and the brilliant days,all of a sudden there's more of
a contrast, there's more of abalance of, and so when you
flick, you know, when youreference back, you go oh yeah,
i've been good.
Yeah, you have a good day.
Matilda (22:58):
You mean like by chalking up, you're not like
literally kind of going like no,mentally chalking up Mentally
you're remembering the shit daysmore than you're crediting the
good days.
Scott (23:06):
Yeah, so I'm probably not articulating very well, but
let's say, over a month youmight have seven shit days.
You know things haven't goneyour way.
Work's been tough, a bit ofdisappointment thrown in there,
and they would be the only daysthat I've mentally chalked up,
and so when I cast my mind backto that last month, i go it's
(23:28):
dominant it's dominant, it's theonly.
But then when you go, no, i'mgonna chalk up all the days that
I have, and most of those areokay and some of them are good
and some of them are amazing,and then so, when you cast your
mind back to the last month, yougo oh yeah, my world's pretty
good, yeah, and then so that wasone sort of reframing, if you
(23:50):
like, and then I've spent, idon't know.
There's probably three parts toit.
That's one.
The second part is tuning intoa, a prominent psychologist who
has helped me understand thatlife in general is difficult and
so the best thing that we cando or the, you know, the best
(24:13):
thing that we can do is to havesome meaning and purpose to
buttress against the difficultyand hardship of life.
The third thing is spending aninsane amount of time looking at
world war, two various otherwars, you know, in trepit
(24:36):
explorers that have gone throughhardship.
You know I'm reading um bury myheart, wounded knee at the
moment.
So all that stuff.
When you go, okay, well, maybeI've got it pretty good.
I've born in.
You know I'm living in a timewhere things are great, and so
you need to acknowledge that,because it's not always the case
and lots of people have diedand certainly struggled, and you
(24:58):
know, amongst all that there'slots of resilience and phoenixes
from the fire and all you knowthere's some good, amazing
stories of trials andtribulations.
But, um, on the whole there'sbeen a lot of suffering from you
know till an eye in our family,like we don't, we don't suffer
on the magnitude of there's nois you can't even compare our
(25:21):
lives with the lives of thosepeople.
Anthony (25:22):
So you go, okay, well, it's pretty good, yeah, listen
to that shift just in the toneof voice from we started that
explanation and, yeah, a senseof taking responsibility too,
isn't it for that?
arriving at that meaning andpurpose which leads us to, of
course, some of what you'redoing today, but let's hold off
on that.
Tomorrow bounce back to youtill and your story, because you
(25:45):
were, you followed the pathinto film.
I did follow the path, yeah andit was your passion then, for a
fair while oh yeah, no, itstill is.
Matilda (25:53):
Yeah, it's coming back is it?
yeah, i definitely lost thepassion, but also, yeah, i
follow the path.
I mean it's funny, like whenyou're I'm, i guess, like sons
of plumbers often becomeplumbers.
That was the world that I grewup in on.
I was on sets from as long as Ican remember, in the makeup
trailer you know, sitting nextto the director watching dad and
mum on.
(26:13):
You know, do their thing growingup watching dad on on the tv in
our room while he's sittingnext to me and him being shot to
death, or you know.
You know his block, his brain'sblown out.
You know, trying to computethat as a young.
You know all those like that healways make you watch his
movies no, there were certainmovies I absolutely loved of his
(26:38):
, like the shirley um.
Did you ever see?
that, yes, i did beautiful and Iand I really struggled with the
relationship that he had withthe little girl.
Yeah, um, of course, but youknow other films where he's, you
know he gets killed and youknow you're like I don't.
You know, sometimes when you'rethat young you don't really
understand the reality like whatis what are you talking?
(27:02):
oh, from pretty pretty younglike as young as I can can as
young, i guess, as you you wereto like be able to sit down and
watch a movie that's notcartoons yeah and I guess, like
dad being in, it was morecompelling for me yeah, you know
six till whenever, yeah, butyeah.
So I remember you know thosebeing at school and you know,
going to the careers counselorand she being like, well, you
(27:24):
know, i sort of went, oh, i'minterested in being a lawyer.
She's like you're probably notgoing to be a lawyer, don't
think you're going to get thegrades to be a lawyer.
I think everybody the consensusin my family was like I don't,
yeah, i don't think you're goingto be a lawyer till like I was
a pretty woo-woo child.
My whole room was decked outlike a you know with like
candles, which dad was always,you know, panicking about but,
(27:47):
it was like a psychic story likecome in, i'll tell you, tell
you know, read your tarot and,but there's a lawyer bit coming,
i don't know.
I think I, i think I like, liked, i think as a kid you just go,
you kind of go.
I don't know, lawyer soundsgood yeah, i wanted to be a
paleontologist, because Ilearned how to say the word and
I was like that sounds cool,yeah yeah, you know it was
(28:09):
lawyer, paleontologist and youknow.
And then I guess the otheroption was like an actress or
not even a director.
At that point was mum who saidwell, if you're going to be an
actress then you better go tofilm school, because your career
will be over by 36.
But anyway I did.
I did not become a lawyer, idid not become a failure and I
(28:30):
went to film school.
I did.
You know, i did a film with mumwhen I was 15 called Martha's
New Coat and I and really Iguess at that age I worked out
that I could act and that Iloved it, that it was really fun
to be on set and to work withmum.
But then, you know, she did sayif you are going to be an actor
then you should go to filmschool so that you can have
(28:51):
other strings to your bow.
Yeah, i was like, okay, i will.
So I went to film school inMelbourne, i went to Swinburne
and then, did you know, did afilm degree.
Didn't really learn as much asI could have.
I was quite.
I didn't like the technicalstuff.
I'm like quite good at thetechnical stuff now, like I
learned, i learned, you know, ilearned to edit after film
(29:14):
school.
Basically, when.
Anthony (29:16):
I when I worked out that I yet to pay people to edit
when I started making films, iwas like I probably can work
this out.
I relate to that.
Matilda (29:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah right anyway, and then I went to
professional screenwritingschool after that RMIT.
So I did about five years ofstudy and then came back to
Sydney and then we're comingback and basically kind of being
like 23 and not knowing likehow, what do I do now?
yeah, i didn't have an agent,so I but I adopted mum and dads
(29:48):
who was John Kan management, butthen John died and became
Winston Morris, but I didn't.
I didn't ever feel like I'dearn those things.
Like those things were thingsthat I was really lucky enough
to have a leg up into, butequally so I did a lot of like
work to get you know.
23 I was.
I said what should I do?
and he was like, well, weshould do.
(30:09):
Whatever film maker does, theymake a tropfest film.
So I was like oh god, okay, iguess I've got to make a
tropfest film.
I'm hearing so many parallelsin the story.
Anthony (30:17):
I don't know if you guys have thought that before,
like that that you would getthis skill set in the bag to a
degree, but then be like, ohshit, what now?
sort of thing and thenconfronted with what now?
Oh no, really.
Matilda (30:31):
Yeah, i feel like isn't that every young person
potentially?
you know when you're pushed outof the nest you're like God,
here I go in big wide world.
Anthony (30:39):
Yeah, try stuff.
Matilda (30:40):
Yeah, you've got to do it Like it's scary.
You've got to actually make itstep and potentially fall on
your face.
Anthony (30:46):
Well, this relates to even remaking yourself too.
eh, i imagine you went throughsome of this with the farm shop
and yeah, and so, in a sense,then it's that realisation which
more of us are cocking on to,just even with what we're
learning about human capacity,that you're not finished, that
old idea of the 40 year you know, once you've studied, that's,
(31:07):
that's your path and enjoy it,and you'll slowly decay as you
go, type of thing.
But we can actually remakeourselves right through to,
again, your mum's evidence.
Matilda (31:16):
Yeah.
Anthony (31:17):
Remake yourself right through to the end.
Matilda (31:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Anthony (31:19):
Anyway, back to this point in time.
Matilda (31:21):
But so basically I you know I did make a truck fest
film and it got into truck festand that you know opens doors.
but I just, you know I madelots of different films, blah,
blah, blah.
I don't need to give you my bio, but then I guess I kind of the
film ministry is so like.
I kind of think the filmministry is similar to that
boyfriend or girlfriend thatstrings you along, you know, the
(31:45):
one that really like you, kindof infatuated with, and they
give you a little yeah, allright, yeah, here you go And
you're like, okay, I'll take
Anthony (31:55):
it, You know that's right, I'm even.
I'm thinking a few things, butI'm thinking some parallels with
music, the music industry.
Matilda (32:03):
Yeah, I would say very similar music industry.
Yeah.
Anthony (32:06):
But also I say it, i don't say it to too many people
modeling.
Oh yeah, so that experiencewhich I thought would be an
interesting accompaniment tomusic because I could take it
any.
No, in theory, take it anywhere.
Yeah, Jobs are scarce, So good,I spend much time.
But when you get a pays andyeah, well, exactly, I mean
they're not, they're not,they're not just handed out to
(32:26):
you.
Matilda (32:27):
You really, and there's such competition And you know
when you, when you, when you getthe job, it's really fun Being
on set.
It's so much fun.
And you make great friends andthere's great food And you know
you don't work that much, youknow depending treated, well
treated really well And it's areally great job.
But you know, then you're sixmonths without a job.
but you've done so manyauditions and you put so much
(32:50):
work into each of thoseauditions and no one sees them.
Sometimes it's your best work.
Yeah, totally I was like Inailed that audition and no one
saw it.
Yeah, you know, and I wrote aswell and and I went to LA.
I got an agent, a writing agentin LA, and he said write a
pilot, come to LA and we'llpitch it.
So I did that, wrote a pilot,went to LA, wrote three episodes
(33:14):
of it and a company.
You know.
I took it to a few differentcompanies and this one company
loved it And they're you knowthe sort of back and forth
between my agent And then.
This is around the time thatScott came into my life.
It was the last time I went toLA, but I basically been going
back and forth to LA nearlygetting things and then not
getting them, nearly gettingthings and not getting them, and
in Sydney as well, like gettingthings but like not things,
(33:36):
things that you're like.
Well, this would be a gamechanger, you know, this would
probably open the doors wideopen for me and I'd be good to
go, and so nearly got it andthen didn't and came back to
Sydney and felt like just soenergetically exhausted and kind
of really fed up and angry,also angry with the way that
(33:58):
people just don't, that it's sounkind to not give you a polite
answer, just a ghosting, youknow, just your agent saying
don't think it's going to happen, like they're just not writing
back anymore.
You're like why don't they justwrite back and go?
sorry, changing our minds?
No, it's harsh, you know.
Scott (34:13):
I just was like so rude From an outside I'm like as a
partner of a actress like yeah,i saw it play out and I'm like
how, how are these people likenot?
so you're kind of like left inlimbo.
I mean, the way my brain wouldwork is like I'd still be
hopeful that I was going to getthat audition from two years ago
.
Matilda (34:33):
No, i mean your agent.
You get to the point where youknow, you know, or you the agent
says hasn't gone your way orwhatever.
Scott (34:39):
What other industry operates like that?
It's like a.
It's a bit shitty that side ofit.
Matilda (34:43):
Well, probably the music industry and probably the
modeling industry.
Yeah, exactly Any industrywhere you're competing a bunch
of with a bunch of other peopleand people don't feel like they
need to give you an answer.
It's gone to someone else andso you didn't get the job.
Anthony (34:55):
Yeah.
Matilda (34:56):
So you do and you have a like a resilient, you build up
a resilience to it and I hadbuilt up a resilience to it, but
I think I basically built up aresilience to it and then really
acknowledged how painful thataccumulative rejection, you know
, had made me, you know, and Iand I just came back and I was
(35:18):
like I'm so tired, i'm soexhausted of doing, of trying,
trying, trying and not getting,you know, the equivalent in
reward.
Scott (35:27):
But it's not.
It's not just like auditionsthat you wouldn't hear back from
.
It would be like a productioncompany would pick up her idea.
You know, feed her all the therhetoric that it's going to
happen.
Yeah.
Anthony (35:40):
It's, you know it's going, it's going, it's a no
brainer, except for me, withthis, you know, talk The talk,
the cheap talk, yeah, yeah, andall of that to not have the you
know the phone call which saysI'm.
Matilda (35:54):
I just want you to know that.
You know we did everything wecan and you know you deserve it
And.
I'm sorry that it's not goingto you know, just like a slow
burnout where you just you areleft hoping until you're you're
like okay, i guess I need tomove on.
Scott (36:11):
Yeah, it's been four years now.
Yeah.
Anthony (36:13):
Yeah, But again I hear like even in the regeneration
space, again the talk is can becheap and you can get all
excited about ultimately nothingQuite a lot.
So it feels like we're at thismoment and it'd be interesting
to hear your thoughts on thatnow, with your experiences too,
but about the reality versusnoise.
(36:34):
But to come back to then to themeeting point, So you're in
this point in your life whenScott reaches out to ask you on
the Yeah, So then.
Matilda (36:44):
so I come back to LA.
Anthony (36:45):
Yeah.
Matilda (36:48):
And Scott and I knew like, basically, like he'd set
up, can we do this podcast, Likeyou know, when you get back
from LA.
So I come back and I am like.
I came back from LA, like youknow, and he made a date and so
he was messaging me and said areyou still up for this podcast
More?
and I was like, so not up forit?
I've been to see akinesiologist.
(37:09):
I'd had my leg had gone intospasm on the way home.
Scott (37:11):
I just want to hide under a rock.
Matilda (37:13):
You're a tetaculcule, you know, i just wasn't, i just
felt like but I also felt like Ididn't want to do to him what I
had been done to me.
I didn't want to be like youknow, i just was like we said we
were going to do it.
Yeah, let's do it.
So I was like no worries comeover.
Well, you know, this is myaddress.
Yeah, and, as I said, that wasbefore this podcast, telling you
(37:34):
the story.
that was our first conversationavailable for everyone to hear.
Oh God, let's delete it now.
No.
Scott (37:41):
I can't do it.
Anthony (37:44):
But yeah, and so that was our first, and that was yeah
, that was our meeting, a propermeeting, and isn't that
beautiful, by the way, that youstill finding the gumption to do
the right thing despite beingburned and feeling like well
stuff, and I'm just going toindulge myself.
Everything I mean.
the rest is history type.
Matilda (38:02):
I mean, I'm really glad that I did it Exactly, i'm sure
it wouldn't have.
I'm sure there would have been.
I mean maybe not.
Scott (38:07):
I mean Scott's a pretty um you know, you said to me I
just had a quite emotionalsession with my kinesiologist.
Matilda (38:17):
And you said, oh, don't worry about it If you don't
want to.
You know if you're too tired ofit.
Scott (38:21):
I was like, oh no it's fine, but I'm already at the
door.
Anthony (38:26):
Cool, so you did this on the public record, yeah.
Matilda (38:30):
And six months later I was pregnant.
Anthony (38:33):
Okay, i got it, it did fly I don't muck around.
Matilda (38:35):
I don't muck around, yeah.
Scott (38:38):
Was it that?
Matilda (38:38):
soon It was pretty soon .
Yeah, it was pretty soon.
No, I mean, we were about fourmonths later.
what we started looking forplaces, It didn't take long.
Scott (38:46):
Yeah, we were lying in bed fairly soon after meeting
and she was like where are yougoing with this?
Anthony (38:54):
Well, this is a bad story?
Scott (38:57):
Yeah, no.
Well, just setting the scenefor people I won't say what you
were wearing, um, and you werelike, yeah, we should have, we
should try for kids This is likeyou know pretty soon.
like you know, we're talkingweeks and months, not years, and
I was like oh, maybe we shouldlive together first.
Matilda (39:18):
Like, let's take that step I was like no worries, got
my computer outside and lookedtyped in domain.
Scott (39:24):
Yeah, we're picking up keys on Monday babe.
Matilda (39:26):
I was like I want a baby, i'm ready If you're not
see you later.
There you go, i'm looking forthe man I had the babies with.
Anthony (39:34):
And as the bloke who was seeking till first, like
before the podcast, even you hadthis encounter and you asked if
she was up for it.
She wasn't available at thetime to be confronted by the
rapidity of the news.
Yeah but, But.
I gather it was only a couplemore months before you thought
no, you're right, this is good.
Scott (39:55):
Well, i had a son from my previous marriage And once that
broke down I pledged to myselfthat I was never going to have
any more kids, I wasn't evergoing to get married, I mean
that sort of dissolved a littlebit.
As time passed, I was like,yeah, maybe, but definitely no
(40:17):
more kids.
And I lost previous girlfriendsbecause of that, my attachment
to that decision that I didn'twant more kids.
So in that moment, laying inbed until says we should try for
kids, I was like, OK, I've gotabout 10, 15 seconds to answer
this woman.
And I knew in that moment thatif I wanted to be with Teal
(40:40):
which I did I would have toquickly pull away from that,
That belief that I'd had forabout eight years or something.
And I went right, well, she'llwalk if I, if I say I don't want
kids.
Anthony (40:57):
So I was like, yeah, it sounds like a good idea.
And here you are And you had acouple of kids now into
beautiful kids, a little tribe.
So bring us to then this pointof epiphany for you guys that
you start the good farm shopwith.
How did that spark?
Matilda (41:19):
Well, also I had been vegan for a long time just to
give some context to.
Anthony (41:24):
Yep seems important.
Matilda (41:27):
I had one of those.
I'm sure there's other peoplewho've had this experience sat
down one weekend and watched abunch of those documentaries
that turn you vegan And didn'twant to be part of any.
I didn't want to be part of anykind of farming system that
contributed to that sort ofanimal treatment, which I
thought was the general way thatanimals are treated.
Scott (41:47):
And right.
Matilda (41:48):
And so if I'd been sort of vegetarian and vegan for
about probably about 10 years,going from vegan to vegetarian
and then just really vegan andthen back to vegetarian, and my
body had really suffered overthe years from it.
Yes, And you know, like I hadthese times where I was, I
thought like far out, you know,I don't really know what to eat
(42:09):
anymore to like To.
I think when I was eating meat Ididn't have these problems.
I didn't feel this way like I.
But I didn't really know.
No, I'd never really gottenreally into nutrition, I didn't
really know much.
I grew up having a model motheras someone who was kind of
(42:30):
prescribed diets quite early on,So I'd had a really unhealthy
relationship with food leadingup to you know, and all through
my 20s really, and didn't reallyknow what I was supposed to be
eating.
I was really lost in, like theworld of food.
Anthony (42:46):
Oh yeah.
Matilda (42:48):
And so Scott enters my life and he's like you know, he
lives for meat, he lives for aslow cooked piece of lamb or,
you know, a blood sausage And he, and after dating him for a
while, and he's, you know, he'sa wealth of knowledge when it
comes to nutrition.
So he just like, slowly and notnot in so unjudgmental He never
(43:12):
was like why don't you eat meat?
It was always just like acuriosity.
So you know why, why don't youeat meat, you know, and I said I
just don't want to, i don'tlike hate the idea of this
horrible treatment of animals,you know, and food sovereignty
was a really big thing for him.
So he knew butchers that knewwhere their meat was coming from
(43:32):
and knew that those animals hada nice life on a farm like this
.
And I was at the point where Iwas like really willing to like,
i kind of wanted to starteating meat again, but I just I
didn't want to go against what Ireally felt and believed for
like so long.
So anyway, i kind of was like,you know, i'm actually, if you,
if, if you do know, like and ifwe can go to your butcher, i'd
(43:53):
be willing to have some meat.
And so, anyway, he made me likethis slow cooked lamb, and for
like the seven hours that it wascooking I was just couldn't
wait.
Anthony (44:02):
Interesting.
Matilda (44:04):
And after that I was.
I just felt like my body.
I felt like it was like WD 40to my joints.
Anthony (44:11):
Like I felt, I ate the fat Like it was like.
Matilda (44:15):
I mean, it was a gnawing on the bone.
It was like medicine for mybody After years of eating air.
You know air and like starchyvegetables or you know whatever.
Then I don't know, you probablymaybe want to take over.
Scott (44:33):
Well how it came about.
Matilda (44:35):
Yeah.
Scott (44:35):
So I guess that was that was fairly early on in our
relationship.
So we'll have to sort of fastforward to COVID times.
And we were at home at WhaleBeach and we we knew how the
cattle up here were being raised.
You know we were coming two orthree times a year and you know
(44:55):
you only have to cast your eyesover there and you can see these
very lush paddocks with veryhealthy, happy animals.
We were like, well, how do we?
and there didn't seem to bethat type of beef available to
us on the northern beaches.
Matilda (45:13):
Well, i had also always seen cattle raised like this as
well, so it wasn't, i think Ijust I couldn't comprehend that
there must be like some otherthing.
I'm not, you know.
I was sort of blinded by thosedocumentaries.
I was convinced that thatwasn't.
Anthony (45:27):
I don't know, you can't get that cow on your plate Yeah
.
Matilda (45:30):
But I had the regen thing.
was this whole new thing for us?
Mum had been talking aboutregen quite a lot and I'd sort
of been like la, la, la, la,just not.
Anthony (45:41):
Really.
Matilda (45:41):
Yeah, Like I just it didn't.
It was her thing, She wastalking, she talked to me about
it, but we weren't reallylistening until, I think, one
Christmas we spent quite a longtime up here And that's when,
like it really kind of oh okay,it started to make sense and
coincided with, you know, thefires.
We couldn't have our wedding uphere because the fires swept
(46:03):
all the way around the propertyAnd you know, and the news was
constantly talking about climatechange and That made you more
receptive to this thing that hadbeen buzzing around there, yeah
.
So the the regenerative farminghad started to slight.
Oh, it'd be great to be able toget that meat on our plate, and
(46:28):
we had tried the butcher shop.
Do you guys use sauce?
Do you know where the cows comefrom?
Is it a regenerative farm?
No, it's not Okay.
Supermarket as if?
Yeah, and so yeah, anyway, weknew that.
Yeah, so, as you were saying so, i just wanted to give context
to mum talking of this.
The regen thing that had beenwasn't just about the way that
(46:49):
they were raised.
It was really about how youtreat your soil and you know the
things that mum was doing onthe farm that we were like God,
it would be great to be able toeat our cattle.
Scott (46:59):
No, it's a.
It's a.
You know there's an obviouslineage there.
You know like if we can tapinto that, the the family has
raised and been the custodian of.
There's a just the I don't knowit's.
it's not something you can.
It's a, it's a feeling, morethan it is a Something you can
(47:22):
place your hands on you knowit's a feeling.
Yeah, so you embarked on.
So we embarked on whatinitially was a cow share scheme
.
So Till and I put an emailaround to friends, family net
you know, our network, probablyonly like 30, but maybe 50
people who wants to go in on acow.
Like so, if you pull a cow offoff one of our paddocks, like
(47:46):
who, who wants to go in on that?
And there was like a fairlydecent response.
So we were like, okay, well,let's do it.
So we, we worked out.
Logistics were hard, like whatare all the links in the chain
to get a cow off this propertyinto our hands at the other end.
And so you have to like, youcan't avoid plugging into an
(48:10):
existing, somewhatindustrialized system.
And we are one cow, we are atiny embryonic business wanting
to pull one, push one cow intothis system.
Well, you're talking to liketransport chains that have large
trucks.
They're not interested in one.
(48:31):
Anyway, it was.
We finally got there.
Obviously we had to, and so weit became this monthly cow share
, which was a great place tostart And it sort of set the
wheels in motion.
But we realized pretty early onthat there was limitations to
that once a month model.
So we broke it down to be youknow, you can order whenever and
(48:55):
get it, you know, within two orthree business days.
And then we started to addwouldn't it be cool if you get
eggs with that order of beef?
Wouldn't it be cool if you cannow get chicken?
So we started to plug intoother farms who had the same
values and ethics and philosophythat we did And we do.
Up here on this farm we metsome extraordinary farmers with
(49:18):
amazing stories.
This is the beautiful thing whenyou tap, it just expands in
front of you And young people,young people, like we were using
this guy for some beef at timesAnd you know I at this point
I'd only spoken to him on thephone And then we used to talk
(49:39):
about.
you know, when you've spoken tosomeone on the phone you have
this sort of picture of you know.
you kind of fill in the gaps ofwhat they look like And what.
anyway, i asked him one day, ormaybe you did it.
Matilda (49:50):
I asked him how old he was.
He was like 19.
Anthony (49:52):
Oh, dear, yeah You know he didn't.
Scott (49:54):
he did sort of like accommodate some land from his
father's property And he wasmanaging in a holistic way, in
the way that he wanted to.
Matilda (50:04):
So, mate, you're 19 years old, the beef tastes so
good.
He's such a legend.
Scott (50:09):
Yeah, so young, so awkward And a few words as well,
you know we met some like somefarmers Totally.
Anthony (50:16):
I'd love this.
Tell me more That's.
I mean, it's some of what Quint, essentially, we love about
people who live on the land,home produce that they're humble
salt of the earth, notself-aggrandising Great traits,
and when they cross over intothis space, it makes a real
powerful combination.
Yeah, yeah.
So you ended up with what?
(50:36):
seven farms that?
Matilda (50:37):
were small.
Yeah, about that, sevendifferent proteins, you know.
Anthony (50:41):
Basically a farm for each species, and this was
operating as a full shop online.
Yeah, so online You woulddeliver to?
Scott (50:48):
Yeah, just all the things that you would expect to find
in a high street butcher shop.
Yeah, yeah, you know the lamb,the quail, the chicken, the eggs
, the beef, the dot, dot, dotdot.
And then we started to add someunique products, which were
like the condiments that mightgo with the lamb and the beef,
(51:10):
some marinades, all that.
Matilda (51:12):
One chapter of Scott's life that we didn't add into the
people is his time on mykitchen rules, so Scott can cook
for those who are listeningreally well.
I mean, like there's a lot ofpeople who eat Scott's food, who
go friends of ours, who arelike I just God, i don't know
how he does it.
How does he make everythingtaste so good?
I've tried doing this what hesays, and it just doesn't.
(51:32):
Doesn't taste like the wayScott cooks it.
Anthony (51:35):
And this was, I imagine , a fair chunk of where you know
.
You got into the space, so tospeak.
You got your train rolling, Andthis is part of what, to the
love of me, you were describingand your expansive knowledge in
gastronomy.
I guess this is what reallytook hold of you as those years
evolved.
Scott (51:56):
Yeah, I mean how I got you know nothing, you know, as
I'm sort of verbalizing this thestory, i guess.
But sort of a lot of thesethings were born out of either
adversity or circumstance.
So how?
I got truly, truly passionateabout cooking.
(52:18):
So I've always cooked.
My mum and dad ran pubs andthey were busy pubs.
So there was two opportunitiesto make my own food in the
course of a normal day.
One was when I got home fromschool.
My mum and dad might sound oddnow, but they would be asleep
because it wasn't.
(52:38):
This was predating 24 hourliquor licenses, or you know,
you had to.
You had to, by law, close atthree and then reopen the doors
at six.
So there was this three hourperiod where my mum and dad
would recharge their batteriesand I would get in from.
You know, the last thing I'dwant to do was awake Certainly
(53:00):
my dad, but you know I'd respecttheir rest and so I'd make
something downstairs and I had.
You know it was a commercialkitchen, obviously, and you know
so double door fridges full offresh produce which was not
emulated in my pee, you know,like I realized that I didn't
(53:22):
realize at the time, but Irealized subsequently that it
was a privileged position to bein, you know, have access to
steaks and gallons and freshproduce and prawns and all this
stuff that you know allowed meto kind of experiment.
And then over the evening I hadtwo choices whether I could
(53:42):
write my order in the book thisis before iPads and all that
stuff.
I could write it in the pad,along with, you know, a dining
room full of other orders andthe chef where I grew up, the
pub that we spent most of mytime growing up.
(54:03):
He was a bit of a.
If it wasn't my mum, it wasthis chef and he was this
Scottish.
He was an ex-military chef, hewas a bit of a, so he would see
my order and he'd be like, well,i'm not, you know, that can
slip right down to the, so I'dinvariably jump in and make you
know, be under their feet, but Iwould make it myself.
(54:26):
So I've always cooked, i'vealways taken pleasure in cooking
, but the thing that really sortof dug it in for me was trying
to heal my heal, an injury thatI had that had lingered for
longer than it should have, andI'd tried all these mechanical
(54:46):
interventions, massage andphysio and Cairo.
It was a back injury And Istarted to dabble with playing
with nutrition to see if thatwould move the needle, and so
the philosophy that I was livingby was like this sort of paleo
diet, right, low, inflammatoryfoods.
(55:07):
So I became very militant aboutwhat was in and what was out,
and the only way I knew what wasin my food was to make it
myself.
I didn't really want to be theguy that goes to the cafe or the
restaurant and says do you?
mind asking the chef who is that?
that's like boring, andinvitations to people's homes
(55:29):
like pretty quickly dried up.
And so because I was that guyyou know that the pain in the
arse to cook for So I was like,right, okay, i know what's
potentially going to fix my back, so I'm going to make it myself
.
And so that that sort ofstarted to dig in.
I started to experiment withthose types of foods And then I
(55:50):
got onto a cooking show And wedid reasonably well, which meant
we stayed on for six months Andthat's all we did was research
recipes, practice, practice,practice, showtime.
You know like it was.
It was an immersive experiencethat meant after six months like
(56:10):
if I played guitar all day,every day for six months, you'd
get reasonably good at it andyou'd get quite passionate about
playing.
Matilda (56:18):
So what happened then?
Scott (56:20):
What do you mean Playing guitar?
I don't play guitar, though.
Matilda (56:26):
So what happened?
Scott (56:27):
with the cooking.
Matilda (56:28):
Then My joke kind of fell flat.
Scott (56:35):
You'd already said I wasn't all right.
Matilda (56:38):
You can cut that bit out.
Anthony (56:42):
I'll leave it in.
Scott (56:43):
Yes, there we go.
So anyway that I guess learningto cook often an experiment
because it was helping me in myphysical condition.
That was step one and then steptwo was the cooking show and
then from then I've, cooking hasbeen such an integral part of
not my personal as well as mypersonal life, my home life, but
(57:07):
a lot of my work.
You know I've written cookbooksand health books that you know
have a big focus around not justnutrition but like cooking,
like you can't have nutritionwithout cooking, you know.
Like being the custodian ofyour own health, like taking
control, like has to start inyour own kitchen.
Anthony (57:26):
So what are you, what's your feeling then, having
tapped regenerative sources?
what difference did that make?
Scott (57:36):
Well, so I wrote my first book in 2013 and I was talking
about that then.
Not not regen, yes, because itwasn't a thing, but I was
talking about food sovereignty,which is a fancy way of saying
you know, kind of coming toterms with or understanding
where your food is coming from.
Yes, and in every book I talkabout that.
(57:58):
And my last book, which nobodyread because it was a flop it's
called the sustainable diet andit's about looking at the food
systems that are currentlyavailable to us.
Matilda (58:10):
No, but if it had come out now, it would be yeah, it
might be a different story, butit came out at a time really,
when, anyway, we don't need togo into it.
I've let it go.
Anthony (58:21):
What time was it?
When did it come out?
Scott (58:23):
2000.
Matilda (58:25):
I think it was the fire , I think everything was
happening with like the firesand then we entered into COVID
it was very much like no, ithink like people were so
overwhelmed with everything thatwas going on.
I think the last thing theyreally wanted to do was like
I've got to go on a diet andI've got to care about how,
where I get my.
You know what I mean it wasn't.
I think that it came out at thewrong time, yeah thanks.
Scott (58:48):
It's great book.
So where we are now, it'sinteresting like it's such a
departure for Teal, althoughfood has always been such a big
thing in my life whether it'slike dealing with an eating
disorder, you know, because lackof information around nutrition
(59:08):
.
Matilda (59:09):
Or, you know, and struggling with my weight from
lack of information aroundnutrition, like when I was
younger to loving food.
Anthony (59:20):
It's lovely when this reconciling of all your loves
essentially Yeah yeah, so yeah,i guess.
Scott (59:31):
For me it's like it's the , it's the amalgam of all the
things that I've been working onfor the last nearly 20 years.
So this sort of marriage ofnutrition, provenance, food,
it's all kind of come togetherin the good farm shop.
But what I will say it's soit's it's more of a departure
(59:52):
from Teal because, as we've justsaid, like she's come from a,
an industry that's acting,directing, writing, and she's
very gifted in that space.
But what is incredible is thatshe's so.
She's clearly a talented butincredibly creative, and so you
(01:00:12):
go okay, well, we now run thisessentially a ethical ready
meals business.
Like how, where's the creativepart in that other than making
the food and coming up with therecipe, ideation stuff?
but she's taking all thiscreativity and she's just like
repackaged it into ideation andproblem-solving, like she's
(01:00:33):
incredibly proficient atproblem-solving and coming up
with ideas, like she's afountain of.
You know, she's Mount Vesuviusof ideas.
I'm just annoyed at that time,as soon as my eyes crack in the
morning, she's like she's downnear to the bed, like I've got
(01:00:53):
some ideas for you.
Anthony (01:00:55):
I wish we did have film rolling for that moment.
Matilda (01:00:58):
But what, what the thanks?
that's really nice, funnythanks.
But just to add in so it wasyou know, beef.
It wasn't online butchery right.
We then started.
You know, when you buy wholeanimals from farms, it's really
hard to get rid of that wholeanimal, but firstly, it's really
(01:01:18):
expensive to buy a whole animal.
What I think most people don'tknow is that butchers most
butchers do not buy wholeanimals.
They buy crates of cuts thathave come from an abattoir right
.
So a lot of the animal getswasted, or it gets turned into
dog meat or dog food, or it getsyou know, i don't know yeah,
what happens to it?
Anthony (01:01:37):
There are these examples we've talked about, and
we know about a feather andbone in Sydney.
Matilda (01:01:40):
Yeah, exactly.
Anthony (01:01:41):
But you were saying, because they're in Sydney, at
least gives them a shot eventhis.
It's not straightforward andeasy, but it gives them a shot
at making it work.
Yeah.
Scott (01:01:50):
They've been around for a long time.
They have a great reputation, ithink, for us being such a small
business.
It yes, it is expensive to buya whole animal, but it's just.
I guess the better way to putit is that it just ties up a lot
of capital And then you have tohave it butchered, which is
again tying up a lot of capital.
(01:02:11):
Then you have to freight it alland so you know, when we don't
have a huge, you know big deeppockets to kind of buffer all
that, it takes a lot of moneyout of the business and stops us
moving forward in other areas.
Matilda (01:02:24):
But the other thing about it is that you're you know
most people will buy.
They want the eye fillet.
Eye fillets are gone in asecond you know, there's like
six eye fillets to a cow andthen you've got a bunch of
Scotch fillets.
You've got a bunch of, you know, porterhouse and T-bones and
stuff, but you've got so muchtruck, so much truck on it and
so much mints, and that's not.
Those aren't the ones, that'sso you're left with so much of
(01:02:44):
the cow and then and then peopleare you're sold out on those
cuts that everyone wants.
So then you've got to go.
God, we've got to go.
What are we gonna do?
all the stuff, which was theactually the great fortune that
we, that we started the businesslike that and what we are now
is only is a ready meals company, but we had to get there
through.
Okay, what are we gonna do withall this extra meat?
(01:03:05):
okay, we're gonna make Scott,you're gonna cook meals with one
of you, gotta start makingragout with the with the meats.
You've got to start making yourslow cook musselmum curry with
the Chuck.
You've got a every other dishthat you've made get cracking.
And so we did and we bottledthem.
(01:03:25):
We had put them in one literjars, which was kind of a new
thing because we didn't want todo a whole lot of plastic, and
we started doing the markets andwe started selling ready meals
the markets and we had reallygood feedback.
People loved them.
We were selling them for waytoo cheap and we made no money.
We've now got someone helpingus with the money stuff very
good.
Scott (01:03:46):
Yeah, neither of us are very good at that department,
but it's got.
Matilda (01:03:50):
It's good at cooking, i'm good at ideas, but we're the
financial part, but the ideathat we should be it's good,
everything is part of theproblem, isn't it?
yeah?
Anthony (01:03:59):
and by the way, how ironic when I hear you talk
about the humans gravitating tothe prime cuts.
It's like.
It's like the old model, theindustrial model farming, where
the cows, of course, go to thefavored grasses and and wipe
them out.
Matilda (01:04:16):
So how ironic that with the good stuff, yeah, we would
do the same thing as the modelwe're trying to get away from
anyway, but you have to turn theother stuff into the good stuff
yes, well, there you go, whichis, which is what a lot of you
know, that not a lot, becausethere aren't a lot but places
that do buy butcheries, that dobuy whole animals.
They do turn them, they areinventive and they do turn them
(01:04:36):
into meals and as cultures did,and they would, and but they
wouldn't suffer it.
They find ways to yeah, toprepare it as well, hey, yeah.
So basically then we worked out, we went away for Christmas,
kind of going what are we gonnado?
(01:04:57):
because we hadn't made a centat this point.
We've been going for a year anda half.
Revenue was going up you know,it started you know, it started
at the top, a passion, which itstill was, and I guess the
beginning of that.
Anthony (01:05:11):
We need to make money out there you get to a point in
a business when you've beendoing it for a year and a half
and go, okay, i'm gonna keepdoing this.
Matilda (01:05:18):
Our savings is gonna go we're gonna need to make money
from it.
Anthony (01:05:23):
I relate to this too, and you've got, and then you've
got kids are like, yeah,school's gonna come.
Matilda (01:05:27):
Yeah, okay, a bit of board planning after all, yeah,
and you're saying, they'resaying play with me, and you're
going no, no, i've got to do thebusiness stuff yeah, money so
we basically came back and wewere like we have to pivot the
business, we have to.
We ready meals, we can sellready meals, we can get into
shops.
We couldn't get our meat intoshops because you could only put
(01:05:49):
a 5% margin on them and youmake we were making no money
anyway, so we were never goingto be able to to do that so it's
the value edge you could bringthe value you can bring and we,
so we went away for Christmas.
Scott (01:06:03):
We went to the UK, so it wasn't like a tropical, exciting
holiday, unfortunately, butthey are so far ahead of us in
terms of green labelling, foodprobably, but yeah, like it was
pretty impressive in the, in thesupermarkets, that we're yeah
(01:06:24):
like really cool stuff, like nowthere's like high street region
burger chains, goodness, really, yeah, very ahead of us, for
sure, and you, you know, youwalk into so we got.
Matilda (01:06:37):
Inspired I guess, kind of similar to like a Harris farm
not main supermarket, but asupermarket similar to Harris
one.
But it is a main supermarket,you know, and there's like
there's there's stuff about thefarmers, there's information
about where they get their meatfrom and why they care about
that and how long they've hadthese relationships for, and you
(01:06:58):
really get the sense in thisthat this chain of supermarkets
is about that yeah anyway.
So these supermarkets and youyeah it was inspiring and there
were, yeah, ready meals there.
That were beautiful ready mealsand they were they were in a
great yeah, this great bambookind of.
They weren't packaged inplastic in this line of plastic
(01:07:18):
ready meals.
It wasn't sure they were, butthey were also these other ones
that were just beautiful bamboopackaging and I just really cool
and we tried some when theywere delicious.
They weren't, like you know,organic produce, but but it was.
It was high quality, yes, and Igot really excited yeah and I
was like I I had thought for thefor a while, like that I wanted
(01:07:43):
to ditch the buying wholeanimals thing and like turn the
business to ready meals.
But I felt like Scott wasn'tthere yet and and I I think I
might have like mentioned it orsomething, but then we got back
and I was kind of working outhow I was maybe gonna make it
kind of sound like it was hisidea you need to do that anyway,
(01:08:06):
he was like one day, it waslike when we got back.
I reckon we should not do thebeat the meat anymore.
Anthony (01:08:14):
You're right, you both arrived at it yeah, and I was
like great idea yeah, and wejust came back with this whole
new excitement.
Matilda (01:08:21):
You know and, and you know, let's be, we're always
good.
It was never gonna be okay.
If we can't do by whole animals, let's just buy crates of cuts,
and who gives a fuck where itcomes from?
it was never gonna be.
That was either quit, stop itand let someone else you like
feather and bone just continuedoing their thing, or it was
going to be.
How can we make this work inanother way?
keeping the philosophy?
(01:08:43):
yes and the values that westarted with yes which is what
it is now.
So not an online booktree, butbeautiful ready meals that use,
you know, 99% organicingredients, um, and you know
only the meat is from regionsources.
Scott (01:09:00):
Yeah, and we know that the company that we we work with
.
They have the ability and thelicense and the permission to
kill on on site, okay, on farmyeah, which is pretty unique.
Matilda (01:09:13):
Oh, that is and so that takes the whole that like yes,
so important yeah so itdiminishes the amount of stress
that that animal encounters.
Scott (01:09:22):
So it's big.
You know that the business hassort of had various iterations,
which i guess is is proves to usthat we're married to the, the
values and the principles of itand the pillars of it, not not
necessarily like what thebusiness is.
Yeah, you know we've gone froma cow share to an online butcher
(01:09:43):
to now we're a ready meal and ijust wanted now's a good time
to bring you know i think weshould ditch the ready meals and
Monday morning start somethingfresh.
Anthony (01:09:55):
It does go to show what i think is a message for all of
us to be nimble, yeah, to beopen to being nimble with this,
with whatever we're doing, whichis the creative side right.
So yeah, so to and to tap thosepeople we don't all have to be
that either, yeah, yeah.
So, speaking of which you saidfilm passion and i know you
(01:10:16):
played a part with this rightwith behind camera and stuff too
in the, in the evolution of howthis documentary came to be are
you too feeling like that oldspace you inhabited with this
new space are coming together insome form?
Matilda (01:10:31):
i don't know what that would look like, necessarily
like yeah, i haven't that, thatidea hasn't gone off in my head
yet how to marry the two.
But i i think i think the otherthing that that hinders
creativity is when you're givingso much.
I mean, we have two small kids.
(01:10:51):
I basically have been giving somuch of myself to keeping two
kids alive.
Um, so i really think that abig part of me turning away from
the film industry or losing mypassion for that, was that i
just didn't have enough of thatresilience anymore because i was
just it was all going into,going into the kids.
Oh, it's like a little arm, isit?
Scott (01:11:12):
it's a car alarm it.
Matilda (01:11:15):
Actually i don't know if that guy's gonna shut up,
because that that happens.
What?
Anthony (01:11:21):
is it that's gonna be annoying?
what is it?
Matilda (01:11:22):
should we just get the rifle out and shoot it?
Scott (01:11:25):
yeah, i'll stake the fire .
I'll stake the barbie, can youeat?
Anthony (01:11:27):
it.
No, it's acceptable yeah, yeahhe probably predates bird life
our existence here um predatespodcast.
Matilda (01:11:37):
Anyway, i feel like i'm now at a point where i can
breathe okay um, and so iprobably have more space for
things like yeah, you know filmindustry stuff, acting stuff
making, creating yes um that'llbe interesting yeah, to see what
comes what does come yep andthe back?
Scott (01:11:58):
how is it in the?
water my back.
Anthony (01:12:01):
Yeah, yeah, great really, yeah, that journey has
resolved, oh yeah how that is sointeresting.
Scott (01:12:07):
Yeah, yeah, it took about .
It took about a year to kind ofget to the point where it
wasn't an every day, you know,it wasn't a presence in my life,
and then there was about threeor four years where i'd have
like an episode where it flareup, and now i haven't had one of
(01:12:29):
those pages for years, but itwas chronic pain for like eight
years of your life seven, sevenyears of like
chronic situation yeah, it was,yeah, pretty debilitating, uh,
not just physically, like ittook a toll on yes you know,
it's hard to be present, it'shard to really kind of embrace
(01:12:49):
the world and embrace life.
I was pretty cranky, i wasdepressed a lot of the time and
i lost all my identity because iwas like the, the fit guy that
used to run around everywhereand use his body and now i, at
that point i couldn't use mybody.
So i had to, like, remodel whowho i was.
It wasn't, it wasn't a fun timei relate to.
Anthony (01:13:13):
I mean i had, having been the trainer as well, i
hadn't had a big motor accidentand spinal fractures and stuff
and that sort of reshaping ofidentity.
But yeah, i think about thepower of your story, that
nutrition was such the drivingfactor in the renewal and i'm
wondering then how muchemotional work or spiritual work
(01:13:34):
even was part of it.
Like did you was there thatwing, if you like, that you
worked on too.
Scott (01:13:40):
I i'd like to say yes, but in all honesty, um, i guess
i mean i'm about halfway throughthat back episode.
You know, i was a client, i wasa personal trainer.
The client was saying to meyou're back injury.
Anthony (01:14:01):
You know, it's all emotional, right you know, i
heard plenty of it, yeah, and iwas going through a breakup at
the time, so me too.
Scott (01:14:07):
There you go, so it was my, it was a marriage.
You know degradation of amarriage and she's like it's,
it's all wrapped up in that andi was like, i guess, because i
have a, a science you know i'vedone exercise science i can see
the scans on my MRI.
It seemed just so uh empiricalto me that, you know, a equals a
(01:14:31):
plus b equals c, you know, likeit's.
I knew when i did the injury, iknew how it felt.
There's the scans, that's theand that's the prognosis, and
it's hard to then accept.
Well, it's, it's yourcircumstance, it's your
experience, it's your trauma,it's your grief, all that stuff.
And so, if i'm honest, i was abit of a no, no to that.
(01:14:56):
And then, because the nutritionsent me a very loud, clear
signal that if you give yourbody the right input, it opens
up the capacity in the bandwidthto heal and repair.
So again, in that i am the casestudy, this isn't, admittedly,
(01:15:19):
you know, the caveat here isthat this isn't a clinical
control, you know, blind placebotrial, like it's.
I i am any once yeah and so itjust reinforced my science logic
that you know a plus b equals.
You know it's i'm giving, i'meating these foods.
(01:15:40):
I'm eliminating that there's.
No, there's no sort of credencegiven to spiritual or energies
or grief.
Um, but i have it's.
You know, when things arestressy for me in the past, i
feel it in my back so there'sthat need to exactly i can't
ignore that either.
But it's not.
(01:16:01):
I'm not gonna i'm not gonna sithere and say i went on some
deep spiritual mind openingjourney that helped my back,
because that, yeah, that wouldbe a lie.
Oh wonderful guys, it would bea better story.
Anthony (01:16:17):
It would be a better story no, i think that i mean i
certainly i can map myexperience onto that, and it's
it's just interesting tocontemplate do you get better
when i came into your life?
i ever think i've never been iknow, i love way to end.
That's beautiful, but if you'velistened through to an end of
an episode you'll know we closeactually on music.
(01:16:39):
But i want to open the gambit upto film potentially too, if
there's been music or film inthis case that has been
significant in your life beingyou mentioned a couple before
till.
Maybe it's music you that wefocus on here for you, but you
choose that's been eithersignificant in your life,
representative of atransformative time, or or just
something you're reveling inright now can you go first?
Scott (01:17:01):
all right this is really uh, this is going to sound very
English, but there's two bandsthat i listened to, probably ad
nauseam, for till one.
Well, i'm sure everyone's heardof both of them, but it's
Radiohead and Rolling Stones.
For the Rolling Stones, far out, i'm just what can you say?
(01:17:21):
some of those riffs andcharlie's leads for 50 years,
for 60 years, yeah, i wasplaying it on the on the drive
up yesterday and to the pointwith tashi, my elders was like,
can we, can we listen tosomething else?
it's been like five hours now,but on each one i'm like listen
to this tash listen to that,read totally.
(01:17:42):
I'm saying with one of my, yeah,you know, and so there's that
it's a very masculine energy andit's there's something.
I was thinking about this onthe drive up because i listen to
it, and why do i listen to it?
and i know what's coming.
I know each verse and melody,but what is it?
and there's something that itjust and it's the same for all
(01:18:02):
people, but the you know, theinput is different, but for me
it's the Rolling Stones andthere's something that speaks to
my whatever.
It is my dna and it gets, getsinside me, and Radiohead do
something similar.
His lyrics are somewhat poetic.
Anthony (01:18:22):
They are poems, really when you look at them,
transcribe their poems, but justlayered with amazing sound a
friend actually sent me hiscurrent outfit, which i can't
remember the name, off the topof the head who's current outfit
?
Scott (01:18:36):
tom york's the smile.
That's what it is, isn't it?
Anthony (01:18:39):
yeah, amazing, amazing yeah yeah, wonderful mate,
wonderful till yeah, i've gotone.
Scott (01:18:45):
i know it's gonna be .
Til (01:18:48):
What, go on?
Scott (01:18:50):
Are you gonna go music?
Matilda (01:18:52):
it's a bit of a combo.
Oh hi, your mum did just whyit's so good.
Go on.
What do you think?
Scott (01:18:57):
i thought you're gonna because you've been playing that
this is not taylor swift, butit's no, it's not taylor swift,
what is it?
Matilda (01:19:02):
it's somebody, really Billie Eilish.
Billie Eilish, i watched theBillie Eilish documentary lover.
I have to say i hadn't got intoher music.
I'd sort of only heard that badboy.
So i was like no, not, not, not.
I don't know why brun's talkingabout, but i watched the
documentary.
She's a, she's just a beautifulhuman.
I just really liked her and ifell in love with her music.
Anthony (01:19:23):
Can't stop listening to it.
Is there a particular trackthat switched you on to it?
Scott (01:19:26):
it's actually not bad really.
AJ (01:19:27):
Yeah i've not listened at all, I don't think.
Maybe i know some
Matilda (01:19:31):
It's a really good documentary yeah, like it's, i
do a lot of good music it's fromthe when she first releases a
song that goes kind of viral andthen it's it's sort of i guess
it's over a chunk of years towhere she basically wins all of
the grammy's.
Is that the big music awards?
yeah, when she wins like allthe grammy's, it's her
relationship with her brother sobeautiful.
They just make music togetherin their room and he's just her
(01:19:53):
biggest fan and yeah, just ilove, i really like her music.
AJ (01:19:57):
wonderful you guys.
Anthony (01:19:59):
It's been really special.
I mean, we've just lingeredinto the evening and, yeah, i
felt like that's what this wasgoing to be in the end and it
was bloody beautiful thanks forspending the time with me.
Scott (01:20:08):
oh pleasure thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Matilda (01:20:10):
I've just worked out what that bird is as well it's
like it was the oscar's songthat comes on at the end when it
wants you to wrap it up oh,that's right yeah.
Scott (01:20:20):
it's giving up now, but it was it was like it's falling
asleep falling asleep on thebranch, they're still going.
AJ (01:20:28):
that's a wrap.
Anthony (01:20:33):
That was Matilda Brown and Scott Gooding at the family
farm in the Nambucca Valley onGambaynggirr Country on the
mid-north coast of New SouthWales.
For more on Til and Scott, theGood Farm Shop, the film
Rachel's Farm, its tour and howto book your tickets, see the
links in the show notes.
I've put a few photos on theepisode web page too.
(01:20:54):
If you're interested in thenext big regenerative
(01:21:23):
agriculture event in Australia,join me in Margaret River, WA,
in September.
I'm privileged to be emcee andhope to see some of you there.
Finally, once again, hugethanks, Blair Beattie from
Farmers Footprint Australia fortaking that driver's seat on our
journey to the Nambucca Valley.
For the series of three episodesthat concludes with this one.
(01:21:45):
F or subscribers, i'll continueto send you behind the scenes
stuff and other news of what'sunfolding as i get around the
country.
A nd if you've been thinkingabout becoming a subscriber, I'd
love you to join us.
It's with thanks, as always, tothis community of generous
supporters that this episode wasmade possible.
Just head to the website viathe show notes regennarration.
(01:22:07):
com/ support and thanks again,and, as always, if you think of
someone who might enjoy thisepisode, please share it with
them.
Please also continue to rateand review the podcast on your
favoured app.
It all helps.
The music you're hearing isregeneration by Amelia Barden
(01:22:28):
off the soundtrack to the filmRegenerating Australia.
My name's Anthony James.
Thanks for listening.
That was the world that I grew up in.
I was on sets for as long as Ican remember, in the makeup
trailer, sitting next to thedirector watching Dad and Mum on
do their thing growing up,watching Dad on the TV in our
room while he's sitting next tome and him being shot to death
(00:21):
or his brain's blown out, Tryingto compute that as a young, all
those .
.
Scott (00:25):
did he always makes you watch his movies?
Anthony (00:31):
G' day, Anthony James here for The RegenNarration on
Nyikkina Warrwa Country, justoutside Derby in the Kimberley
region of far north-west-westernAustralia.
And a very strange andwonderful day it's been here
with some big but friendly wetin the heart of the dry season,
green and dripping around me.
(00:52):
Right now the savanna smellsdelicious, especially where we
are back at Wendy's permacultureparadise at Kimberley Cottages.
More on that later.
But today a vegan woman andpaleo diet guy walk into a bar.
Well, in their case they meeton a podcast.
(01:12):
Aren't podcasts romantic?
That vegan was Matilda Brown,daughter of famed actors Brian
Brown and Rachel Ward, and actorin her own right.
Rachel was my guest on thepodcast last week talking about
her new film Rachel's Farm,which Matilda plays a powerful
(01:32):
part in.
It's the story of Rachel'sunexpected and inspired turn, as
a grandmother no less, toregenerative farming A change
Matilda initially didn't want abar of.
Matilda (01:47):
The regen thing, was this whole new thing for us?
Mum had been talking aboutregen quite a lot and I'd sort
of been like la, la, la, la,just not, it didn't, it was her
thing, she was talking, shetalked to Mick about it, but we
weren't really listening until,i think one Christmas we spent
quite a long time up here andthat's when, like it really kind
(02:08):
of, oh okay, it started to makesense and coincided with, you
know, the fires.
Anthony (02:15):
The paleo guy was Scott Gooding, star performer in My
Kitchen Rules, author of TheSustainable Diet and subject of
an extraordinary recovery fromdebilitating injury through
nutrition.
Scott (02:30):
The nutrition sent me a very loud, clear signal that if
you give your body the rightinputs, it opens up the capacity
and the bandwidth to heal andrepair.
Anthony (02:44):
As Til and Scott came together, so did many other
threads, and they set aboutthinking how they could access
regeneratively sourced meat thenhow to make it available for
others.
The Good Farm Shop was born,but oh the trouble they found
with incumbent systems and somepersistent personal and cultural
(03:06):
narratives.
A recent series of pivots,though, is seeing them
successfully combine theirrespective skills to help weave
a healthy supply web togetherstemming from the regeneration
of farms like Rachel's.
Before we start, it's greatthanks to Joann Eastwood and
(03:27):
Laura Fisher for becomingtreasured subscribers of the
podcast.
It's the way this independent,ad-free, listener-supported
podcast happens, so if you'realso finding value in this,
please consider joining Joannand Laura and a great community
of supporting listeners.
With as little as $3 a month,or whatever amount you can and
(03:47):
want to contribute, you canenjoy a variety of benefits,
like hearing from me behind thescenes, event invitations and
advanced news here and there,and, of course, you'll continue
to receive the podcast everyweek.
Just head to the website viathe show notes regennarration.
com/ support and thanks again.
(04:08):
Now it's back to the Brown/ WardFamily Farm on Gambaynggirr
Country in the Nambucca Valley,New South Wales.
Let's take a seat with Til andScott at dusk on the back
veranda of their log cabin.
Til and Scott, it's great to bewith you out back at this
little cabin, overlooking thefields here.
(04:29):
Thanks for being with me.
Scott (04:30):
Pleasure mate.
It's a pretty lovely spot right.
Anthony (04:33):
It is a lovely spot.
I think the place to start isselecting itself, in that sense,
Til, with your history withthis place.
And, of course, having spokenwith your mum about the film and
everything that's going on here, what's your sense of
connection, which I guess hasbeen for what, all your life?
Matilda (04:51):
Yeah, so mum and dad were filming The Umbrella Woman
in the area and fell in lovewith this part of the world and
then went looking to buy a farmand they found this one first
and they bought it.
And that was when my sister wasabout eight months and I'm two
and a half years younger thanher.
So it's always been here sinceI've been here And, yeah, we've
(05:15):
come.
you know, it's so much a partof the family.
We come every holiday, longweekends.
I mean it kind of feels like wegrew up here and well, whale
Beach, where I was until I wasnine, and then Birch Grove.
Anthony (05:32):
So I'm wondering I was really moved, actually, of the
moments in the film that isreally like oh wow feeling.
That was when you spoke abouthow your mum was struggling
before all this took hold.
So I'm wondering for you how itfeels now to be here.
Does it feel different to theway it used to be?
(05:53):
Like what layering has itdeveloped over that time?
Matilda (05:59):
Mum's always.
Mum's so into whatever sheloves, which I do talk kind of a
little bit in the documentary.
Mum is, she's a bull at a gatewith whatever she's doing And
you know she's always wheneverwe're at the farm there's a
level of relaxing, but there'salso mum kind of going.
(06:20):
Wouldn't it be lovely if we hadyou know a river or something
or a dam going along there, youknow, and dad's like I think
it's fine the way it is, youknow.
Scott (06:31):
But you know, the next minute, the last two hours, is
testament to that.
Yeah, yeah, digging logs out ofa river so it can be clear and
free of debris.
Matilda (06:41):
And With a vision, with a vision, like that lake, for
example, wasn't here.
That she, that was sort of likea dark gully with you know some
of the catfish.
Scott (06:51):
She dug it with a bare hand.
Took her four years Amazing.
Anthony (06:56):
There will be photos of this for listeners.
Matilda (06:59):
Yeah.
Anthony (06:59):
It is something to behold now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that'sincredible.
Matilda (07:02):
No, it's amazing.
So she's someone who's veryaesthetic, like that is mum.
She's very, you know, shereally appreciates beauty.
She would always be sort ofdriving along her back oh, look
at those flowers, look at thecolour of those flowers.
Like she's so visual.
She was saying her motherinstilled that in her Yeah Would
stop the car and have themwatch.
(07:23):
Yeah, and that's definitely thepast.
Scott (07:26):
She dresses a party or a dinner table Like that to her is
the exciting part of it, Likedressing it.
And then when people come, it'slike, oh God, they're here now.
Anthony (07:37):
You know making things look wonderfully, stunningly
beautiful, like that's that'sreally interesting to me, Cause
it's like the artists backgroundmeeting the farm life now.
but they're not, they're notapart there.
And of course explicitly in thefilm, but even just in the farm
work.
Matilda (07:56):
But I mean like a Regen farm.
It really isn't like for hershe struggles with the Regen
part.
She loves the Regen kind ofphilosophy of it, but she
doesn't like the scruffiness ofit.
So she really has to kind ofwrestle with that, like, oh, i
really want to clean those logsup, but it's like, well, they're
supposed to be, you know if youdon't really you leave them.
(08:17):
It's part of the ecology, youknow.
But you know it's a beautifulproperty because of you know the
love that mum puts into it,above soil and below soil, and I
don't think that answered yourquestion.
We went on a bit of a yeah, wedid, didn't we?
Anthony (08:32):
I mean, it still leaves me partly wondering how I guess
yeah, how the place feels toyou now in light of all that.
Matilda (08:39):
It doesn't feel that different.
Anthony (08:40):
Really No.
Matilda (08:41):
So the feeling is You mean like the Regen, like the
farming we were doing, versusthe Regen now.
Anthony (08:46):
And I guess, incorporating what you were
feeling so deeply about your mum.
That's different now, becauseshe's absolutely on fire.
Matilda (08:54):
Oh, yeah, well, that's different.
Mum's always well, mum's alwaysstruggled with depression which
.
I don't think, not, I don'tthink that's in the documentary.
Anthony (09:06):
Yeah, it's more in you that it shows.
Matilda (09:08):
It's a subtle hint to it.
Yes, yeah, so we've always, youknow, we've always.
That's always been a big partof mum.
But she's like when she hassomething that sets her on fire,
that she's passionate aboutshe's, you know that goes away.
(09:29):
She's really, she's reallyinvolved.
You know, it's like being inthe flow.
That is like medicine for her.
And I think she also is someonewho she holds the weight of the
world on her shoulders, alittle bit like she with the.
You know, she's always been anadvocate for the environment.
She's always cared about thatand wanted to do, you know,
(09:52):
wanted to help it if she can.
And I think with the farm therewas such an opportunity.
You know she thought like well,great, like here's my chance to
really to do my bit, which shetalks a lot about in the
documentary.
But I think the thing that wassort of surprising for all of us
was just how much it gave herhow much it like regenerated her
(10:13):
to have that, And also likeshe's such a strong physically
like she's a lean, lean, leanmachine, but she's physically
like nothing will stop her, Likeyou didn't see down at the this
afternoon, but like she's inthere pulling the logs up.
Scott (10:29):
She's not just really directing like she's Well, the
film is just pulling up.
Anthony (10:35):
Yeah yeah, It's brilliant.
Well, back up a bit before wego forward with the shop and
everything and how you guys gotthe the bug and came together.
But going back a bit furtherfor you.
Scott, you sound like you'vegot the background from her part
of the world too.
Hey came from the UK.
Scott (10:51):
My gather From the UK, yeah, so how did you come to be
here?
So I left the UK when I was 23.
So I'd done.
I grew up in pubs in and aroundLondon for about my mum and dad
ran pubs for about 37, 38 years, so that was my childhood.
And then I went to uni and Idid exercise science there,
(11:17):
which I hated.
uni I enjoyed the course but Ihated being a student.
I spent the least amount oftime on campus as I could And
then I guess it was a.
it wasn't a particularlyvocational.
It wasn't obvious to me what Iwas going to walk into.
You know, it was exercisescience.
It's like maybe now there'smore opportunities, but then to
(11:40):
me anyway it didn't seemparticularly obvious what job I
was going to.
So I remember finishing uni,going back to my mum and dad's,
and I was like I've now got tomake that decision.
You know, i'm out of school,i'm not going to do any other
course anytime soon.
I'm now on the brink of thatdecision that I've got to make,
that what is my job, what is mycareer?
(12:00):
And so my mum and dad at thatpoint had been doing the same
thing, the same job, for like 30years.
There was a bunch of peoplearound me that hadn't gone to
uni, that were in theiroccupation for the fifth, sixth,
seventh year, and I was like,right, i've got to make that
decision.
Like now, i know that you canjump around and it doesn't
(12:23):
matter, fall into things, youknow.
Whereas then I was like what amI going to be for the next 40
years?
So I wasn't equipped at thatpoint to make that decision, nor
did I want to.
So I went right.
I'm going to go on the otherside of the world.
So I remember sitting on thetoilet reading a magazine and it
(12:47):
was a little article aboutwhere to be for the millennium,
The top 10 places to be Andnumber one was Rio de Janeiro.
Number two was Sydney, like Iguess, because it's so far.
you know, it's one of the firstcities in the world to
experience welcome in the newyear sort of thing, And then
(13:07):
sort of in parentheses was andalso hosting the Summer Olympics
.
So I was like, oh, be there forthe millennium and stick around
for.
So I got a couple of thousandpound together and called a mate
and said let's go, And thenthat was it.
Anthony (13:28):
Wow, it's so interesting when you do look
back now.
I mean the decision you in partput off, deferred.
But you can look back and seeyou.
You were on to it, yeah, butwhat's become your defining
passion?
You're on to it already interms of the body and health.
I mean not to the same extent,I guess, but that you can see
that you were already on thepath after all, on the path.
Matilda (13:51):
Well, yeah, he went on to be a personal trainer for
years.
Anthony (13:53):
So did I, by the way.
Matilda (13:54):
Oh really.
Anthony (13:55):
Yeah, i went to this Yeah.
But I've been lit up to gardenpath in other things first and
then went.
Then went to that.
Scott (14:01):
I was like, oh, this is good, yeah Well that that in in
of itself isn't a clear andobvious path either, like I
because of so I get to Australiaand I've got a working holiday
visa, so I'm OK for a year to towork legitimately.
But it was just easy gettingconstruction jobs, and I'm not
(14:24):
sure I did hospitality, but Iwas working in construction And
then at the end of my work inholiday I jumped into tourist
visas and I'm not supposed to beworking, you know like,
legitimately I can't get.
I can't use my an ABN or taxfile number, So I stuck around
construction because you getcash in hand And then I hurt my
(14:46):
back So I couldn't do so.
I entered that world of workerscomp which is Shocking, like
it's good that it exists and ithelped me.
But anyway, that's anotherstory.
And so I couldn't.
I couldn't now lift anything.
I was convalescing and part ofthat work workers comp system,
(15:11):
they and it's good, like theyget you talking to career
guidance counsellors And she shewas like, ok, well, you know,
let's put a CV together and youknow what's your background and
what have you studied.
I was like, oh, i did like adegree exercise science.
She's like well, you've got tobe a PT.
Then I was like that was soThat greated against who I am
(15:38):
inherently, really The thoughtof standing up or sitting down
or whatever and telling someonewhat to do and how to do it.
I'd never done anything likethat in my life All through.
You know, i avoided any publicspeaking or presentation, like
that was just not me.
So I was like, but I kind ofjust went.
I was like, oh, yeah, i coulddo that, but you know, i don't
(16:00):
feel like I'm qualified.
She's like you've got toexercise for science degree,
like you're overqualified, butactually so much time at laps
that I had to go and do a thirdthree and a third four, which is
going over like such elementarystuff.
But it was fine because it kindof delayed the, the impending
standing up in front of theother than what to do.
So I kind of yeah, it wasn't.
(16:22):
I sort of fell into it and youknow I'm passionate about it and
I still am, but it wasn't, andI had it.
I had a.
I didn't know what I wasexperiencing at the time, but it
was a full blown panic attackthe night before my first.
Was it really?
Oh yeah, i was just likewrithing around in the bed just
going fuck, i can't do this.
Matilda (16:42):
Like a husband and a wife.
What Was he?
Scott (16:44):
your first client.
Matilda (16:45):
It's like a husband and a wife, like this, like I
remember I don't know how- itcame about.
Scott (16:50):
But I met this guy.
Somebody introduced me to thisguy who had a PT business and
had done for like four or fiveyears and he was going back to
the UK And he handed me and toldall his clients what the deal
was.
But he handed me a client listwhich was like, okay, i'm up and
running already.
This is coming in fast.
(17:13):
You know, like Monday morningis my first session.
So it was a husband and wifewho had been training with this
guy for a couple of years.
So you know they hadexpectation on that.
You know it wasn't their firstPT session, but yet it was mine.
I would construct a sessionwith every possible event
eventuality.
Be like okay, well, what if heturns up and he sprained his
(17:36):
ankle over the weekend and hecan't run?
So you know what if she turnsup and she's pregnant?
You know like, just send myselfmental over the.
How did it go?
It was all right.
It was all right, yeah.
It was so critical of myselfthat no sessions for years were
any good, really.
Yeah, i didn't enjoy it forlike two years until I settled
(18:00):
into like being okay withtalking to people and telling
them what to do.
Anthony (18:05):
I'm already picking up like the rigor of your
preparation.
We can put that lens on.
It is something that you seemto have carried through and
ultimately has held you in goodstead with the rigor you apply
to now your own health and ofcourse what you guys have
embarked on together.
Is that true to say?
Scott (18:24):
His own health for sure, Yeah, I guess.
So I'm not whimsical, I don'tjust go with the flow
particularly well.
So I do prepare and I doprobably over prepare, and I
certainly did then.
I probably less so now.
But yeah, you're very, veryprepared before you do things.
(18:45):
Yeah.
Matilda (18:46):
Any talk he's ever had to go to.
You know, since we've beentogether.
Yeah, the preparation is a lot,a lot, but also it's like you
know, the low level anxiety thatyou get as well, like it's.
I mean, you've definitelygotten more chilled about it,
for sure, as you do when themore things you do, and also the
(19:08):
less weight you put on it.
I guess now there's otherthings as well that make it put
in balance, I guess you knowwhen you're doing things like
that.
You're kind of more, much morechilled about it these days.
Scott (19:19):
Yeah, i kind of almost enjoy it now, like you know.
I'd rather stand up and speakto like a thousand people than I
would one, yeah, that's forsure.
Like I was doing a presentationlike the more the better,
because you do go into thiswonderful flow, call it what you
will, but you do go into, youknow, and if you time it right
(19:42):
with the anticipation, a bit ofcaffeine, some you know lines
main, and some rhodiola, likeyou kind of get to this like
point and time where your focuscouldn't be any greater and I
thrive in that space, like youknow.
It's like all these words cometo you.
(20:03):
You're way more articulate thanyou are in your normal day to
day.
You kind of you recall, andyour vocab is like it's as good
as it'll ever be and I kind oflove that.
Anthony (20:14):
Yeah, I hear yeah yeah, it's kind of cool, but still
not really when you're whenyou're working directly with
people.
Are you saying that it's harderto access that sensation than
when you're presenting to biggroups?
Scott (20:27):
No one on one's fine, like so I do a bit of coaching
and things like that, that'stotally fine.
But I would have more anxietyif I was to walk into a room
armed with a presentation andthere was two people sitting
there in the audience six orsomething yeah, that'd be my
nightmare.
Yeah, Yeah, like 600, great.
Matilda (20:48):
Mind you, you have done that a fair few times you
always come back and I'm likehow was it, babe?
Anthony (20:51):
and you were like great yeah it's normally six and not
600, yeah, there we go, let'skeep it real.
And then that's the same six,right the guys again.
That gets easier something likethat.
And I know you've written reallyfrankly about having your like
talking about Rachel's feelingsbeing challenged over time, that
(21:14):
you've had similar moments ofhitting places like that
yourself and you.
You wrote a recent blog whichreally stood out to me around
your personal narrative shift.
So the blog wasn't that longago.
Was this the shift?
the shift itself wasn't longago as well?
that that personal narrativeshift, and and how has that been
for you?
Scott (21:36):
I guess it's twofold.
So one shift came prior to meuntil maybe like six or seven
years ago, where I found it verydifficult, if somebody asked me
like how was your day, to say,you know, i would always err on
the side of oh, you know, it wasall right, even if it was a
(21:57):
pretty good day.
That's the most I could manage.
But most of it was like most ofthe most of my responses were
oh yeah, just like really busyat the moment, like yes, you
know it was.
It was a negative, somewhatpessimistic, and so what I
realized I'd been doing is likechalking up only the shit days
(22:18):
or the hard days.
And so I started to like tuneinto that and so so I would only
chalk up the shit days.
And so then, when you look backand you reference how your days
have been because you've onlychalked those ones up, the
negative, you know the harderdays like that's your only.
And so when you start to chalkup the good days and the average
(22:44):
days and the brilliant days,all of a sudden there's more of
a contrast, there's more of abalance of, and so when you
flick, you know, when youreference back, you go oh yeah,
i've been good.
Yeah, you have a good day.
Matilda (22:58):
You mean like by chalking up, you're not like
literally kind of going like no,mentally chalking up Mentally
you're remembering the shit daysmore than you're crediting the
good days.
Scott (23:06):
Yeah, so I'm probably not articulating very well, but
let's say, over a month youmight have seven shit days.
You know things haven't goneyour way.
Work's been tough, a bit ofdisappointment thrown in there,
and they would be the only daysthat I've mentally chalked up,
and so when I cast my mind backto that last month, i go it's
(23:28):
dominant it's dominant, it's theonly.
But then when you go, no, i'mgonna chalk up all the days that
I have, and most of those areokay and some of them are good
and some of them are amazing,and then so, when you cast your
mind back to the last month, yougo oh yeah, my world's pretty
good, yeah, and then so that wasone sort of reframing, if you
(23:50):
like, and then I've spent, idon't know.
There's probably three parts toit.
That's one.
The second part is tuning intoa, a prominent psychologist who
has helped me understand thatlife in general is difficult and
so the best thing that we cando or the, you know, the best
(24:13):
thing that we can do is to havesome meaning and purpose to
buttress against the difficultyand hardship of life.
The third thing is spending aninsane amount of time looking at
world war, two various otherwars, you know, in trepit
(24:36):
explorers that have gone throughhardship.
You know I'm reading um bury myheart, wounded knee at the
moment.
So all that stuff.
When you go, okay, well, maybeI've got it pretty good.
I've born in.
You know I'm living in a timewhere things are great, and so
you need to acknowledge that,because it's not always the case
and lots of people have diedand certainly struggled, and you
(24:58):
know, amongst all that there'slots of resilience and phoenixes
from the fire and all you knowthere's some good, amazing
stories of trials andtribulations.
But, um, on the whole there'sbeen a lot of suffering from you
know till an eye in our family,like we don't, we don't suffer
on the magnitude of there's nois you can't even compare our
(25:21):
lives with the lives of thosepeople.
Anthony (25:22):
So you go, okay, well, it's pretty good, yeah, listen
to that shift just in the toneof voice from we started that
explanation and, yeah, a senseof taking responsibility too,
isn't it for that?
arriving at that meaning andpurpose which leads us to, of
course, some of what you'redoing today, but let's hold off
on that.
Tomorrow bounce back to youtill and your story, because you
(25:45):
were, you followed the pathinto film.
I did follow the path, yeah andit was your passion then, for a
fair while oh yeah, no, itstill is.
Matilda (25:53):
Yeah, it's coming back is it?
yeah, i definitely lost thepassion, but also, yeah, i
follow the path.
I mean it's funny, like whenyou're I'm, i guess, like sons
of plumbers often becomeplumbers.
That was the world that I grewup in on.
I was on sets from as long as Ican remember, in the makeup
trailer you know, sitting nextto the director watching dad and
mum on.
(26:13):
You know, do their thing growingup watching dad on on the tv in
our room while he's sittingnext to me and him being shot to
death, or you know.
You know his block, his brain'sblown out.
You know, trying to computethat as a young.
You know all those like that healways make you watch his
movies no, there were certainmovies I absolutely loved of his
(26:38):
, like the shirley um.
Did you ever see?
that, yes, i did beautiful and Iand I really struggled with the
relationship that he had withthe little girl.
Yeah, um, of course, but youknow other films where he's, you
know he gets killed and youknow you're like I don't.
You know, sometimes when you'rethat young you don't really
understand the reality like whatis what are you talking?
(27:02):
oh, from pretty pretty younglike as young as I can can as
young, i guess, as you you wereto like be able to sit down and
watch a movie that's notcartoons yeah and I guess, like
dad being in, it was morecompelling for me yeah, you know
six till whenever, yeah, butyeah.
So I remember you know thosebeing at school and you know,
going to the careers counselorand she being like, well, you
(27:24):
know, i sort of went, oh, i'minterested in being a lawyer.
She's like you're probably notgoing to be a lawyer, don't
think you're going to get thegrades to be a lawyer.
I think everybody the consensusin my family was like I don't,
yeah, i don't think you're goingto be a lawyer till like I was
a pretty woo-woo child.
My whole room was decked outlike a you know with like
candles, which dad was always,you know, panicking about but,
(27:47):
it was like a psychic story likecome in, i'll tell you, tell
you know, read your tarot and,but there's a lawyer bit coming,
i don't know.
I think I, i think I like, liked, i think as a kid you just go,
you kind of go.
I don't know, lawyer soundsgood yeah, i wanted to be a
paleontologist, because Ilearned how to say the word and
I was like that sounds cool,yeah yeah, you know it was
(28:09):
lawyer, paleontologist and youknow.
And then I guess the otheroption was like an actress or
not even a director.
At that point was mum who saidwell, if you're going to be an
actress then you better go tofilm school, because your career
will be over by 36.
But anyway I did.
I did not become a lawyer, idid not become a failure and I
(28:30):
went to film school.
I did.
You know, i did a film with mumwhen I was 15 called Martha's
New Coat and I and really Iguess at that age I worked out
that I could act and that Iloved it, that it was really fun
to be on set and to work withmum.
But then, you know, she did sayif you are going to be an actor
then you should go to filmschool so that you can have
(28:51):
other strings to your bow.
Yeah, i was like, okay, i will.
So I went to film school inMelbourne, i went to Swinburne
and then, did you know, did afilm degree.
Didn't really learn as much asI could have.
I was quite.
I didn't like the technicalstuff.
I'm like quite good at thetechnical stuff now, like I
learned, i learned, you know, ilearned to edit after film
(29:14):
school.
Basically, when.
Anthony (29:16):
I when I worked out that I yet to pay people to edit
when I started making films, iwas like I probably can work
this out.
I relate to that.
Matilda (29:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah right anyway, and then I went to
professional screenwritingschool after that RMIT.
So I did about five years ofstudy and then came back to
Sydney and then we're comingback and basically kind of being
like 23 and not knowing likehow, what do I do now?
yeah, i didn't have an agent,so I but I adopted mum and dads
(29:48):
who was John Kan management, butthen John died and became
Winston Morris, but I didn't.
I didn't ever feel like I'dearn those things.
Like those things were thingsthat I was really lucky enough
to have a leg up into, butequally so I did a lot of like
work to get you know.
23 I was.
I said what should I do?
and he was like, well, weshould do.
(30:09):
Whatever film maker does, theymake a tropfest film.
So I was like oh god, okay, iguess I've got to make a
tropfest film.
I'm hearing so many parallelsin the story.
Anthony (30:17):
I don't know if you guys have thought that before,
like that that you would getthis skill set in the bag to a
degree, but then be like, ohshit, what now?
sort of thing and thenconfronted with what now?
Oh no, really.
Matilda (30:31):
Yeah, i feel like isn't that every young person
potentially?
you know when you're pushed outof the nest you're like God,
here I go in big wide world.
Anthony (30:39):
Yeah, try stuff.
Matilda (30:40):
Yeah, you've got to do it Like it's scary.
You've got to actually make itstep and potentially fall on
your face.
Anthony (30:46):
Well, this relates to even remaking yourself too.
eh, i imagine you went throughsome of this with the farm shop
and yeah, and so, in a sense,then it's that realisation which
more of us are cocking on to,just even with what we're
learning about human capacity,that you're not finished, that
old idea of the 40 year you know, once you've studied, that's,
(31:07):
that's your path and enjoy it,and you'll slowly decay as you
go, type of thing.
But we can actually remakeourselves right through to,
again, your mum's evidence.
Matilda (31:16):
Yeah.
Anthony (31:17):
Remake yourself right through to the end.
Matilda (31:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Anthony (31:19):
Anyway, back to this point in time.
Matilda (31:21):
But so basically I you know I did make a truck fest
film and it got into truck festand that you know opens doors.
but I just, you know I madelots of different films, blah,
blah, blah.
I don't need to give you my bio, but then I guess I kind of the
film ministry is so like.
I kind of think the filmministry is similar to that
boyfriend or girlfriend thatstrings you along, you know, the
(31:45):
one that really like you, kindof infatuated with, and they
give you a little yeah, allright, yeah, here you go And
you're like, okay, I'll take
Anthony (31:55):
it, You know that's right, I'm even.
I'm thinking a few things, butI'm thinking some parallels with
music, the music industry.
Matilda (32:03):
Yeah, I would say very similar music industry.
Yeah.
Anthony (32:06):
But also I say it, i don't say it to too many people
modeling.
Oh yeah, so that experiencewhich I thought would be an
interesting accompaniment tomusic because I could take it
any.
No, in theory, take it anywhere.
Yeah, Jobs are scarce, So good,I spend much time.
But when you get a pays andyeah, well, exactly, I mean
they're not, they're not,they're not just handed out to
(32:26):
you.
Matilda (32:27):
You really, and there's such competition And you know
when you, when you, when you getthe job, it's really fun Being
on set.
It's so much fun.
And you make great friends andthere's great food And you know
you don't work that much, youknow depending treated, well
treated really well And it's areally great job.
But you know, then you're sixmonths without a job.
but you've done so manyauditions and you put so much
(32:50):
work into each of thoseauditions and no one sees them.
Sometimes it's your best work.
Yeah, totally I was like Inailed that audition and no one
saw it.
Yeah, you know, and I wrote aswell and and I went to LA.
I got an agent, a writing agentin LA, and he said write a
pilot, come to LA and we'llpitch it.
So I did that, wrote a pilot,went to LA, wrote three episodes
(33:14):
of it and a company.
You know.
I took it to a few differentcompanies and this one company
loved it And they're you knowthe sort of back and forth
between my agent And then.
This is around the time thatScott came into my life.
It was the last time I went toLA, but I basically been going
back and forth to LA nearlygetting things and then not
getting them, nearly gettingthings and not getting them, and
in Sydney as well, like gettingthings but like not things,
(33:36):
things that you're like.
Well, this would be a gamechanger, you know, this would
probably open the doors wideopen for me and I'd be good to
go, and so nearly got it andthen didn't and came back to
Sydney and felt like just soenergetically exhausted and kind
of really fed up and angry,also angry with the way that
(33:58):
people just don't, that it's sounkind to not give you a polite
answer, just a ghosting, youknow, just your agent saying
don't think it's going to happen, like they're just not writing
back anymore.
You're like why don't they justwrite back and go?
sorry, changing our minds?
No, it's harsh, you know.
Scott (34:13):
I just was like so rude From an outside I'm like as a
partner of a actress like yeah,i saw it play out and I'm like
how, how are these people likenot?
so you're kind of like left inlimbo.
I mean, the way my brain wouldwork is like I'd still be
hopeful that I was going to getthat audition from two years ago
.
Matilda (34:33):
No, i mean your agent.
You get to the point where youknow, you know, or you the agent
says hasn't gone your way orwhatever.
Scott (34:39):
What other industry operates like that?
It's like a.
It's a bit shitty that side ofit.
Matilda (34:43):
Well, probably the music industry and probably the
modeling industry.
Yeah, exactly Any industrywhere you're competing a bunch
of with a bunch of other peopleand people don't feel like they
need to give you an answer.
It's gone to someone else andso you didn't get the job.
Anthony (34:55):
Yeah.
Matilda (34:56):
So you do and you have a like a resilient, you build up
a resilience to it and I hadbuilt up a resilience to it, but
I think I basically built up aresilience to it and then really
acknowledged how painful thataccumulative rejection, you know
, had made me, you know, and Iand I just came back and I was
(35:18):
like I'm so tired, i'm soexhausted of doing, of trying,
trying, trying and not getting,you know, the equivalent in
reward.
Scott (35:27):
But it's not.
It's not just like auditionsthat you wouldn't hear back from
.
It would be like a productioncompany would pick up her idea.
You know, feed her all the therhetoric that it's going to
happen.
Yeah.
Anthony (35:40):
It's, you know it's going, it's going, it's a no
brainer, except for me, withthis, you know, talk The talk,
the cheap talk, yeah, yeah, andall of that to not have the you
know the phone call which saysI'm.
Matilda (35:54):
I just want you to know that.
You know we did everything wecan and you know you deserve it
And.
I'm sorry that it's not goingto you know, just like a slow
burnout where you just you areleft hoping until you're you're
like okay, i guess I need tomove on.
Scott (36:11):
Yeah, it's been four years now.
Yeah.
Anthony (36:13):
Yeah, But again I hear like even in the regeneration
space, again the talk is can becheap and you can get all
excited about ultimately nothingQuite a lot.
So it feels like we're at thismoment and it'd be interesting
to hear your thoughts on thatnow, with your experiences too,
but about the reality versusnoise.
(36:34):
But to come back to then to themeeting point, So you're in
this point in your life whenScott reaches out to ask you on
the Yeah, So then.
Matilda (36:44):
so I come back to LA.
Anthony (36:45):
Yeah.
Matilda (36:48):
And Scott and I knew like, basically, like he'd set
up, can we do this podcast, Likeyou know, when you get back
from LA.
So I come back and I am like.
I came back from LA, like youknow, and he made a date and so
he was messaging me and said areyou still up for this podcast
More?
and I was like, so not up forit?
I've been to see akinesiologist.
(37:09):
I'd had my leg had gone intospasm on the way home.
Scott (37:11):
I just want to hide under a rock.
Matilda (37:13):
You're a tetaculcule, you know, i just wasn't, i just
felt like but I also felt like Ididn't want to do to him what I
had been done to me.
I didn't want to be like youknow, i just was like we said we
were going to do it.
Yeah, let's do it.
So I was like no worries comeover.
Well, you know, this is myaddress.
Yeah, and, as I said, that wasbefore this podcast, telling you
(37:34):
the story.
that was our first conversationavailable for everyone to hear.
Oh God, let's delete it now.
No.
Scott (37:41):
I can't do it.
Anthony (37:44):
But yeah, and so that was our first, and that was yeah
, that was our meeting, a propermeeting, and isn't that
beautiful, by the way, that youstill finding the gumption to do
the right thing despite beingburned and feeling like well
stuff, and I'm just going toindulge myself.
Everything I mean.
the rest is history type.
Matilda (38:02):
I mean, I'm really glad that I did it Exactly, i'm sure
it wouldn't have.
I'm sure there would have been.
I mean maybe not.
Scott (38:07):
I mean Scott's a pretty um you know, you said to me I
just had a quite emotionalsession with my kinesiologist.
Matilda (38:17):
And you said, oh, don't worry about it If you don't
want to.
You know if you're too tired ofit.
Scott (38:21):
I was like, oh no it's fine, but I'm already at the
door.
Anthony (38:26):
Cool, so you did this on the public record, yeah.
Matilda (38:30):
And six months later I was pregnant.
Anthony (38:33):
Okay, i got it, it did fly I don't muck around.
Matilda (38:35):
I don't muck around, yeah.
Scott (38:38):
Was it that?
Matilda (38:38):
soon It was pretty soon .
Yeah, it was pretty soon.
No, I mean, we were about fourmonths later.
what we started looking forplaces, It didn't take long.
Scott (38:46):
Yeah, we were lying in bed fairly soon after meeting
and she was like where are yougoing with this?
Anthony (38:54):
Well, this is a bad story?
Scott (38:57):
Yeah, no.
Well, just setting the scenefor people I won't say what you
were wearing, um, and you werelike, yeah, we should have, we
should try for kids This is likeyou know pretty soon.
like you know, we're talkingweeks and months, not years, and
I was like oh, maybe we shouldlive together first.
Matilda (39:18):
Like, let's take that step I was like no worries, got
my computer outside and lookedtyped in domain.
Scott (39:24):
Yeah, we're picking up keys on Monday babe.
Matilda (39:26):
I was like I want a baby, i'm ready If you're not
see you later.
There you go, i'm looking forthe man I had the babies with.
Anthony (39:34):
And as the bloke who was seeking till first, like
before the podcast, even you hadthis encounter and you asked if
she was up for it.
She wasn't available at thetime to be confronted by the
rapidity of the news.
Yeah but, But.
I gather it was only a couplemore months before you thought
no, you're right, this is good.
Scott (39:55):
Well, i had a son from my previous marriage And once that
broke down I pledged to myselfthat I was never going to have
any more kids, I wasn't evergoing to get married, I mean
that sort of dissolved a littlebit.
As time passed, I was like,yeah, maybe, but definitely no
(40:17):
more kids.
And I lost previous girlfriendsbecause of that, my attachment
to that decision that I didn'twant more kids.
So in that moment, laying inbed until says we should try for
kids, I was like, OK, I've gotabout 10, 15 seconds to answer
this woman.
And I knew in that moment thatif I wanted to be with Teal
(40:40):
which I did I would have toquickly pull away from that,
That belief that I'd had forabout eight years or something.
And I went right, well, she'llwalk if I, if I say I don't want
kids.
Anthony (40:57):
So I was like, yeah, it sounds like a good idea.
And here you are And you had acouple of kids now into
beautiful kids, a little tribe.
So bring us to then this pointof epiphany for you guys that
you start the good farm shopwith.
How did that spark?
Matilda (41:19):
Well, also I had been vegan for a long time just to
give some context to.
Anthony (41:24):
Yep seems important.
Matilda (41:27):
I had one of those.
I'm sure there's other peoplewho've had this experience sat
down one weekend and watched abunch of those documentaries
that turn you vegan And didn'twant to be part of any.
I didn't want to be part of anykind of farming system that
contributed to that sort ofanimal treatment, which I
thought was the general way thatanimals are treated.
Scott (41:47):
And right.
Matilda (41:48):
And so if I'd been sort of vegetarian and vegan for
about probably about 10 years,going from vegan to vegetarian
and then just really vegan andthen back to vegetarian, and my
body had really suffered overthe years from it.
Yes, And you know, like I hadthese times where I was, I
thought like far out, you know,I don't really know what to eat
(42:09):
anymore to like To.
I think when I was eating meat Ididn't have these problems.
I didn't feel this way like I.
But I didn't really know.
No, I'd never really gottenreally into nutrition, I didn't
really know much.
I grew up having a model motheras someone who was kind of
(42:30):
prescribed diets quite early on,So I'd had a really unhealthy
relationship with food leadingup to you know, and all through
my 20s really, and didn't reallyknow what I was supposed to be
eating.
I was really lost in, like theworld of food.
Anthony (42:46):
Oh yeah.
Matilda (42:48):
And so Scott enters my life and he's like you know, he
lives for meat, he lives for aslow cooked piece of lamb or,
you know, a blood sausage And he, and after dating him for a
while, and he's, you know, he'sa wealth of knowledge when it
comes to nutrition.
So he just like, slowly and notnot in so unjudgmental He never
(43:12):
was like why don't you eat meat?
It was always just like acuriosity.
So you know why, why don't youeat meat, you know, and I said I
just don't want to, i don'tlike hate the idea of this
horrible treatment of animals,you know, and food sovereignty
was a really big thing for him.
So he knew butchers that knewwhere their meat was coming from
(43:32):
and knew that those animals hada nice life on a farm like this
.
And I was at the point where Iwas like really willing to like,
i kind of wanted to starteating meat again, but I just I
didn't want to go against what Ireally felt and believed for
like so long.
So anyway, i kind of was like,you know, i'm actually, if you,
if, if you do know, like and ifwe can go to your butcher, i'd
(43:53):
be willing to have some meat.
And so, anyway, he made me likethis slow cooked lamb, and for
like the seven hours that it wascooking I was just couldn't
wait.
Anthony (44:02):
Interesting.
Matilda (44:04):
And after that I was.
I just felt like my body.
I felt like it was like WD 40to my joints.
Anthony (44:11):
Like I felt, I ate the fat Like it was like.
Matilda (44:15):
I mean, it was a gnawing on the bone.
It was like medicine for mybody After years of eating air.
You know air and like starchyvegetables or you know whatever.
Then I don't know, you probablymaybe want to take over.
Scott (44:33):
Well how it came about.
Matilda (44:35):
Yeah.
Scott (44:35):
So I guess that was that was fairly early on in our
relationship.
So we'll have to sort of fastforward to COVID times.
And we were at home at WhaleBeach and we we knew how the
cattle up here were being raised.
You know we were coming two orthree times a year and you know
(44:55):
you only have to cast your eyesover there and you can see these
very lush paddocks with veryhealthy, happy animals.
We were like, well, how do we?
and there didn't seem to bethat type of beef available to
us on the northern beaches.
Matilda (45:13):
Well, i had also always seen cattle raised like this as
well, so it wasn't, i think Ijust I couldn't comprehend that
there must be like some otherthing.
I'm not, you know.
I was sort of blinded by thosedocumentaries.
I was convinced that thatwasn't.
Anthony (45:27):
I don't know, you can't get that cow on your plate Yeah
.
Matilda (45:30):
But I had the regen thing.
was this whole new thing for us?
Mum had been talking aboutregen quite a lot and I'd sort
of been like la, la, la, la,just not.
Anthony (45:41):
Really.
Matilda (45:41):
Yeah, Like I just it didn't.
It was her thing, She wastalking, she talked to me about
it, but we weren't reallylistening until, I think, one
Christmas we spent quite a longtime up here And that's when,
like it really kind of oh okay,it started to make sense and
coincided with, you know, thefires.
We couldn't have our wedding uphere because the fires swept
(46:03):
all the way around the propertyAnd you know, and the news was
constantly talking about climatechange and That made you more
receptive to this thing that hadbeen buzzing around there, yeah
.
So the the regenerative farminghad started to slight.
Oh, it'd be great to be able toget that meat on our plate, and
(46:28):
we had tried the butcher shop.
Do you guys use sauce?
Do you know where the cows comefrom?
Is it a regenerative farm?
No, it's not Okay.
Supermarket as if?
Yeah, and so yeah, anyway, weknew that.
Yeah, so, as you were saying so, i just wanted to give context
to mum talking of this.
The regen thing that had beenwasn't just about the way that
(46:49):
they were raised.
It was really about how youtreat your soil and you know the
things that mum was doing onthe farm that we were like God,
it would be great to be able toeat our cattle.
Scott (46:59):
No, it's a.
It's a.
You know there's an obviouslineage there.
You know like if we can tapinto that, the the family has
raised and been the custodian of.
There's a just the I don't knowit's.
it's not something you can.
It's a, it's a feeling, morethan it is a Something you can
(47:22):
place your hands on you knowit's a feeling.
Yeah, so you embarked on.
So we embarked on whatinitially was a cow share scheme
.
So Till and I put an emailaround to friends, family net
you know, our network, probablyonly like 30, but maybe 50
people who wants to go in on acow.
Like so, if you pull a cow offoff one of our paddocks, like
(47:46):
who, who wants to go in on that?
And there was like a fairlydecent response.
So we were like, okay, well,let's do it.
So we, we worked out.
Logistics were hard, like whatare all the links in the chain
to get a cow off this propertyinto our hands at the other end.
And so you have to like, youcan't avoid plugging into an
(48:10):
existing, somewhatindustrialized system.
And we are one cow, we are atiny embryonic business wanting
to pull one, push one cow intothis system.
Well, you're talking to liketransport chains that have large
trucks.
They're not interested in one.
(48:31):
Anyway, it was.
We finally got there.
Obviously we had to, and so weit became this monthly cow share
, which was a great place tostart And it sort of set the
wheels in motion.
But we realized pretty early onthat there was limitations to
that once a month model.
So we broke it down to be youknow, you can order whenever and
(48:55):
get it, you know, within two orthree business days.
And then we started to addwouldn't it be cool if you get
eggs with that order of beef?
Wouldn't it be cool if you cannow get chicken?
So we started to plug intoother farms who had the same
values and ethics and philosophythat we did And we do.
Up here on this farm we metsome extraordinary farmers with
(49:18):
amazing stories.
This is the beautiful thing whenyou tap, it just expands in
front of you And young people,young people, like we were using
this guy for some beef at timesAnd you know I at this point
I'd only spoken to him on thephone And then we used to talk
(49:39):
about.
you know, when you've spoken tosomeone on the phone you have
this sort of picture of you know.
you kind of fill in the gaps ofwhat they look like And what.
anyway, i asked him one day, ormaybe you did it.
Matilda (49:50):
I asked him how old he was.
He was like 19.
Anthony (49:52):
Oh, dear, yeah You know he didn't.
Scott (49:54):
he did sort of like accommodate some land from his
father's property And he wasmanaging in a holistic way, in
the way that he wanted to.
Matilda (50:04):
So, mate, you're 19 years old, the beef tastes so
good.
He's such a legend.
Scott (50:09):
Yeah, so young, so awkward And a few words as well,
you know we met some like somefarmers Totally.
Anthony (50:16):
I'd love this.
Tell me more That's.
I mean, it's some of what Quint, essentially, we love about
people who live on the land,home produce that they're humble
salt of the earth, notself-aggrandising Great traits,
and when they cross over intothis space, it makes a real
powerful combination.
Yeah, yeah.
So you ended up with what?
(50:36):
seven farms that?
Matilda (50:37):
were small.
Yeah, about that, sevendifferent proteins, you know.
Anthony (50:41):
Basically a farm for each species, and this was
operating as a full shop online.
Yeah, so online You woulddeliver to?
Scott (50:48):
Yeah, just all the things that you would expect to find
in a high street butcher shop.
Yeah, yeah, you know the lamb,the quail, the chicken, the eggs
, the beef, the dot, dot, dotdot.
And then we started to add someunique products, which were
like the condiments that mightgo with the lamb and the beef,
(51:10):
some marinades, all that.
Matilda (51:12):
One chapter of Scott's life that we didn't add into the
people is his time on mykitchen rules, so Scott can cook
for those who are listeningreally well.
I mean, like there's a lot ofpeople who eat Scott's food, who
go friends of ours, who arelike I just God, i don't know
how he does it.
How does he make everythingtaste so good?
I've tried doing this what hesays, and it just doesn't.
(51:32):
Doesn't taste like the wayScott cooks it.
Anthony (51:35):
And this was, I imagine , a fair chunk of where you know
.
You got into the space, so tospeak.
You got your train rolling, Andthis is part of what, to the
love of me, you were describingand your expansive knowledge in
gastronomy.
I guess this is what reallytook hold of you as those years
evolved.
Scott (51:56):
Yeah, I mean how I got you know nothing, you know, as
I'm sort of verbalizing this thestory, i guess.
But sort of a lot of thesethings were born out of either
adversity or circumstance.
So how?
I got truly, truly passionateabout cooking.
(52:18):
So I've always cooked.
My mum and dad ran pubs andthey were busy pubs.
So there was two opportunitiesto make my own food in the
course of a normal day.
One was when I got home fromschool.
My mum and dad might sound oddnow, but they would be asleep
because it wasn't.
(52:38):
This was predating 24 hourliquor licenses, or you know,
you had to.
You had to, by law, close atthree and then reopen the doors
at six.
So there was this three hourperiod where my mum and dad
would recharge their batteriesand I would get in from.
You know, the last thing I'dwant to do was awake Certainly
(53:00):
my dad, but you know I'd respecttheir rest and so I'd make
something downstairs and I had.
You know it was a commercialkitchen, obviously, and you know
so double door fridges full offresh produce which was not
emulated in my pee, you know,like I realized that I didn't
(53:22):
realize at the time, but Irealized subsequently that it
was a privileged position to bein, you know, have access to
steaks and gallons and freshproduce and prawns and all this
stuff that you know allowed meto kind of experiment.
And then over the evening I hadtwo choices whether I could
(53:42):
write my order in the book thisis before iPads and all that
stuff.
I could write it in the pad,along with, you know, a dining
room full of other orders andthe chef where I grew up, the
pub that we spent most of mytime growing up.
(54:03):
He was a bit of a.
If it wasn't my mum, it wasthis chef and he was this
Scottish.
He was an ex-military chef, hewas a bit of a, so he would see
my order and he'd be like, well,i'm not, you know, that can
slip right down to the, so I'dinvariably jump in and make you
know, be under their feet, but Iwould make it myself.
(54:26):
So I've always cooked, i'vealways taken pleasure in cooking
, but the thing that really sortof dug it in for me was trying
to heal my heal, an injury thatI had that had lingered for
longer than it should have, andI'd tried all these mechanical
(54:46):
interventions, massage andphysio and Cairo.
It was a back injury And Istarted to dabble with playing
with nutrition to see if thatwould move the needle, and so
the philosophy that I was livingby was like this sort of paleo
diet, right, low, inflammatoryfoods.
(55:07):
So I became very militant aboutwhat was in and what was out,
and the only way I knew what wasin my food was to make it
myself.
I didn't really want to be theguy that goes to the cafe or the
restaurant and says do you?
mind asking the chef who is that?
that's like boring, andinvitations to people's homes
(55:29):
like pretty quickly dried up.
And so because I was that guyyou know that the pain in the
arse to cook for So I was like,right, okay, i know what's
potentially going to fix my back, so I'm going to make it myself
.
And so that that sort ofstarted to dig in.
I started to experiment withthose types of foods And then I
(55:50):
got onto a cooking show And wedid reasonably well, which meant
we stayed on for six months Andthat's all we did was research
recipes, practice, practice,practice, showtime.
You know like it was.
It was an immersive experiencethat meant after six months like
(56:10):
if I played guitar all day,every day for six months, you'd
get reasonably good at it andyou'd get quite passionate about
playing.
Matilda (56:18):
So what happened then?
Scott (56:20):
What do you mean Playing guitar?
I don't play guitar, though.
Matilda (56:26):
So what happened?
Scott (56:27):
with the cooking.
Matilda (56:28):
Then My joke kind of fell flat.
Scott (56:35):
You'd already said I wasn't all right.
Matilda (56:38):
You can cut that bit out.
Anthony (56:42):
I'll leave it in.
Scott (56:43):
Yes, there we go.
So anyway that I guess learningto cook often an experiment
because it was helping me in myphysical condition.
That was step one and then steptwo was the cooking show and
then from then I've, cooking hasbeen such an integral part of
not my personal as well as mypersonal life, my home life, but
(57:07):
a lot of my work.
You know I've written cookbooksand health books that you know
have a big focus around not justnutrition but like cooking,
like you can't have nutritionwithout cooking, you know.
Like being the custodian ofyour own health, like taking
control, like has to start inyour own kitchen.
Anthony (57:26):
So what are you, what's your feeling then, having
tapped regenerative sources?
what difference did that make?
Scott (57:36):
Well, so I wrote my first book in 2013 and I was talking
about that then.
Not not regen, yes, because itwasn't a thing, but I was
talking about food sovereignty,which is a fancy way of saying
you know, kind of coming toterms with or understanding
where your food is coming from.
Yes, and in every book I talkabout that.
(57:58):
And my last book, which nobodyread because it was a flop it's
called the sustainable diet andit's about looking at the food
systems that are currentlyavailable to us.
Matilda (58:10):
No, but if it had come out now, it would be yeah, it
might be a different story, butit came out at a time really,
when, anyway, we don't need togo into it.
I've let it go.
Anthony (58:21):
What time was it?
When did it come out?
Scott (58:23):
2000.
Matilda (58:25):
I think it was the fire , I think everything was
happening with like the firesand then we entered into COVID
it was very much like no, ithink like people were so
overwhelmed with everything thatwas going on.
I think the last thing theyreally wanted to do was like
I've got to go on a diet andI've got to care about how,
where I get my.
You know what I mean it wasn't.
I think that it came out at thewrong time, yeah thanks.
Scott (58:48):
It's great book.
So where we are now, it'sinteresting like it's such a
departure for Teal, althoughfood has always been such a big
thing in my life whether it'slike dealing with an eating
disorder, you know, because lackof information around nutrition
(59:08):
.
Matilda (59:09):
Or, you know, and struggling with my weight from
lack of information aroundnutrition, like when I was
younger to loving food.
Anthony (59:20):
It's lovely when this reconciling of all your loves
essentially Yeah yeah, so yeah,i guess.
Scott (59:31):
For me it's like it's the , it's the amalgam of all the
things that I've been working onfor the last nearly 20 years.
So this sort of marriage ofnutrition, provenance, food,
it's all kind of come togetherin the good farm shop.
But what I will say it's soit's it's more of a departure
(59:52):
from Teal because, as we've justsaid, like she's come from a,
an industry that's acting,directing, writing, and she's
very gifted in that space.
But what is incredible is thatshe's so.
She's clearly a talented butincredibly creative, and so you
(01:00:12):
go okay, well, we now run thisessentially a ethical ready
meals business.
Like how, where's the creativepart in that other than making
the food and coming up with therecipe, ideation stuff?
but she's taking all thiscreativity and she's just like
repackaged it into ideation andproblem-solving, like she's
(01:00:33):
incredibly proficient atproblem-solving and coming up
with ideas, like she's afountain of.
You know, she's Mount Vesuviusof ideas.
I'm just annoyed at that time,as soon as my eyes crack in the
morning, she's like she's downnear to the bed, like I've got
(01:00:53):
some ideas for you.
Anthony (01:00:55):
I wish we did have film rolling for that moment.
Matilda (01:00:58):
But what, what the thanks?
that's really nice, funnythanks.
But just to add in so it wasyou know, beef.
It wasn't online butchery right.
We then started.
You know, when you buy wholeanimals from farms, it's really
hard to get rid of that wholeanimal, but firstly, it's really
(01:01:18):
expensive to buy a whole animal.
What I think most people don'tknow is that butchers most
butchers do not buy wholeanimals.
They buy crates of cuts thathave come from an abattoir right
.
So a lot of the animal getswasted, or it gets turned into
dog meat or dog food, or it getsyou know, i don't know yeah,
what happens to it?
Anthony (01:01:37):
There are these examples we've talked about, and
we know about a feather andbone in Sydney.
Matilda (01:01:40):
Yeah, exactly.
Anthony (01:01:41):
But you were saying, because they're in Sydney, at
least gives them a shot eventhis.
It's not straightforward andeasy, but it gives them a shot
at making it work.
Yeah.
Scott (01:01:50):
They've been around for a long time.
They have a great reputation, ithink, for us being such a small
business.
It yes, it is expensive to buya whole animal, but it's just.
I guess the better way to putit is that it just ties up a lot
of capital And then you have tohave it butchered, which is
again tying up a lot of capital.
(01:02:11):
Then you have to freight it alland so you know, when we don't
have a huge, you know big deeppockets to kind of buffer all
that, it takes a lot of moneyout of the business and stops us
moving forward in other areas.
Matilda (01:02:24):
But the other thing about it is that you're you know
most people will buy.
They want the eye fillet.
Eye fillets are gone in asecond you know, there's like
six eye fillets to a cow andthen you've got a bunch of
Scotch fillets.
You've got a bunch of, you know, porterhouse and T-bones and
stuff, but you've got so muchtruck, so much truck on it and
so much mints, and that's not.
Those aren't the ones, that'sso you're left with so much of
(01:02:44):
the cow and then and then peopleare you're sold out on those
cuts that everyone wants.
So then you've got to go.
God, we've got to go.
What are we gonna do?
all the stuff, which was theactually the great fortune that
we, that we started the businesslike that and what we are now
is only is a ready meals company, but we had to get there
through.
Okay, what are we gonna do withall this extra meat?
(01:03:05):
okay, we're gonna make Scott,you're gonna cook meals with one
of you, gotta start makingragout with the with the meats.
You've got to start making yourslow cook musselmum curry with
the Chuck.
You've got a every other dishthat you've made get cracking.
And so we did and we bottledthem.
(01:03:25):
We had put them in one literjars, which was kind of a new
thing because we didn't want todo a whole lot of plastic, and
we started doing the markets andwe started selling ready meals
the markets and we had reallygood feedback.
People loved them.
We were selling them for waytoo cheap and we made no money.
We've now got someone helpingus with the money stuff very
good.
Scott (01:03:46):
Yeah, neither of us are very good at that department,
but it's got.
Matilda (01:03:50):
It's good at cooking, i'm good at ideas, but we're the
financial part, but the ideathat we should be it's good,
everything is part of theproblem, isn't it?
yeah?
Anthony (01:03:59):
and by the way, how ironic when I hear you talk
about the humans gravitating tothe prime cuts.
It's like.
It's like the old model, theindustrial model farming, where
the cows, of course, go to thefavored grasses and and wipe
them out.
Matilda (01:04:16):
So how ironic that with the good stuff, yeah, we would
do the same thing as the modelwe're trying to get away from
anyway, but you have to turn theother stuff into the good stuff
yes, well, there you go, whichis, which is what a lot of you
know, that not a lot, becausethere aren't a lot but places
that do buy butcheries, that dobuy whole animals.
They do turn them, they areinventive and they do turn them
(01:04:36):
into meals and as cultures did,and they would, and but they
wouldn't suffer it.
They find ways to yeah, toprepare it as well, hey, yeah.
So basically then we worked out, we went away for Christmas,
kind of going what are we gonnado?
(01:04:57):
because we hadn't made a centat this point.
We've been going for a year anda half.
Revenue was going up you know,it started you know, it started
at the top, a passion, which itstill was, and I guess the
beginning of that.
Anthony (01:05:11):
We need to make money out there you get to a point in
a business when you've beendoing it for a year and a half
and go, okay, i'm gonna keepdoing this.
Matilda (01:05:18):
Our savings is gonna go we're gonna need to make money
from it.
Anthony (01:05:23):
I relate to this too, and you've got, and then you've
got kids are like, yeah,school's gonna come.
Matilda (01:05:27):
Yeah, okay, a bit of board planning after all, yeah,
and you're saying, they'resaying play with me, and you're
going no, no, i've got to do thebusiness stuff yeah, money so
we basically came back and wewere like we have to pivot the
business, we have to.
We ready meals, we can sellready meals, we can get into
shops.
We couldn't get our meat intoshops because you could only put
(01:05:49):
a 5% margin on them and youmake we were making no money
anyway, so we were never goingto be able to to do that so it's
the value edge you could bringthe value you can bring and we,
so we went away for Christmas.
Scott (01:06:03):
We went to the UK, so it wasn't like a tropical, exciting
holiday, unfortunately, butthey are so far ahead of us in
terms of green labelling, foodprobably, but yeah, like it was
pretty impressive in the, in thesupermarkets, that we're yeah
(01:06:24):
like really cool stuff, like nowthere's like high street region
burger chains, goodness, really, yeah, very ahead of us, for
sure, and you, you know, youwalk into so we got.
Matilda (01:06:37):
Inspired I guess, kind of similar to like a Harris farm
not main supermarket, but asupermarket similar to Harris
one.
But it is a main supermarket,you know, and there's like
there's there's stuff about thefarmers, there's information
about where they get their meatfrom and why they care about
that and how long they've hadthese relationships for, and you
(01:06:58):
really get the sense in thisthat this chain of supermarkets
is about that yeah anyway.
So these supermarkets and youyeah it was inspiring and there
were, yeah, ready meals there.
That were beautiful ready mealsand they were they were in a
great yeah, this great bambookind of.
They weren't packaged inplastic in this line of plastic
(01:07:18):
ready meals.
It wasn't sure they were, butthey were also these other ones
that were just beautiful bamboopackaging and I just really cool
and we tried some when theywere delicious.
They weren't, like you know,organic produce, but but it was.
It was high quality, yes, and Igot really excited yeah and I
was like I I had thought for thefor a while, like that I wanted
(01:07:43):
to ditch the buying wholeanimals thing and like turn the
business to ready meals.
But I felt like Scott wasn'tthere yet and and I I think I
might have like mentioned it orsomething, but then we got back
and I was kind of working outhow I was maybe gonna make it
kind of sound like it was hisidea you need to do that anyway,
(01:08:06):
he was like one day, it waslike when we got back.
I reckon we should not do thebeat the meat anymore.
Anthony (01:08:14):
You're right, you both arrived at it yeah, and I was
like great idea yeah, and wejust came back with this whole
new excitement.
Matilda (01:08:21):
You know and, and you know, let's be, we're always
good.
It was never gonna be okay.
If we can't do by whole animals, let's just buy crates of cuts,
and who gives a fuck where itcomes from?
it was never gonna be.
That was either quit, stop itand let someone else you like
feather and bone just continuedoing their thing, or it was
going to be.
How can we make this work inanother way?
keeping the philosophy?
(01:08:43):
yes and the values that westarted with yes which is what
it is now.
So not an online booktree, butbeautiful ready meals that use,
you know, 99% organicingredients, um, and you know
only the meat is from regionsources.
Scott (01:09:00):
Yeah, and we know that the company that we we work with
.
They have the ability and thelicense and the permission to
kill on on site, okay, on farmyeah, which is pretty unique.
Matilda (01:09:13):
Oh, that is and so that takes the whole that like yes,
so important yeah so itdiminishes the amount of stress
that that animal encounters.
Scott (01:09:22):
So it's big.
You know that the business hassort of had various iterations,
which i guess is is proves to usthat we're married to the, the
values and the principles of itand the pillars of it, not not
necessarily like what thebusiness is.
Yeah, you know we've gone froma cow share to an online butcher
(01:09:43):
to now we're a ready meal and ijust wanted now's a good time
to bring you know i think weshould ditch the ready meals and
Monday morning start somethingfresh.
Anthony (01:09:55):
It does go to show what i think is a message for all of
us to be nimble, yeah, to beopen to being nimble with this,
with whatever we're doing, whichis the creative side right.
So yeah, so to and to tap thosepeople we don't all have to be
that either, yeah, yeah.
So, speaking of which you saidfilm passion and i know you
(01:10:16):
played a part with this rightwith behind camera and stuff too
in the, in the evolution of howthis documentary came to be are
you too feeling like that oldspace you inhabited with this
new space are coming together insome form?
Matilda (01:10:31):
i don't know what that would look like, necessarily
like yeah, i haven't that, thatidea hasn't gone off in my head
yet how to marry the two.
But i i think i think the otherthing that that hinders
creativity is when you're givingso much.
I mean, we have two small kids.
(01:10:51):
I basically have been giving somuch of myself to keeping two
kids alive.
Um, so i really think that abig part of me turning away from
the film industry or losing mypassion for that, was that i
just didn't have enough of thatresilience anymore because i was
just it was all going into,going into the kids.
Oh, it's like a little arm, isit?
Scott (01:11:12):
it's a car alarm it.
Matilda (01:11:15):
Actually i don't know if that guy's gonna shut up,
because that that happens.
What?
Anthony (01:11:21):
is it that's gonna be annoying?
what is it?
Matilda (01:11:22):
should we just get the rifle out and shoot it?
Scott (01:11:25):
yeah, i'll stake the fire .
I'll stake the barbie, can youeat?
Anthony (01:11:27):
it.
No, it's acceptable yeah, yeahhe probably predates bird life
our existence here um predatespodcast.
Matilda (01:11:37):
Anyway, i feel like i'm now at a point where i can
breathe okay um, and so iprobably have more space for
things like yeah, you know filmindustry stuff, acting stuff
making, creating yes um that'llbe interesting yeah, to see what
comes what does come yep andthe back?
Scott (01:11:58):
how is it in the?
water my back.
Anthony (01:12:01):
Yeah, yeah, great really, yeah, that journey has
resolved, oh yeah how that is sointeresting.
Scott (01:12:07):
Yeah, yeah, it took about .
It took about a year to kind ofget to the point where it
wasn't an every day, you know,it wasn't a presence in my life,
and then there was about threeor four years where i'd have
like an episode where it flareup, and now i haven't had one of
(01:12:29):
those pages for years, but itwas chronic pain for like eight
years of your life seven, sevenyears of like
chronic situation yeah, it was,yeah, pretty debilitating, uh,
not just physically, like ittook a toll on yes you know,
it's hard to be present, it'shard to really kind of embrace
(01:12:49):
the world and embrace life.
I was pretty cranky, i wasdepressed a lot of the time and
i lost all my identity because iwas like the, the fit guy that
used to run around everywhereand use his body and now i, at
that point i couldn't use mybody.
So i had to, like, remodel whowho i was.
It wasn't, it wasn't a fun timei relate to.
Anthony (01:13:13):
I mean i had, having been the trainer as well, i
hadn't had a big motor accidentand spinal fractures and stuff
and that sort of reshaping ofidentity.
But yeah, i think about thepower of your story, that
nutrition was such the drivingfactor in the renewal and i'm
wondering then how muchemotional work or spiritual work
(01:13:34):
even was part of it.
Like did you was there thatwing, if you like, that you
worked on too.
Scott (01:13:40):
I i'd like to say yes, but in all honesty, um, i guess
i mean i'm about halfway throughthat back episode.
You know, i was a client, i wasa personal trainer.
The client was saying to meyou're back injury.
Anthony (01:14:01):
You know, it's all emotional, right you know, i
heard plenty of it, yeah, and iwas going through a breakup at
the time, so me too.
Scott (01:14:07):
There you go, so it was my, it was a marriage.
You know degradation of amarriage and she's like it's,
it's all wrapped up in that andi was like, i guess, because i
have a, a science you know i'vedone exercise science i can see
the scans on my MRI.
It seemed just so uh empiricalto me that, you know, a equals a
(01:14:31):
plus b equals c, you know, likeit's.
I knew when i did the injury, iknew how it felt.
There's the scans, that's theand that's the prognosis, and
it's hard to then accept.
Well, it's, it's yourcircumstance, it's your
experience, it's your trauma,it's your grief, all that stuff.
And so, if i'm honest, i was abit of a no, no to that.
(01:14:56):
And then, because the nutritionsent me a very loud, clear
signal that if you give yourbody the right input, it opens
up the capacity in the bandwidthto heal and repair.
So again, in that i am the casestudy, this isn't, admittedly,
(01:15:19):
you know, the caveat here isthat this isn't a clinical
control, you know, blind placebotrial, like it's.
I i am any once yeah and so itjust reinforced my science logic
that you know a plus b equals.
You know it's i'm giving, i'meating these foods.
(01:15:40):
I'm eliminating that there's.
No, there's no sort of credencegiven to spiritual or energies
or grief.
Um, but i have it's.
You know, when things arestressy for me in the past, i
feel it in my back so there'sthat need to exactly i can't
ignore that either.
But it's not.
(01:16:01):
I'm not gonna i'm not gonna sithere and say i went on some
deep spiritual mind openingjourney that helped my back,
because that, yeah, that wouldbe a lie.
Oh wonderful guys, it would bea better story.
Anthony (01:16:17):
It would be a better story no, i think that i mean i
certainly i can map myexperience onto that, and it's
it's just interesting tocontemplate do you get better
when i came into your life?
i ever think i've never been iknow, i love way to end.
That's beautiful, but if you'velistened through to an end of
an episode you'll know we closeactually on music.
(01:16:39):
But i want to open the gambit upto film potentially too, if
there's been music or film inthis case that has been
significant in your life beingyou mentioned a couple before
till.
Maybe it's music you that wefocus on here for you, but you
choose that's been eithersignificant in your life,
representative of atransformative time, or or just
something you're reveling inright now can you go first?
Scott (01:17:01):
all right this is really uh, this is going to sound very
English, but there's two bandsthat i listened to, probably ad
nauseam, for till one.
Well, i'm sure everyone's heardof both of them, but it's
Radiohead and Rolling Stones.
For the Rolling Stones, far out, i'm just what can you say?
(01:17:21):
some of those riffs andcharlie's leads for 50 years,
for 60 years, yeah, i wasplaying it on the on the drive
up yesterday and to the pointwith tashi, my elders was like,
can we, can we listen tosomething else?
it's been like five hours now,but on each one i'm like listen
to this tash listen to that,read totally.
(01:17:42):
I'm saying with one of my, yeah,you know, and so there's that
it's a very masculine energy andit's there's something.
I was thinking about this onthe drive up because i listen to
it, and why do i listen to it?
and i know what's coming.
I know each verse and melody,but what is it?
and there's something that itjust and it's the same for all
(01:18:02):
people, but the you know, theinput is different, but for me
it's the Rolling Stones andthere's something that speaks to
my whatever.
It is my dna and it gets, getsinside me, and Radiohead do
something similar.
His lyrics are somewhat poetic.
Anthony (01:18:22):
They are poems, really when you look at them,
transcribe their poems, but justlayered with amazing sound a
friend actually sent me hiscurrent outfit, which i can't
remember the name, off the topof the head who's current outfit
?
Scott (01:18:36):
tom york's the smile.
That's what it is, isn't it?
Anthony (01:18:39):
yeah, amazing, amazing yeah yeah, wonderful mate,
wonderful till yeah, i've gotone.
Scott (01:18:45):
i know it's gonna be .
Til (01:18:48):
What, go on?
Scott (01:18:50):
Are you gonna go music?
Matilda (01:18:52):
it's a bit of a combo.
Oh hi, your mum did just whyit's so good.
Go on.
What do you think?
Scott (01:18:57):
i thought you're gonna because you've been playing that
this is not taylor swift, butit's no, it's not taylor swift,
what is it?
Matilda (01:19:02):
it's somebody, really Billie Eilish.
Billie Eilish, i watched theBillie Eilish documentary lover.
I have to say i hadn't got intoher music.
I'd sort of only heard that badboy.
So i was like no, not, not, not.
I don't know why brun's talkingabout, but i watched the
documentary.
She's a, she's just a beautifulhuman.
I just really liked her and ifell in love with her music.
Anthony (01:19:23):
Can't stop listening to it.
Is there a particular trackthat switched you on to it?
Scott (01:19:26):
it's actually not bad really.
AJ (01:19:27):
Yeah i've not listened at all, I don't think.
Maybe i know some
Matilda (01:19:31):
It's a really good documentary yeah, like it's, i
do a lot of good music it's fromthe when she first releases a
song that goes kind of viral andthen it's it's sort of i guess
it's over a chunk of years towhere she basically wins all of
the grammy's.
Is that the big music awards?
yeah, when she wins like allthe grammy's, it's her
relationship with her brother sobeautiful.
They just make music togetherin their room and he's just her
(01:19:53):
biggest fan and yeah, just ilove, i really like her music.
AJ (01:19:57):
wonderful you guys.
Anthony (01:19:59):
It's been really special.
I mean, we've just lingeredinto the evening and, yeah, i
felt like that's what this wasgoing to be in the end and it
was bloody beautiful thanks forspending the time with me.
Scott (01:20:08):
oh pleasure thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Matilda (01:20:10):
I've just worked out what that bird is as well it's
like it was the oscar's songthat comes on at the end when it
wants you to wrap it up oh,that's right yeah.
Scott (01:20:20):
it's giving up now, but it was it was like it's falling
asleep falling asleep on thebranch, they're still going.
AJ (01:20:28):
that's a wrap.
Anthony (01:20:33):
That was Matilda Brown and Scott Gooding at the family
farm in the Nambucca Valley onGambaynggirr Country on the
mid-north coast of New SouthWales.
For more on Til and Scott, theGood Farm Shop, the film
Rachel's Farm, its tour and howto book your tickets, see the
links in the show notes.
I've put a few photos on theepisode web page too.
(01:20:54):
If you're interested in thenext big regenerative
(01:21:23):
agriculture event in Australia,join me in Margaret River, WA,
in September.
I'm privileged to be emcee andhope to see some of you there.
Finally, once again, hugethanks, Blair Beattie from
Farmers Footprint Australia fortaking that driver's seat on our
journey to the Nambucca Valley.
For the series of three episodesthat concludes with this one.
(01:21:45):
F or subscribers, i'll continueto send you behind the scenes
stuff and other news of what'sunfolding as i get around the
country.
A nd if you've been thinkingabout becoming a subscriber, I'd
love you to join us.
It's with thanks, as always, tothis community of generous
supporters that this episode wasmade possible.
Just head to the website viathe show notes regennarration.
(01:22:07):
com/ support and thanks again,and, as always, if you think of
someone who might enjoy thisepisode, please share it with
them.
Please also continue to rateand review the podcast on your
favoured app.
It all helps.
The music you're hearing isregeneration by Amelia Barden
(01:22:28):
off the soundtrack to the filmRegenerating Australia.
My name's Anthony James.
Thanks for listening.
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