On The Ultimate Farm Wife this week, Katja interviews Emma Spartalis of Clarencetown in Dungog Shire about leaving urban life and a high-level corporate digital career to help rural women reduce administrative burden and mental load with artificial intelligence. Emma shares her childhood in Dungog, leaving school in Year 10, moving through admin, sales, marketing, and into data-focused corporate roles, later completing a marketing degree and an MBA.

She describes leading digital and analytics at WesTrac, managing major revenue platforms and automating $83 million in annual sales processing, while balancing four IVF cycles and building a family. After her second child, she started Spartalis Consulting, connected with local rural businesswomen, built 12 AI agents (including wellbeing-focused tools), and highlights her AgriFutures Rural Women Awards involvement. She explains how to find her online, a free AI business audit, creating an “AI brain,” and advises following your heart and using Wi‑Fi-enabled digital work to live rurally.

Learn more about Emma's work here: https://spartalisconsulting.com.au/

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00:39 Emma Background and Roots

01:48 School to Corporate Path

05:03 Data Career Breakthrough

08:18 Peak Corporate and Purpose Shift

10:49 IVF and Leaving Corporate

13:04 Starting Rural Women Network

18:54 Building AI Agents for Mental Load

21:06 How to Find Emma and Get Started

25:35 Advice for City to Country Moves

In this solo Episode 113 of the Ultimate Farm Wife podcast, Katja shares a mid-July update from the Central West NSW (Dubbo/Nyngan), noting winter’s arrival after a dry start, improved paddock feed and the end of drought feeding, while acknowledging ongoing hardship for others and encouraging support-seeking.

She outlines upcoming topics: The Ultimate Farm Wife’s future, a newsletter platform change, and the Facebook community page. She updates Agsolutely Fabulous and announces a South Australia live long-lunch recording releasing as three episodes. Harvest Her Power moves to Adelaide on 5–6 March 2027, with EOIs for sponsors, speakers, workshops, and a potential bus; the AGM is the third Wednesday in August.

Farm events include a Cattle Australia/Poldale Shorthorns open day on 13 August and the Poldale on-property bull sale on 26 August 2026, plus Kalgoorlie Gold Magazine collaborations. She updates two book projects: a nonfiction “moving to the farm” beta-read manuscript aiming for Christmas publication with preorders, and an Australian romance with an editor, plus planned launch events and a possible book tour.

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In this solo Episode 112 of the Ultimate Farm Wife podcast, Katja shares a mid-year life, business, and farm update, noting interviews are on pause while she rewrites her first book after losing the original manuscript to file corruption; the book focuses on moving to the farm, identity shifts, isolation, communication, and unspoken skills, and is planned as the first in a five-book series through succession and beyond, with hopes for release by Christmas or the new year.

She reflects on show season judging (jams/preserves), celebrates recent rainfall in Central West NSW while encouraging mental-health check-ins, and recommends Open the Gates, Check Your Mates. She updates listeners on her second podcast Absolutely Fabulous, including recent topics and Landcare collaborations, and announces Harvest Her Power 2027 will be in Adelaide (first weekend of March) with childcare provided. On-farm, their on-property bull sale has moved to 26 August 2026, and she teases an upcoming Shorthorn-focused podcast with her husband.

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00:00 Welcome and Updates

01:45 Show Season Recap

02:59 Rain and Checking In

06:18 Book and Podcast Pause

10:55 AI and Notion Workflow

12:30 Absolutely Fabulous Podcast

19:40 Harvest Her Power 2027

25:01 Farm and Bull Sale News

26:54 Wrap Up and Next Steps

In this episode of The Ultimate Farm Life, Kristen shares how she moved from the United States (Virginia) to Australia after studying marine biology at James Cook University, meeting her future husband Ben as her Great Barrier Reef dive instructor, and later working in software sales at companies including Tableau and Microsoft. After years of saving to sail and completing an 8,700-nautical-mile trip, Kristen and Ben sought more purpose and, with Ben’s family, bought a farm in 2020 in the Hunter Valley, building a regenerative paddock-to-plate beef business while needing reliable internet for remote work, including an innovative pre-Starlink setup that led to an ABC segment and Ben starting an internet business. They shifted from selling stock to market to retail cuts, farmers markets, and subscription boxes supported by custom software for forecasting and whole-animal utilization. Kristen discusses planning, budgeting, embracing failure, communication in family ventures, and storytelling in direct-to-consumer sales, and notes being a 2026 Women Changing the World Awards finalist, placing third globally in Food & Beverage.

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Welcome back to the Ultimate Farm Wife, this week, Katja interviews Jess Spring, a mum of three boys living with partner Tim on a mixed farm near Young, NSW, running sheep, cattle, cropping, and a 30-hectare cherry orchard. Jess shares how she met Tim three years ago, her farming background through a hobby farm and rural work, and how moving with her boys to Tim’s 20-acre block happened alongside their pregnancy with Jack and the sudden death of Tim’s dad, Neil. After briefly nursing, Jess shifted to network marketing, is building an online business, writing children’s books, and is three years alcohol-free, aiming to raise sobriety awareness in the bush. On-farm, she now manages wages, invoicing, and cherry-season shed logistics, emphasizing clear roles, asking questions, and strong communication. She describes modern high-tech cherry production, a recent bumper season, the need to get off-farm as a family, integrating a blended family, and the importance of succession planning after experiencing probate complexities and frozen accounts.

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00:43 Love Story Begins

01:29 First Farm Impressions

03:02 Deja Vu Driveway

04:19 Moving In Together

07:00 Nursing to New Path

10:42 Farm Role After Loss

12:30 Working With In Laws

14:43 Cherries Then and Now

17:12 Learning Without Overwhelm

18:40 Last Season and Diversifying

20:49 Family Time Off Farm

26:25 Blended Family Integration

Dakota recounts buying their established hay property during COVID after a tender process for another farm, crediting the previous owners for mentorship and client transitions. She describes shifting farm routines after kids, including hiring a nanny for stability, managing judgment about childcare, and structuring pay and housing. She offers advice on keeping personal passions, adding value in family businesses, and using practical tools like UHF baby-monitor radios and baby carriers for farm life.

Baby Radio: https://www.digitalk.com.au/product-page/digitalk-pmr-sp8081-twin-pack-with-charging-craddle

Play Pen: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/376452281940?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-154756-20017-0&ssspo=zrpvwwbhshq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=&stype=1&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

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00:00 Meet Dakota Baretta

01:17 Rodeo Love Story

01:52 Rodeo Roots Family

02:41 Miss Rodeo Journey

04:26 Fundraising And Giving Back

05:41 From Cane To Hay

08:45 Finding The Dream Farm

11:32 Farm Life With Babies

15:26 Hiring A Nanny

20:40 Asking For Help

22:43 Advice And Farm Toolkit

Robin Verralll joins Katja on The Ultimate Farm Wife to share her path from a corporate medical sales career to marrying a farmer and moving onto a beef and lamb property, including an early farm “tour” that ended bogged in winter. She explains juggling multiple roles—publisher, author, farmer, and Regional Development Australia Limestone Coast chair—by creating income and connection through her business Bullies Meats, delivering to Adelaide and donating meat to families in need.

After being named 2022 South Australian Rural Woman of the Year, she expanded her advocacy by bringing more women into skills and policy conversations. Robin recounts producing a charity cookbook for Keith Hospital, meeting publishing connections after an award in London, and helping publish rural women’s stories, including the Hear Us Roar series and her upcoming fiction Chasing the Dawn, with a future nonfiction book on succession disputes. She advises women moving onto family farms to actively build community, avoid romanticizing succession, use independent advisors, have minute meetings, get agreements in writing, and stay true to themselves.

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01:10 Love Story to Farm Life

01:52 First Farm Tour Chaos

03:57 Juggling Hats and Income

06:21 Advocacy to Publishing

09:10 New Books and Big Dreams

11:44 Moving to the Farm Advice

14:26 Community and Neighbors

17:59 Biggest Tip for Newcomers

In the first episode of Season 11 of the Ultimate Farm Wife, Katja is joined by Renee Wyn, who was raised on a 47,000-acre breeder property near Mount Garnet, recounts leaving town for distance education, dropping out after her father and uncle had serious accidents during drought, and working various rural jobs before meeting her husband while governing. Now 33, she helps manage a family fattening block amid a major inheritance rift after her grandfather died without a will; she also works full-time in town as a branch manager at Bushman Tanks. The property fattens mainly Brahman and Brahman-cross cattle for JBS Townsville, while Renee has built a 25-head Speckle Park herd and is crossbreeding with Brahmans to create “Brahckles,” with plans for a future society. She advises attending breed open days, ignoring negativity, using EBVs and weights, preparing for wet-season ticks/fungus, and managing goals through a color-coded calendar, communication, and flexible study; she completed a Diploma of Agribusiness and a law degree.

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Harvest Her Power; Empowerment and Skills Conference for women in family farming.

https://farmwivesconference.com.au/

Tickets on sale NOW Ealr Bird Tickets close 31st Janurary 2026

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Harvest Her Power; Empowerment and Skills Conference for women in family farming.

https://farmwivesconference.com.au/

Tickets on sale NOW Ealr Bird Tickets close 31st Janurary 2026

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