This is the closing episode for Season One of The Women & Nature Podcast where I run through some of the things I’ve learnt from these eight amazing women and the common threads that run through their stories including permaculture, the beauty of witnessing children interacting with nature, and the simple advice to get outside more.

I am so honoured to have met these women and for the beautiful, open and inspiring conversations we had. I’m already looking forward to Season Two!

If you have anyone you would like to hear from in upcoming episodes please reach out - this podcast is for you!

To stay in touch while I’m on maternity leave:

* Website: www.emmadrady.com

* Instagram: @emmadradynaturopath

In today’s episode I’m sharing with you my chat with the wonderful Sam Hickling who is the owner and facilitator at Acacia Play, a nature and permaculture based play group.

We covered so many topics in this interview including Sam’s journey from a more standard early childcare career to connecting with nature while travelling to supporting a chiropractor and studying nutrition to becoming a mum and then incorporating all of this experience together when she landed at Acacia Play when founder, Sarah, decided to step away from the business.

We also spoke about how their play groups have been sparking curiosity and change within the whole family not just the children attending, how her own children have been a source of nature connection for her husband, how nature play can help set expectations for what is normal when it comes to imperfect produce and how growing gardens wherever she can has formed unexpected bonds with others.

Acacia Play currently has two lovely locations. One at The Purple Pear Farm in the Hunter Valley and another called The Paddock which is in Belmont on the southern end of Newcastle. If you are interested in participating in any of the wonderful initiatives Sam mentioned today head over to their website to get involved or their social media for ideas to try yourself at home.

Sam and I could have (and we actually did offline) speak for hours. I really hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed recording it.

LINKS:

* Acacia Play website: https://www.acaciaplay.com.au/

* Acacia Play instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acacia.play/

Hello lovely listeners and thank you for joining me today for episode number eight where I interview Eva Angophora. Eva is a woman who lives and breathes nature. Her Wild Beings business offers an opportunity for people to learn ancestral earth-based skills such as lighting fire without modern tools, hunting, tanning hides, foraging and so much more. These offerings can be through workshops, multi-day retreats or a weekly bush school for children to attend which is particularly useful for those in the homeschooling community to connect with other like-minded young people and their caregivers.

In our chat today we spoke about lots of different topics such as the transformation from being raised vegetarian to hunting wild meat, what it’s like to feel disconnected to your body and how nature helps - something we both have in common, the beauty in witnessing women’s confidence and resilience growing when learning bush skills, some of the challenges involved with living a more earth-centred approach to life and our mutual love of bugs and spiders.

Eva is such a kind person and I really enjoyed speaking with her. She is super approachable and gentle, making what could be a fairly daunting topic to explore seem a lot more achievable. I urge you to check out Eva’s website to see what events she has coming up or if you are a little further afield to follow her instagram for inspiration on how to connect more with the wild ways of nature.

I hope you enjoy the episode!

Very recently it was announced that Eva is a cast member on the latest season of SBS’s Alone Australia which airs on 26th March 2025. It must have been a lot to hold in during our chat which was recorded earlier in the year, especially since I actually mention the show!! We are all rooting for you Eva :)

LINKS

* Eva’s website: https://www.wildbeings.org/

* Eva’s podcast: Wild Beings Podcast

* Eva’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eva.angophora/

Welcome back to The Women & Nature Podcast for episode number seven where I have the pleasure of speaking with the deeply connected Johanna Bodewes. Johanna, or Yo as her friends call her, lives on the beautiful inland part of the Central Coast in the Lower Mangrove region on her property which she has named Freedom Farm.

After feeling the stress and struggles of the Sydney rat race 16 years ago, Johanna and her partner made the brave decision to relocate to her family’s farm initially to save money and re-coup but then eventually to make a life there. And what a life they have formed! Not only are they enjoying the beauty of this land themselves but they have dedicated their energy to inviting others to spend time on the property through retreats and workshops, as well as raising two sons in strong relationship to nature.

In our chat today we also speak about Johanna’s experience of looking after the land as a young girl and how that shaped her into the strong and resilient person she is today, how she had to overcome a lot of self doubt when moving to Freedom Farm and choosing what others would consider to be an alternative lifestyle path, her relationship with the aboriginal owned Bush to Bowl organisation who farm native plants on her property, and the transformations she has the privilege of witnessing when hosting her women’s rewilding gatherings.

Johanna is such a wonderful, open-minded, caring and community-minded soul. If you have the opportunity to attend one of her retreats or to book a weekend of camping at Freedom Farm, I encourage you to do so!

I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it.

LINKS:

* Johanna’s Newsletter: [email protected]

* Freedom Farm: hipcamp.com

* Bush to Bowl: https://bushtobowl.com/

Today’s interview is with the wonderful Bianca Nelson. Bianca is a fellow naturopath who I had the privilege of meeting through Meraki Wellness Centre in Erina back in 2021 when we both worked there. However, it is the plight of the naturopath that even when we are working in a big clinic with many other naturopaths or clinicians we very rarely get to spend time together because we are always behind closed doors with our patients so it was such a gift to have this opportunity to catch up and speak about some of our favourite topics.

Bianca, also known as the Aboriginal naturopath, has family origins from Yuin country on the South Coast of NSW but has been lucky enough to call the Central Coast her home since birth. Along with naturopathic herbal medicine, Bianca also works with plant spirits by offering reiki sessions and helping her patients connect to Australian bush flowers. In our chat we spoke about her journey from support work to naturopathy and now this newer energetic offering, the ethics of plant medicine harvesting, her work with Pukka herbal tea and how important it is to nurture nature respect in the next generation.

At the beginning of the episode Bianca was feeding her gorgeous little son Ochre so if you hear some sweet sucking sounds, that’s just him enjoying his midday meal. This one is a little longer because we had so much to talk about and once you hear Bianca speak so passionately about plants I think you’ll know why.

I hope you enjoy listening!

LINKS:

* Bianca’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theaboriginalnaturopath/

* Meraki Wellness Centre: https://merakiwellnesscentre.com.au/bianca-smith-2/

* Songline Dreaming Festival: https://regeneratewellnesscollective.com/pages/healing-sessions

In this episode I interview the lovely Katarzyna (Kasia) Niedzielak who is an artist based on the southern end of the Central Coast. Kasia’s main medium is creating wet felting sculptures using natural fibres such as wool and all natural dyes which she makes from things like rust, leaves and flowers. Her artworks are ethereal and look like they come straight out of a fairytale, especially her seed pod sculptures which won her first place in the Pearl Beach Art Trail in 2023.

In our chat we spoke about how Kasia found her true connection to nature after moving to Australia from Poland and her deep love of the ocean, how attending festivals in the bush helped spark her creativity, the eco nature of her artwork and the importance of being able to leave her pieces outside in nature to break down without leaving an environmental footprint and the reality of being an artist.

Along with the practicalities of sculpting, Kasia also shares how nature is a gateway for communing with the divine and that making art is her favourite form of meditation. I was personally in a super creative period when we recorded this episode just before Christmas and I left the conversation feeling even more inspired. I hope that you get as much out of our chat as I did and I encourage you to look up Kasia’s artworks online to see their true beauty or better yet, try to see them in person!

Happy listening.

Links:

* Kasia’s instagram: @art_by_amboeba

*Apologies for the sound quality of this episode, we recorded on a very hot day in December with fans/air con so background noise cancelling technology makes us sound a bit tinny and glitchy at times

Today I am speaking with the beautiful Louisa Fenn. Louisa, along with her partner Matt, created Soulful Bush Community here on the Central Coast. Through this initiative they run regular events out in nature - things like mama’s hikes, men’s cave circles, evening meditations, and family beach catch ups. Along with this work, Louisa also hosts Ayurvedic day retreats, teaches yoga and recently started Soulful Bush Photography.

In today’s conversation we talk about her city upbringing in London and how the inward journey of yoga and meditation was a major catalyst for her outward journey of connecting to nature, how she weaves yoga and meditation with permaculture to live as a form of activism, and how important it is to appreciate the seasons of our body like the seasons of a tree in nature.

Louisa is a very soft and open soul who really takes the time to experience gratitude and share that with others. Her work is centred around creating community and helping more people experience some of the joy she has found in connecting with nature.

I hope you enjoy listening.

LINKS:

- Louisa’s instagram: ⁠@seasonsofshakti⁠

- Louisa’s photography: ⁠@soulfulbushphotography⁠

- Facebook Group: ⁠Soulful Bush Community - Nature Walks & Adventures - Central Coast, NSW

Miriam, or Mim, as I refer to my dear friend, is a beautiful soul who lives on the Peninsula end of the Central Coast with her family. I was lucky enough to meet Mim in 2019 (who is a school friend of my partner Cameron) when we stopped in to visit on our way up north. Since day one she has always been a welcoming and inclusive person to everyone she meets and is so thoughtful and kind.

Miriam was super instrumental in our move up to the Central Coast in 2020 when we were struggling with covid life in the city, inviting us up between lockdowns to show us around her favourite areas - and it was over a lunch in Patonga that pretty much sealed the deal for us to relocate up here.

Miriam is a nature lover through and through, always suggesting catch ups in the bush or by the water. Professionally, she has followed the threads of her interest in the outdoors to a volunteer program in Africa as a young woman, to then working in the field of bush regeneration, to re-wilding her suburban backyard and consulting for others who wish to do the same, and now she is also championing a group of female volunteers to plant trees throughout her local community.

In our chat we also touch on topics like the joy of seeing children, the next generation of Earth guardians, really embracing their time out in nature, why we think women are leading the way in caring for nature, and some ideas for how others can build a strong relationship to the natural world.

This was such a warm chat with a warm friend and I hope you enjoy listening.

Links:

* GUST: Grow Urban Shade Trees: https://www.growurbanshadetrees.org/

* Green Peninsula: https://greenpeninsulamail.wixsite.com/green-peninsula

Today will feature my first interview for the pod with the wonderful permaculturalist Kerrie Anderson. Kerrie is not only a TAFE teacher for permaculture courses but she offers workshops and multi-week courses on her beautiful property in Matcham through her business Synergy Permaculture.

Kerrie is a woman and permaculture educator with a wealth of knowledge, I feel we hardly scratched the surface in this chat and I urge anyone who feels the spark to learn more after hearing her speak, like I did, to really follow that curiosity and engage with Kerrie or someone more local to you if your living outside of reach to the Central Coast.

In our chat Kerrie tells us how she got to where she is today, she explains what permaculture actually is outside of just the gardening technique we may have heard of before. She highlights how she has educated herself to be the well-rounded teacher that she is today, how important the Steiner education system has been for her and also some of her favourite ways of connecting to nature like making nasturtium pesto. Mmm yummy!

Outside of teaching, Kerrie also volunteers and helps coordinate her local produce swap, is opening her garden for the Central Coast Edible Garden Trail in May to celebrate International Permaculture Day and is an all-round lovely human who wants to improve not only her local community but the Earth that we all live on.

I hope you get as much out of this chat as I did! Enjoy.

Links:

* Synergy Permaculture: ⁠https://synergypermaculture.com.au/⁠

* Permaculture Central Coast: ⁠https://permaculturecc.org.au/⁠

* Central Coast edible garden trail in May on International Permaculture Day: ⁠https://centralcoastediblegardentrail.org.au/⁠

Hello! and Welcome!

Thank you for joining me for Season One of the Women & Nature podcast - a collection of nourishing conversations with women about the healing power of nature.

Speaking with women is not only my job, as a women's health naturopath, but a deep passion. We have a lot to learn from women and we have even more to learn from the natural world.

This podcast is a continuation of my book - Women & Nature. In Season One we will meet a permaculturalist, an artist, a retreat facilitator, a naturopath & many more amazing women.

Episodes will be uploaded weekly on Thursdays. If you would like to stay in touch between episodes feel free to reach me at:

My website: ⁠www.emmadrady.com⁠

My instagram: ⁠@emmadradynaturopath⁠

If you would like to purchase my Women & Nature book:

⁠Thames & Hudson⁠

⁠Booktopia⁠

⁠Amazon⁠

Lots of love, Emma x