Two paths lead to one hit podcast. While Jackie Elliot grew up on a farm, co-host Kirsten Diprose found herself living on one after a fortuitous night out at a Melbourne bar landed her a farmer husband.
Their path into agriculture couldn’t have been more different but both women are now walking the same road, supporting rural women, agriculture and the communities they live in through their podcast, Ducks on the Pond.
The pair both live on the land in South West rural Victoria and launched the podcast in July 2021. From their cars and kitchen tables they connect with rural women to share stories and expert advice that actually applies to the unique realities of life on the land for women.
Succession planning, pros and cons to working on and off the farm, healthcare accessibility – recent episodes explored the challenges accessing abortion in the country, and breaking the taboo around pelvic floor treatment – it’s all covered.
With a 15-year career with the ABC to her name, former journalist Kirsten is now a research fellow for Deakin University. She works for the Victoria Drought and Innovation Hub, circulating the knowledge from farming communities into universities and vice versa. A busy mum of two, Kirsten also helps out on the family’s cropping, cattle and sheep property, and handles the bookkeeping on their nearby dairy farms.
It’s a long way from her suburban childhood in western Sydney, and even further from the bright city lights of Melbourne where a career in radio and television later took her. But today, it’s home and just one of many stories highlighting the talent, creativity and driving force of women in the bush – which is the heart of Ducks on the Pond.
“Its reach is growing and we’re almost self-sustaining which is wonderful, but I never want to lose its purpose, which is about being for rural women,” Kirsten says.
“You'll only ever hear women on it because I have the idea that there's always a rural woman that does the thing you're looking for, whether it's an expert in business, psychology, anything. It forces you to find the rural woman. They're always fantastic. They're always out there but sometimes they get overlooked. This is a platform for them.”
Ducks on the Pond is a podcast by rural women, FOR rural women across Australia and beyond.
You can subscribe and listen to Ducks on the Pond on your favourite app below.