Building a Bush Community with Em Armstrong

"If you had said to me in year 12, or at uni, or even when I was living and working in Sydney in the ag world, that I would have my own business as an online yoga instructor, I'd probably laugh at you."

The definition of fun and bubbly, Em Armstrong grew up on a sheep farm on the Hay Plains in NSW, where she loved the freedom of the wide-open spaces (cue The Chicks/Dixie Chicks), riding bikes and having a family “beach holiday" at the irrigation channel.

“I think you look back on it now and you almost take it for granted, but as a mum now seeing other kids, I'm just like, ‘oh my god’, we literally had the best life growing up.”

After school, all Em knew was that she wanted to work in the world of agriculture but couldn’t put her finger on what. So, she took a gap year… or two,

“I did a year in the territory at Brunette Downs, which literally was the best year of my life and then I got back [home] and then I was like, ‘Oh, I kind of just don't really want to go to uni just yet, I'm gonna fly back out for another year’. 

[It was really important] to have that experience up there, not only to make money, [but] I think the life lessons of getting up and having to work as a team, doing things that are out of your comfort zone.”

Studying Agribusiness at Marcus Oldham, Em then lived in Sydney for a few years while working at AuctionsPlus (and doing her yoga teaching training, more on that later), but after 5 years long distance, she returned home to live with her partner Hamish on the farm, who she cheekily describes as “a homebody who loves the farm, and his version of a holiday would be checking the paddock out the back.”

Though moving back out to the bush wasn’t quite what she expected, despite the hype, she realised life out there was pretty lonely, 

“When I moved back from Sydney, I literally worked from home, and I had no connection to my community, and yes, I was from the area, but I'd been gone for 10 or 12 years, or whatever it was. So back home [it was] crickets, literal crickets.” 

“I had to start from scratch all over again because half the people that I knew weren't there anymore and the people that were there, I'd lost connections with. So it was super challenging.”

Luckily, while in Sydney, Em had done her yoga teaching training and was then able to use this to engage with people in the community, which “changed my whole life within the bush”.

She now works full-time with Saltbush Stretch and growing her team to provide online yoga and Pilates sessions for women (and some men) in the bush.

 “I never want my team to be massive. I really want to keep it intimate and connected for our community. I feel like we're our own little bush community and I don't want it to be a city.”

When asked what advice she had for young people, Em was pretty clear that they needed to head out to rural areas,

 “Especially being a woman in ag, I would say to them, whatever you want to do with your life is possible within the bush, and yes, there are barriers, but we make it happen. 

Don't buy a one-bedroom apartment for $1.5 million in Sydney in Parramatta, come out and buy a $1.5 million place out here.”

Em is one of those people who has a deep love of rural life and loves the chaos of cooking up a million ideas all at once, so keep a lookout for what she does next!

A little note:

Oli and Em met back in their uni days, so in the podcast, you’ll notice he calls her ‘Porty’.