Sisters, Amy and Kim, run online stationery business, Note Couture, from their remote properties in Condobolin and Quambone in the west of NSW. Both have felt the impact of ongoing flooding in 2022. Kim and Amy share their experience of running an online business and a farm in the midst of ongoing natural disaster.

1. How would you describe the mood in your households at the moment?

Kim: Plenty of highs and lows tbh. We have done our best to remain positive, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say we have had our share of stress and disappointment. Fortunately for both of us our houses have not been damaged. It’s just loss of income and the worry around how long our livestock will be able to withstand the conditions that is our biggest challenge. Obvs the geographical isolation is also less than ideal, but that is manageable. The kids of course are blissfully unaware. The geographic isolation indefinitely has had its challenges but has also given us some valuable time together as a family. Time we would otherwise never have had. And fortunately for us our children are all young, so they have been here with us. Stressful at times, heart breaking at times. But mostly it has been a wonderful time. I mean it’s not everyday you have a wetland to explore at your doorstep, and the pressure to be no where else. I had one moment of feeling like I desperately needed some outside contact after yet another wet, cold, (fortunately that coincided with a school reunion I found a way to get to!) I guess we expected the flood to last a couple of weeks, but the indefinite nature of this flood is what has made this one challenging.

Amy: The difference in mood amongst the children and adults is quite hilarious. The kids are taking any and every opportunity to find new and improved swimming holes each day as the water rises; whilst Todd and I are trying to predict the next area of potential inundation. The kids are having a sensational time catching frogs and fish whilst observing the fascinating birds that are not typically on our dryland country!! I love their sweet innocence and need for adventure! Things are pretty stressful for Todd and I...our menagerie of animals have been shipped out and we are on tender hooks waiting for the big peak to arrive around Nov 14.

2. Could you describe your farming businesses and your roles within them?

Kim: Mixed enterprise - cropping and livestock. I am the spare pair of hands really - juggling the children, meals, and any farm jobs where I am needed - opening gates at just the right time, holding up stock, moving stock, moving vehicles, filling grain carts, building fences, saddling horses. Anything and everything. And a lot of the times at the drop of a hat (which with 4 kids in tow is not always easy to do). Lol.

Amy: Todd and I run sheep and opportunistic farming. We are on a river block on the Lachlan. Sheep are on agistment and the canola is totally underwater.

3. How is the flooding affecting daily life at the moment?

Kim: We have been geographically isolated for almost two months. We’ve had to have food, mail, medication for animals, and other essential items all dropped via helicopter. Lots of coordinating with family, friends and shops on the other side to get everything we need in the one delivery. Home schooling. We have not been in a car for weeks, the only way to get around to check anything has been on horse back or kayak. Most of our main roads have also been underwater, so the quad and buggy haven’t even been reliable options!

Amy: The school bus is not running, so we are combining home schooling with daily commutes with large detours through plenty of water to get to school.

4. How is it affecting the running of your business?

Kim: The farm business has been at a stand still for most of the year as it has been too wet to do anything, and of course now the flooding. Planning, then re planning, then re planning again. Being at a stand still for months at a time is a challenging place to be. The only way around the farm is on horse back, so long days on horse back through water to check stock and water levels. The kids have been incredible, Alex couldn’t have done some of what has needed to be done without them. The cattle have all been walked off the place to be agisted elsewhere. There are crops we haven’t been able to get to all year - one he saw for the first time all year a couple of weeks ago, from the air! Waiting and anticipating the damage has also been challenging. We can now see the writing on the wall - it isn’t a great outcome but at least we now know and can start to look ahead.

Amy has currently relocated as the water peaks. All stock, pets, chooks etc moved off the place (thank god for family and friends!) Roads closures have delayed shipping of orders, and has also delayed deliveries of key supplies, stationery etc.

For Note Couture, juggling biz with children, home schooling, feeding poddy lambs and goats, being where I needed to be to help on the farm etc. has made it interesting. We can all relate after lock down. It’s just that this time we can't even get out for essential services!

5. Is there a moment where you thought... I've had enough now?

Yes, absolutely. Even now the rain keeps coming, and the catchment is full. The dams are above capacity, the creeks and rivers are still flooding. It was a huge relief after our biggest anticipated peak hit, but every rain event now puts more water in a system that is already at the brink. It’s the unknown of when it will end, how much more water the system can handle and whether the next peak will be bigger than the previous.

Amy: Yes – on the 3rd major peak, we both looked at each other and thought “ok, enough is enough now”. At that point, there was 3-4 inches that fell in the catchment which has just finished peaking in Forbes (100km upstream from us) inundating the majority of their town, we are now anxiously awaiting the devastation that that water will bring. It is a really strange feeling to think that you will soon be dealing with water in places you have never seen it. We are just hoping that the water doesn’t come over the levy that protects our house.

6. Can you describe the nature of this flood?

Kim: This year has been an extremely wet year, so our communities have been isolated on and off many times due to wet roads etc. And then the flooding began. We have had low level flooding for a large part of the year, which has progressed to extremes flooding for weeks and weeks. The ongoing nature of the 2022 floods is what has made them particularly challenging. The crops and livestock have really suffered. We had 95% of our farm under water for about a week, and before that it had been around 80% for many weeks. It was manageable for the short term, but has become really challenging as the weeks go by and the water cannot get away. Usually a flood will come and go, this one has been here to stay, and is the biggest we have seen.

Amy: Our sheep went on agistment for the first time in September 2021 where the Lachlan underwent a major peak for the first time. We have had a full river ever since, with areas on our place becoming inundated off and on since then.

7. Have you learnt anything from living through flood?

Kim: How to bake bread! Lol. A small feat, but helped to feed a big family when fresh bread wasn’t an option. The power of a positive mindset. That rural communities really are something special. The people in our community have been so generous - the support, offers for help, neighbours helping neighbours. Nothing has been too big an ask. The power of picking up the phone to check in. It’s a small thing, but it has helped my husband and I alot. And to appreciate the small things. The kids have been in a wonderland and have made us stop to enjoy it - our farm has literally become a wetland teaming with activity. Kayaking over paddocks that could’ve been waist high in wheat that are now covered in water reeds and home to nesting black swans, magpie geese and thousands of other water birds, it really is remarkable.

Amy: Living through floods presents with opportunities to live and learn at the same time as tearing you apart!! One big one is to not count your chickens before they hatch...because MAN we have lost a lot this year!! It really does allow you to keep your loved ones close, and accept people's kindness and help - the generosity amongst the community is just beautiful. The first few peaks we were watching our canola crop really closely nearly counting the megalitres that were flowing in....now we are trying to work out how we can get our ski boat down there without getting bogged so we can ski on it - it is an insanely beautiful body of water over the top of our insanely beautiful canola crop (that was)!!! Keeping a positive mindset has been our goal...

8. Anything else that you want to say?

Kim: It's really hard for us to express disappointment over the one thing we longed for in all those years of drought, even though in this instance the outcome for us will be the same. Potentially worse. My husband though, ever the optimist, will not complain about the water. The disappointment is still there for sure, but for us, we know on the other side of this will be opportunity. The drought we experienced leading up to BFTB is a time that we will never forget. The 2022 floods will be no different. But we will remember 2022 in a different light, with some of our memories at Sandy Camp.

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A ‘Note’ From The Floods