Amy taking in the view with her father's dog, Ruby.
PHOTOGRAPHY PIP WILLIAMS
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Today, her role at Australian Organic is all about educating others.
WORDS JAYNE CUDDIHY PHOTOGRAPHY PIP WILLIAMS
Amy Stewart, who has degrees in veterinary technology, soil science and education, combines all her skills when she develops hands-on learning modules for school students about organic farming as part of her role as Education and Research Officer for Australian Organic Limited.
A friend's death drove Amy's interest in how we grow our food. Now her role at Australian Organic Limited is all about educating others.
"Theresa showed me a different way of living; of questioning what we put into our bodies and on our skin."
Amy grew up on a property in the southern Queensland town of Warwick.
Amy recalls her father mixing barrels of chemicals with his arm, not for any particular reason, but because that’s the way it was always done.
Amy's mantra is “when you know better, you do better”.
"Even now there is such a misconception about how food gets to the grocery shop and that really bothers me.”
Amy often returns to the farm where she grew up, where she enjoys riding horses like Idowra Venus.
She also enjoys taking in the Queensland rural views with her father’s dog, Ruby.
Amy is now preparing to study a Master’s degree in classroom behaviours, as she wants to challenge the way people perceive acceptable behaviours in the classroom.
Amy taking in the view with her father's dog, Ruby.
PHOTOGRAPHY PIP WILLIAMS
Amy often returns to the farm where she grew up, where she enjoys riding horses like Idowra Venus.
PHOTOGRAPHY PIP WILLIAMS
It’s an acquired passion, with deep roots stemming from an idyllic rural childhood in the southern Queensland town of Warwick. A childhood of quiet Sunday morning horserides with her father, packing bags of fresh farm produce and scheming up excuses to avoid homework.
A veterinarian, Amy’s father Ian Olsen owned and operated an agricultural produce business with one of his brothers. He also bred horses and ran cattle on their block of 60 hectares. When Amy and her family visit now, it may be a different acreage, but the abundance of animals has stayed the same.
“It was fascinating to me being involved with everything Dad did,” recalls 34-year-old Amy. “I was in charge of making sure the horses weren’t waking up while Dad was doing a procedure by checking blink responses on their eyes. But you couldn’t get me out of the produce: that was my passion.”
At that time, food production meant fertilisers and chemical use. Amy recalls her father mixing barrels of chemicals with his arm, not for any particular reason, but because that’s the way it was always done. Then awareness started creeping in. “There was no such thing as PPE [Personal Protective Equipment]. Unless the farmers got sick in the moment from breathing it in, you didn’t take precautions.”
For Amy, awareness started with a friendship. After she had graduated from high school, she moved in with her best friend Theresa and Theresa’s three-year-old son, Matty.
“This is where my fascination with ingredients started,” she says. “Theresa showed me a different way of living; of questioning what we put into our bodies and on our skin. Becoming a mother had changed the way she thought about food and she became curious and objective about what she and Matty ate and how they lived, even down to perfume and deodorant. Consequently, so did I.”
Their mantra became “when you know better, you do better”. But then Theresa was diagnosed with breast cancer and the friends became even more committed to mindful and organic living and fervent label reading. “Theresa was so far ahead of her time, it blows my mind,” Amy says.
Meanwhile, Amy’s career development took the scenic route. She dabbled in floristry, then pressed pause on a veterinary technology degree at The University of Queensland so she could complete a Diploma of Arts majoring in ancient history and soil science at the University of Southern Queensland. Then she finished her vet degree and began studying education.
“I realised I wanted to be a teacher, but not just in agricultural science,” she says.
"Theresa showed me a different way of living; of questioning what we put into our bodies and on our skin."
PHOTOGRAPHY PIP WILLIAMS
"Even now there is such a misconception about how food gets to the grocery shop and that really bothers me.”
PHOTOGRAPHY PIP WILLIAMS
“I walked out of the office crying. I thought all my Christmases had come at once!”
However, in 2013, her friend Theresa had a relapse of her breast cancer. Amy received a terrifying phone call a few months before her wedding to say “today was the day”. Her fiancé Cameron moved mountains to get Amy on an afternoon flight to Brisbane and she was at the hospital just in time to share her best friend’s last 20 minutes of life.
“There was a period of grief I can liken to no other,” she says. “To have to pick up her unworn maid-of-honour’s dress and deliver her eulogy changed everything for me. It cemented the belief that it’s not good enough to think you know something. It’s when I became a real researcher.
“I threw myself into learning more about organics. I am a devoted label-reader and believe that awareness is everything. Organic is just a pleasure to me,” she says.
“When Theresa and I were getting serious about organics and being aware of ingredients, there weren’t a lot of dedicated brands. Now, there are so many: we’ve come such a long way.”
“I can still be an educator, which I love, but talk about everything from soil health to the understanding of what happens to your food to get it from the farm to your table. Even now there is such a misconception about how food gets to the grocery shop and that really bothers me.”
Amy and Cameron moved to Brisbane and welcomed two boys — Arthur, now four, and Cooper, two — and, while child-
rearing is one of life’s greatest challenges, a job caught Amy’s eye. Australian Organic Limited needed an Education and Research Officer. It was like two of Amy’s worlds colliding.
She has since written a hands-on learning program for school students that increases not only student and educator awareness of organic principles and practices, but the understanding of how they impact on environmental systems.
“It means I can still be an educator, which I love, but talk about everything from soil health to the understanding of what happens to your food to get it from the farm to your table. Even now there is such a misconception about how food gets to the grocery shop and that really bothers me.”
Her own education has left a mark in more ways than one.
“I really think we need to change our attitude to how we teach,” she says. “In my class of preppies we had a lot of boys, a lot of high energy. To the disbelief of my [teacher’s] aide, I’d make them write a sentence and they could do a lap of the oval as a reward. They loved it. They became so much more productive.”
Amy is now preparing to study a Master’s degree in classroom behaviours, as she wants to challenge the way people perceive acceptable behaviours in the classroom.
“I was the kid who was always tapping the desk and cutting the flyscreen in my room to get out,” she says. “I think we need to change our attitude towards what we think paying attention looks like. Teachers need to trust their gut and if individuals need an added incentive, or a rubber band on their wrist to play with, then so be it!”
Amy credits her friend Theresa with instilling the freedom to think differently. Now she has developed a sense of duty to carry it on to the next generation.
To hear more extraordinary stories about women living in rural and regional Australia, listen to our podcast Life on the Land on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms.
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