Ditch your gumboots and apron for the Shepherdess Muster - a new three-day immersive festival giving rural women the chance to come together to take part in workshops, listen to speakers, and take a load off the everyday juggle of farm life - will take place in Motu, 80km out of Gisborne, from February 17-19.
Event founder and publisher of Shepherdess magazine, Kristy McGregor, says there has been nothing quite like this event ever before in New Zealand.
"The event is to escape the pressures of day to day life - housework, kids, cooking," she says. "And to just come and focus on yourself for a weekend. Not you as a farmer, mother or wife, but your own interests and ideas." Festival-goers can set up their tents, caravans or horse floats next door to the main festival area for free, she says, or can pay extra to stay in tented accommodation which will already be set up.
The event is run by a dedicated committee of women based in Tairawhiti and surrounds, led by McGregor who lives on a farm in Horowhenua and knows all too well the challenges of juggling work, farm life and children.
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"Life on farm can be tough and isolating and The Muster is a chance for women living in provincial Aotearoa to get together for three days with no obligations except to have a bloody great time." McGregor says the Muster ticket prices include gourmet catered food, workshops, live music and other entertainment, speakers on entrepreneurship, and "if you're willing, a workout each morning".
Attendees can browse market stalls, visit beauty therapists, enjoy access to women's health - and they can even relax at a bar to have a chat in between the day's activities.
Another committee member Lesley Coppell, from Pahiatua, says the event is a great chance for a road trip with a group of mates.
"This is an all-inclusive weekend so you don't have to think of a single thing once you walk out the door. "We've got an incredible line up of inspirational and entrepreneurial speakers who will be there the whole weekend with bucket loads of advice, we have workshops focusing on creativity, wellness and business, there will be amazing food, you can start your day with yoga and end it dancing the night away - and, most importantly, there will be 250-odd women who are friends that you just haven't met yet." Coppell says rural women do so much for their families and communities that they seldom get the chance "to really take time for ourselves to grow our own interests and ambitions". "I think it's absolutely vital that we model to our daughters and those following in our footsteps and looking up to us, the importance of looking after and nurturing ourselves. You can't pour from an empty cup." Tickets go on sale early November, with organisers wrapping up some of the finer details. The event concept has been developed by Shepherdess as part of the magazine's ethos to connect rural women in isolated parts of New Zealand through sharing their stories.
"The Muster helps bring this connection to life through creating shared experiences across three days, and allows women to take a break from the demands of family life and head home more resilient and enthused," McGregor says. Follow The Shepherdess Muster on social media and visit www.shepherdessmuster.co.nz to keep up to date with ticket on-sale dates and announcements.
For more details and announcements, visit shepherdessmuster.co.nz Kristy McGregor says the event is a chance for rural women to focus on themselves. Inset, Lesley Coppell.
