Maddie Cook Communications

I designed annual bull sale catalogue and advertising again this year. Huge congratulations to with sale results! 🎉

31/31 Simmental bulls sold to a top of $16,000, average $7,322
9/9 Simmental heifers sold to a top of $9,000, average $7111
15/15 commercial Simmental females to a top of $3,400, average $3133
3/3 Angus bulls sold to a top of $6000, average $4666

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Happy New Year from my parents farm in Central West NSW where I am enjoying an extended break. This is Gemma, she is very photogenic 😍

My dad and brother unloaded another load of hay this afternoon from Southern NSW. This drought is relentless. We were lucky enough to receive about 12mls of rain last night.🙏 Fingers crossed for a drought breaking 2020. 🤞

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@ Coolah, New South Wales

Had lots of fun on Friday recording an online workshop with .evans for . We talked all things Instagram and using hashtags for marketing! Thanks Viv and The Rural Woman for the opportunity to help build our rural communities!

.evans
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I love 💕 connecting and collaborating with other Women in business. It gives you every opportunity to learn and grow not only in your business but personally as well. Today as part of my role as the Tech Tips presenter in THE Rural Woman I recorded a brilliant webinar presentation for members. My special guest Maddie Cook shared her amazing knowledge on using Instagram and hashtags so many useful insights!

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Caught a glimpse of fields of gold on the drive back to Canberra through Cowra on the weekend. Happy spring everyone!

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Some of my dear farming family friends are desperately looking for agistment for 105 stud braford cows. They are happy to split them into smaller mobs if needed.

They are located near Yeoval NSW. If you or someone you know has any agistment PLEASE help them out by messaging me or contact them directly via email at [email protected]. 🙏

I understand many places are dry but would appreciate if you could share with or tag anyone who might have something available.

Thanks heaps! 🙌🐄

I brought this book ages ago when I was dreaming of having a super productive veggie garden. Well now we do! We are currently harvesting huge zucchinis and corn and are about to start picking our tomatoes, chillies, basil and rhubarb!

If you're after a bit of a veggie garden bible, I highly recommend The Little Veggie Patch Co! Great resource that you can constantly refer back to quickly. Ours is a little dirty like a well used cookbook since we have been using it out in the garden heaps. 😁🌱

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@ Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Got away to the beautiful South Coast for a break over the holidays. I hope you also got the chance to put your feet up! 🧘🏻‍♀️🌊
New year, new opportunities 🤩

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My latest attempt to get a pic of my dads best kelpie workdog Gamma. As like most kelpies she has alot of energy which makes it a little difficult to capture all her cuteness. 😍 It makes me truly appreciate all the brilliant photographs in the 'Top Dogs' book by I gave my dad this Christmas. It's a fantastic read! You can check it out on Angela Goode's website.
🐕

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Wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas! 🎄🎁🌟

I have been out of the office a little bit lately for lots of reasons including for the 2018 Country to Canberra Power Trip. Each year Country to Canberra runs a fantastic Leadership Comp where girls from all over rural Australia can win an all expenses paid 'Power Trip' to Canberra to meet influential leaders, attend networking events and undertake leadership and public speaking training.

One of my favourite sayings is 'empowered women, empower women' which definitely rang true during the Power Trip this year. It is encouraging to see women of all demographics and walks of life with unique interests come together and share their experiences and support each other. Thanks to and the entire Country to Canberra volunteer team for always being so absoltely fab to work with!
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@ Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Super excited to recieve news from dad that all my Highlands have now finally calved!! This photo from my mum is of one of the new mums with her first ever calf, which I have affectionately named 'Brie' (Yes like cheese, to match the other calf 'halloumi'. I might also have one called 'Pepper', more photos to come 😉).

Photo credit:

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Lest we forget.

📍 Canberra

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@ Australian War Memorial

Milk mostache 🐄🥛

Feeding poddy calves on the weekend. I especially love the last photo which explains the little milk covered heads in the first photo. 😍💕

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The Rural Woman are hosting a FANTASTIC FREE live online event for International Rural Women's Day this Monday. Learn from rural Australia's leading experts in the art of redefining drought & reclaiming health.
Register here: https://theruralwoman.com.au/2018irwd

Topics include; financial wellbeing, how the hard times are an opportunity for growth, shifting the way we face challenges, where can lifelong learning take you and many more!

THE Rural Woman International Rural Women's Day Online Event during Small Business Month Redefining Drought - Rural Women Claiming Mental, Physical & Spiritual Health

Spring has sprung 🌾 Taken driving through Cowra this afternoon.
Remember if you want to get a photo of canola this season, respect private property by keeping behind the farmers boundary fence and pick a safe place off the road to pull over.

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I have been tripping around Aus this past month from Vic to NSW to SA and home to ACT again as workshop facilitator with Country to Canberra as part of Project Empower, for business and for some well overdue leisure time.
Today is my first proper day back in the office since the end of June. Please allow some grace with my response time as I catch up over the next few weeks. Thank you for your patience!

Country to Canberra launched their 5th annual Leadership Competition this morning! Share with your networks and tag any young rural girls you believe would love the opportunity to win an all-expenses-paid power trip to Canberra to meet incredible role models, attend exclusive events and undertake leadership training!

Find out more about the competition here: http://countrytocanberra.com.au/enter-the-competition/enter-the-competition/

Incredible Opportunity for Young Rural Women! Young, rural and driven? Enter our 2018 Leadership Competition!

Always a pleasure designing the print & digital advertising, catalogue & branding for annual on property bull sale which was held last Thursday! Despite tough drought conditions across much of the state Barana still saw pleasing sale results and clearance. See this week for sale report or keep an eye on on social media!

@ Coolah, New South Wales

Congratulations James & Ash! 👰🏻🤵🏻🎉
Finished engagement invitations for a special couple! Navy, white and pink colour scheme enhanced with rose gold foiling which really makes the design pop! Big thanks to the beautiful bride to be Ash for being so lovely to work with! Looking forward to the creating the wedding invitations!

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It’s time! This week I really want to share with you! Fiona is a macadamia farmer in Alstonville NSW! How beautiful is this photo of their macadamia farm from above taken with her drone! I was immediately drawn to the colours! Highly recommend checking out ’s Insta page! Her photos are all taken by herself and they are beautiful!
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Stunning frosty morning views from the veranda of farm stay near Bendigo!

As I made my way back to Melbourne last week I took the opportunity to stop in & stay with one of my very first & very lovely clients Liz Harrington aka .
I worked with Liz to create two logos for their farm stay accomodation, one being the . Until last week we had never actually met face to face as we communicated online through the entire project. After seeing lots of photos in the design process of Home Flat House it felt surreal to pull up in the driveway and actually be staying there for the night! I wanted to give a (belated) shout out to Liz and Tim. Home Flat House is absolutely lovely & has a cosy, homely feel that just cannot be conveyed in a photo. It really is a credit to the hard work the farming couple have put in and Liz’s keen eye for detail and unique pieces. I feel so lucky to have been able to work with such beautiful people on an incredibly sentimental project. I can’t recommend the Home Flat House enough and if you stay be sure to ask Liz to share the story of the house & the glorious paddock the house looks out to - ‘The Home Flat’.

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@ Bendigo, Victoria

I’m not long home from an incredible trip to VIC as part of my volunteer Social Media Director position with Country to Canberra & I have taken time today to reflect on our travels & the many wonderful memories made.
If you don’t know, Country to Canberra is a NFP organisation that empowers young rural women to reach their leadership potential! We are currently on our national ‘workshop roadtrip’ called Project Empower, where we are travelling over 20,000km to rural schools in every state & territory in Aus inc 60 rural & 20 remote communities. I have just got home after joining the VIC leg of the roadtrip & boy, what a once in a lifetime experience! From Yea to Daylesford, to Hamilton & Ballarat right out to Rainbow 🌈, it was inspiring to meet so many young rural women who are so eager to learn & get involved. My biggest takeaway was seeing how the girls supported each other. In the workshop we do a strengths exercise which asks the girls to write down 10 strengths. It is incredible how many girls struggle to find even just 3 things that they are good at with many saying ‘I don’t have any strengths’. With a little encouragement to dig deeper & with the support of their friends telling them what they are good it was beautiful to see every girl in each workshop find their strengths.
For me this emphasised the importance of supportive relationships & finding your tribe - those people who bring out the best in you. If you are anything like me you are hard enough on yourself without some of the negative things that happen in your day to day. Your “tribe” will often be the ones who can see your strengths & remind you what you’re good at. I can’t thank Hannah enough for letting me to be part of an organisation that is playing such a integral role in helping young women find themselves & learn their strengths & values. If you are reading this I encourage you to write down your strengths this week. I also encourage you to write down your values as these will help you make decisions & highlight what is important to you which can help you find your tribe. Search to follow the rest of our journey as we head to WA!

@ Rainbow, Victoria

Checking in mid week! Having an absolute ball being a volunteer facilitator with as part of Project Empower, a nationwide ‘workshop roadtrip’ empowering rural, regional & remote teenage girls to achieve their leadership potential! I am lucky enough to be joining in the VIC leg of the journey. So far this week we have done 5 workshops in just 3 days with over 160 girls! Today we celebrated ‘s 40th workshop milestone! Follow our journey ! ⭐️

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Woohoo its !! I thought this week I would continue with my Yass NSW theme and highlight another one of my new favourite Instas! Meet ! Based in Yass, Erin runs her own wedding photography business another Insta which is just lovely although I love her personal Insta - especially this photo! Here Erin shares beautiful photos of her life and is the greatest supporter of her local Yass community! She even travelled all around the region last year to get photos for the Yass Valley visitor guide! I'm envious! Highly recommend checking Erin out, her Instagram will definitely make you feel cosy in Winter! 🍂
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