Nadia Lim: The Real Story of Life on the Land

"Farming is like being a slave to the most beautiful master," says Nadia Lim. "It consumes you. It's your home, your workplace, your life. But it's so beautiful, and it teaches you so many lessons."

At Royalburn Station, perched high above Arrowtown on the Crown Range, Lim's days move with the rhythm of the land — and the happy chaos of three young boys. It's a long way from the TV studios and My Food Bag boardrooms where New Zealand first came to know her.

Now, alongside her husband Carlos Bagrie, Lim is raising not just crops and animals but a new conversation about transparency, connection, and pride in where our food comes from — a journey documented in the popular television series Nadia’s Farm and its paddock-to-plate spin-off, Nadia’s Farm Kitchen.

That latest small-screen success has led to a new cookbook, Nadia's Farm Kitchen. Recipes are created from the soil up, driven by what she, Bagrie and their team harvest, forage and raise on Royalburn, and by the deep satisfaction of producing food with integrity.

"All these recipes are very seasonally driven. It's what we harvest, produce, grow, and raise on the farm, and how we cook with it. And where we live, in Central Otago, you have to eat seasonally, because unlike in the city, everything's not at your fingertips."

For Lim, it's about showing what really happens beyond the farm gate and why telling those stories truthfully and without polish matters so much. The book is part recipe collection, part love letter to rural life, and part honest look at what farming really involves, with each chapter of recipes following the four seasons, sprinkled with stories of life on the farm.

"What makes the book very different is that whilst it's got over 90 recipes in it, it's also got a whole bunch of farming stories about our learnings from our farming journey."

  Nadias Farm Kitchen is Nadia’s latest cookbook – a collection of over 90 recipes interspersed with stories of her life on Royalburn Station. Supplied

Telling the good farming story

If Nadia's Farm has one mission, it's to show the real heart of farming: the pride, the complexity and the people behind every plate of food.

In the same vein as the iconic long-running series Country Calendar, Lim and Bagrie have achieved the seemingly impossible: creating a television programme that resonates with both those working the land and their urban counterparts. Their take is much more personal — relatable, honest, and inviting viewers to become invested in the story, bringing the highs and lows of life on the land into Kiwis' living rooms each week.

Lim believes the story of New Zealand farming has too often been told by those outside the farm gate. It's time, she says, for farmers to take it back.

"When the truth needs to be told, you have to be bold and brave — come out swinging and speak up."

Through her series, books, and farm tours, Lim has become a bridge between producers and consumers — a role she describes as both a responsibility and a privilege.

"The story has to be told right, and the information has to be right. We don't preach. We don't say there's a right or wrong way. We give all the information and reasons why, and then it's up to the eater to decide."

That willingness to show every side of farming at Royalburn includes meat production and the farm's own micro-abattoir — the kind of raw subject that’s tempting to brush under the rug, but Lim says those are the stories that need to be told most of all.

"If you hide it, that's what makes it taboo," Lim says. "If you're going to eat meat, you should know. It's not something to be hidden."

Lim believes the future of farming depends on those stories being told clearly, compassionately, and often.

"We need to take consumers on the journey with us," she says. "If you leave bits of information out, those gaps will be made up for you. And that information may be incorrect."

That means farmers, who typically like to keep their heads down, have to step out of their tractor cabs and into the spotlight.

"People often think, 'No one's going to be interested in what we're doing,' or that talking about success is showing off. But think about it from the public or the eater's point of view. They want to know; they actually want that information. So, it's not about you, it's about them. Let them have the information because that's what they want. They deserve to know. If we don't tell our stories, someone else will fill in the gaps, and they might get it wrong."

Lim believes there is, in some instances, a "black and white" narrative around agriculture, with farmers painted as "good" or "bad" based on their sector or farming system. Educating consumers that every farm is different and that practices are often driven by the unique land and climate in which farmers operate is key.

"Farming isn't black and white," she says. "It can be dangerous to put farmers into boxes like organic, conventional or regenerative. Our philosophy is we wouldn't sell anything we wouldn't eat ourselves.

 "We like to be spray-free, and our climate allows that, but other farmers may not have that option. No land is the same. Sometimes it's good to have all those things in your toolbox and use them at the right time. There's usually a reason things are done a certain way."

That openness runs through everything they do at Royalburn. They host open-gate tours and corporate visits, often tied to charity fundraisers, inviting the public to see exactly how their food is grown.

"I love seeing people learn," Lim says. "It lights me up when someone goes, 'Ah, I get it.' Farming's not something you can understand from a distance. You have to see it."

  If Nadia's Farm has one mission, it's to show the real heart of farming: the pride, the complexity and the people behind every plate of food. Supplied.

The hardest and best job

For all its rewards, life on the land also tests you in ways few other jobs can. Farming, she admits, isn't for the faint-hearted.

"You always win some, you lose some," she says. "It's different to any other industry we've been in. It's less predictable, more out of your control, and the return on investment isn't great."

It's a love-hate relationship with the land that many farmers can relate to.

"Sometimes we feel like we're such slaves to it because we cannot leave the farm. And it consumes you because it's 365 days a year, and it's ongoing. It's not a project thing where you just do something and then you can leave it and move on. It's a living, breathing organism."

Lim says that despite the challenges, the couple never considered turning their backs on rural life.

"So many of our friends and people in business that we know think we are crazy. Why are you doing this? Why are you handcuffing yourself to this huge mortgage and working so hard? Because other people who don't have that love for the land, it just doesn't make sense to them. But there are people out there who will get it. I don't feel like we could ever sell it."

The farming community, she says, makes it all worth it.

"We're so grateful. Everyone's been incredibly supportive and generous. Carlos can call farmers all over the country for advice, and they do the same with us. We've had nothing but encouragement."

She dedicated the book to the farmers of New Zealand, opening with one of her favourite quotes: "If you're lucky, you might only need a lawyer or a doctor once a year, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer."

The lighter side of farm life

Farming might be serious business, but at Royalburn, there's always room for a bit of fun. When the couple planted a paddock of sunflowers by the roadside, they didn't expect what happened next.

"Every time we grow sunflowers, hundreds of people stop to take photos," Lim laughs. "A surprising number of them take semi-nude photos in the paddock. It's definitely become a thing."

Rather than get frustrated, she turned it into something positive. Lim organised the Nude Sunflower Calendar, featuring 13 brave locals posing among the blooms, with proceeds going to 13 different charities — from the Cancer Society to volunteer firefighters and disability support organisations.

"It started as a bit of a laugh, but it's raised money for causes close to people's hearts," she says. "That's the beauty of it — something light-hearted that also does good."

    Nadia Lim and husband Carlos Bagrie on Royalburn Station. Supplied.

Who would Nadia invite to her dinner table?

When asked who she'd most like to share a meal with, Lim pauses. "Jamie Oliver," she says with a smile. "He was my big inspiration when I was young. I started watching him when I was about twelve and decided that's what I wanted to do — write cookbooks. I'm lucky that I'm one of those people who knew what I wanted to do from a very young age."

But if she could invite anyone, living or gone, the answer comes more softly. "My dad. He never got to see what we've built here or meet his grandchildren. I would do anything to be able to see my dad again."

Christmas at Royalburn

By December, the pace at Royalburn eases just enough for Lim to savour her favourite time of year. These days, she keeps Christmas simple, swapping elaborate menus for shared effort and good company.

"I order My Food Bag's Christmas menu because it's easy. Once you've done it, it's very hard to go back," she says. "It's so different from, say, 14 years ago. I used to do everything, and I used to be exhausted from it. It would be this massive three- or four-day planning, often weeks in advance. And then I'd have to go to all these different shops to get all the different ingredients. And then there would be queues in the supermarket, and sometimes things would run out, and then I'd have to come up with a substitute, and then I'd have to cook the whole meal myself."

Now, instead of being stuck in the kitchen, she delegates recipes and ingredients to guests, leaving her to cook only a few dishes herself and enjoy the family festivities.

"So now I just order My Food Bag, and I do my add-ons, like in the book."

Her Christmas table always includes a few family traditions: her Aunt Pippa’s trifle, "which has an entire bottle of dry sherry in it", and, of course, lamb from the farm.

There's also a ritual of chopping down one of the wilding pines that creep over their land — and even that has a deeper meaning.

"People talk about retiring land from livestock to help the environment," she says. "But on our property, the livestock keep the wilding pines down. Next door, where the land's been retired, thousands of wildings have to be sprayed. There is so much chemical used. It's one of the stories I tell people: you can't just say getting rid of livestock is good for the environment. There's no right or wrong. You've got to see the whole picture."

Then there is her annual tiramisu, leftovers of which she enjoys every year for Boxing Day breakfast.

"It's one of those things you have to try before you die, with a coffee sitting in the garden. It's amazing."

Nadia’s Farm Kitchen by Nadia Lim, published by Nude Food Inc, RRP $55.00. Available at all good bookstores or from www.nadialim.com.