Rose Farm Reflections

# - (Edited) Rose Farm Reflections

Tue, Apr 15, 2025 8:27AM • 19:37

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Freedom, adventure, writing retreat, Rose Farm, Denise Duffel Thomas, self-care, business travel, creative writing, oracle cards, retreat experience, book writing, personal growth, Aboriginal recognition, podcast inspiration, life balance.

SPEAKERS

Emma Lovell

Emma Lovell 00:00

Emma, do you want to live a life of freedom and adventure? Are you wanting more than the daily grind? Me too. Welcome to the Emma Lovell, show a place where we talk about living a life you love. Now I'm your host, Emma Lovell, and my number one value is freedom. I've spent the last 14 years running a business and traveling the world, and now I take my husband and toddler along for the adventure too. It's possible, and I know you can create a life doing what you truly love as well. This podcast will inspire, motivate and encourage you to go after your dreams, to create a life you love and to live it now, not wait for a time and or someday in the future, I'll be sharing episodes weekly about how I harmonize business travel and self care. I'll also bring on incredible guests to share their journeys, the wins, the challenges, and how they're creating a life they love. Let's jump in and get dreaming. This is a space for you to manifest a life you love. I would like to acknowledge and recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples of this place, now known as Australia. I am grateful for the continuing care of the land, waterways and skies where I work, live, listen, learn and play from here on, you can bear country and from wherever you are listening, I pay my respects to the elders past and present. Hello and welcome to today's episode. I am sharing some reflections from my visits to the lawn rose farm. I have a special connection with this place now, and it's actually for sale at the moment. I hope that by the time this episode comes out, it is sold. But I also feel excited because I have actually just rebooked the rose farm again, I will be hosting a writing retreat there through my other business rest and receive retreats. So the writing retreat is on from the 25th to the 28th of June. So if you have a writing project, whether that be a book, your website, you're just trying to get back into creative writing or journaling, and you need some time and space. We're really going to have so much space at this beautiful place, and I'm going to tell you more about the property and why, why I felt called to go back for a third time in this episode, and why I definitely felt called to run a writing retreat. So the first time actually went to the Rose farm. And the farm for the past, oh, I think it's six, six or seven years now, has been the guardians of the property and the owners, the Guardians, they like to say, of the property, are Denise duffel Thomas and her husband, Mark, and they bought the property. I will share a link in the show notes to an episode that that she did about how they bought it and why they're selling it, and the journey that they've been on, but one of the things that Denise did was to host retreats there. And I knew somebody who went on a retreat there in 2019 and at the time, the price for the retreat was just completely out of anything that I'd ever done outside of my I don't say the word budget or affordability, but I just was like, I just wouldn't justify it. And I was just fascinated by who is going to this and how are they paying? And I knew somebody going and I thought, What is this all about? And even more fascinating to me was that they weren't staying at the property, but they the group, had a wonderful time. I was very curious, I think once, I did actually catch up with my friend who had gone a few years later. I was like, how was that? And then came an opportunity in 2023 that Denise was hosting another rose farm retreat, and what just a few years can change. You know, four years later, and I was like, I have to go to this retreat. I felt compelled to go, but I'd really only discovered Denise's work in 2019 and then since then, had joined the sacred money archetypes program that she runs, and then Money Boot Camp, which are her signature programs. And I just was like, I just have to go to this place, like, it just seems really romantic and beautiful, and Denise does, also doesn't do coaching privately. So it's like, it's a small group. It's the only way that you can really kind of interact it and receive any sort of coaching, knowing that it wouldn't be private coaching or anything like that, but just to have, I guess, to experience what is it like being in sort of hanging out with your mentors, hanging out with people who are doing very well in business, and in, quite frankly, there's a millionaire and I was like, I want to see how this came to fruition. I also want to buy land and have. Putting myself in the future. So, like, big land, not that's 10 acres, we'd probably look at a few acres too, and a bigger home. So that's on our vision board. But I wanted to go there, and it's just so interesting. I was like, I will just make it happen, which I did. And when I got there, I understood the not staying there because it is their family holiday home, as well as a property that they use for events and things and but the other part of it was that Denise said, you know, if you don't have a comfy bed, or you feel that it's not the temperature's not right, or something like that, also that they were eight spots available. There's not actually eight spots in the house, then, you know, that would really reflect on the experience. Whereas if you just come and spend the time at the house and then choose your own accommodation at your level, then that's your experience. And so I was like, oh, and it gave me permission to offer that on my next retreat there. So I was like, oh, yeah, you know people, I like doing that. Sometimes I go to conferences. I don't want to stay at the hotel, because I can stay nearby with a friend, or nearby in my house, because there's a lot of conferences and events on the Gold Coast. I'm like, I'm not paying for a hotel when I would rather stay in hotel elsewhere and stay at home, so it really opened my mind up to that. Anyway, that was August, 2023 there was a lot going on in my life. A lot of grief. My nephew had been diagnosed with terminal illness. That month. Two of my friends died of breast cancer. My grandmother had died in March. It was like a lot I'm laughing, because it was just full on. And it's in my book. So it's in my book, The Art of pleasure, which I wrote because I committed to it there. I committed to writing a book which was a dream, and Denise has written four, and one of the other ladies there had written one, and one of the other ladies decided she might want to write a book there, and we talked about it on the drive. I was picking her up, Justine McLean picking her up, and she ended up writing a book, business money magnet, and it came from sort of what we discussed at the retreat, um, and then I connected with a publishing company on LinkedIn the day I was at the retreat. I was like, okay, and then just started sort of pitching my idea. And I was like, Is it this easy? But I was just open to it. And I said, You know what, I'm going to write my book. And I think I set the deadline too. I was like, Well, my, you know, a year, and my birthday is the 20th of August, so I'd love to be a published author by my book birthday, and it was a few days after, but, I mean, the book was in print, so I got the book in my hands on the 21st of August, so I did it, and I just had, I feel very emotional. I just had a really special time there. And I haven't actually talked about it much, because I got these beautiful rose cards, which are now my favorite oracle cards. Oh, one of my favorite, like, I have a few favorites, I must admit, um, by beautiful Rebecca Campbell. And they're these, if you're on video, they're these rose oracle cards, and they're just the most beautiful designs. And actually, Denise had a bunch of oracle cards at the retreat, um, heaps and heaps of decks. And I chose these from underneath, and was using them. And I picked this card called sub Rosa. And sub Rosa means under the roses. And it was kind of a thing that in old times, you'd be like, let's go and meet under the roses. And was understood that anything said under the Roses was kind of confidential. And I got that card on the first day, and I had this whole idea that I would go to the retreat and then be like, oh, and I went on this retreat, and I learned all this stuff. And now you can come on retreats and host, like, learn from me, and I don't know, sort of use all the photos and videos and use that in my own marketing, but this card is like and the lessons that I was learning, and even going against that right now, was that it's safe to have things that are just for me, and that, yes, this was probably one of the higher end experiences that I had bought and had invested in and put money into, but it's okay, it's safe and it's fine for me, it's safe, and it's wonderful for me to have to spend money on something that's for me for my growth, for my learning, for my rest, for my whatever. And I give you that permission too, and it was such a beautiful lesson there. And I was like, I truly want to respect the group, and I really want to respect the place, and I really want to respect the space and anything that I take away here, I actually want it to be for me. And of course, people were curious when I got back as well. How was the rose farm? What happened there? And I was like, you know, it was wonderful, and it was great. And if you get the opportunity to do go, but what we did there, that's for us, you know. And I got that lesson from the cards. And then the next day I got, we all got gifted a set, and I was like, Oh my gosh, I manifested it. Here they are. So I use these all the time now. And another card that I really loved that I got there was come to me. And the card, which I've spoken about on this podcast at some point, but I don't know if I called it that, but I got this lesson of be the rose. And be the rose means, from that card is that the bee comes to the rose. The rose doesn't go to the bees. Doesn't run around and go, please, like, pick me and come and come to my rose. It it stays there, and it's beautiful, and it blossoms, and it comes and goes when it's meant to and the bees come to it. So it was like, Come to me. And I was like, yes, things can come to me. I don't have to always be the one going everywhere and doing everything and and like, like, like, shouting. It was like, yes, things can come to me. And so it just whenever I get a bit carried away and get busy, and I've got my arm up on this podcast recording, because I now have a tattoo that is the rose. The rose also reminds me of my grandmother. She did enjoy roses, and also my great uncle, her brother, who had roses at his house. So I just, I think of them. And what a beautiful message, be the rose, something just like, Be beautiful. It's like blossom in your own time. Just stay where you are. Be grounded, you know, the strong STEM, the yeah, there's so many beautiful analogies that came out of it. And of course, roses are used in a lot of things, but I think there's sort of lessons from the rose that you can learn. And I love all the cards go through all the different life stages of the rose, the bud, the blossoming, the bloom, the the fallow period, the the winter, you know, the the thorns, like, there's all these different things are the seed. They're all wonderful lessons, and I just find that those cards help me sort of along the way. So then I felt called to run a retreat there, and I ended up in MA april 2025, we went back 18 months later, and I co hosted this retreat with Anna Featherston, who is an author advocate and mentor, because I just felt like that's where my book came and it just is such a beautiful, poetic, romantic place that lends itself to writing. So of course, there would be a retreat where we would do writing, and Anna was a really great support and help in my time of need with my book, and really backed and has supported me since then, and I knew that she would be a wonderful expert and mentor and for the group. So she ran four workshops, and we had, we ended up having eight of us, beautiful group, and everyone was there to focus on their book and have their own book, Dream come true. And for me, I planted the seed and committed, at the Rose farm again to writing my second book. So that's april 2025 I committed to writing my second book, and I've put the fun deadline this time. I had already knew this book was coming, so it's not as short a timeline. It sort of is, but I thought the book would come out in March, so I give myself a year from now ish, but it's coming faster. It's coming faster, and it's totally complimentary to my first book, The Art of pleasure, and there's a chapter in the book, it's all about retreats. So the second book, it's all about retreats. And of course, I had to plant that seed at a retreat. And I started writing the book at the retreat, and I'm going to finish writing the book at a retreat. I am going to host this writing retreat, and I'm going to finish the manuscript there. So that is my commitment, 25th to the 28th of June. If you want to come and you want to be part of some magic, writing something, creating something, maybe starting the dream, that's what this retreat is going to do. And I just, I just felt like I wasn't quite finished with the rose farm, so I rebooked it straight away. I'm calling in a beautiful group who want to share this experience, share this magic. And it will possibly be the last ever retreat with the guardianship of Denise and Mark, because they are selling the property. So if you're interested in buying a retreat menu, highly recommend it, and of course, we'll use it. They're really hoping, and I hope too, that somebody will continue to run it as this event space, because it's a beautiful space, and I think it, yeah, it would be great for somebody to have that opportunity, because it is a really special space. But yeah, I'm running this retreat. So if you're interested email, you can email me, Emma. Emma lovell.au we can head to our website rest and receive.au forward slash writing retreat. I'm calling it the rose writing retreat. So just because of all the lessons from the rose and it is at the Rose farm, and they always have to have a little bit of a theme, so or something to you know, because no doubt we'll have future writing retreats, but I don't know We'll the company is, and I am always creating new things so, but this one is, is going to be the rose farm. It will be the last one that we know of there. And I would love you to be a part of it and to come and experience your own kind of magic potentially. Yeah, as I said, might be the way your book begins, too. So that's some lessons. Just the property itself. There's beautiful fire pit, there's lined trees, there's cows next door. So I was doing yoga in the morning next to the cows. There's a cute little town, and we went to this little cafe in town and had some little pastries, but we mostly were at the farm. I tried not to leave at all once we got there. And I also had a gorgeous friend and colleague come and visit for the first night, I booked an extra night who's also going to come and set some intention with me for the next one. Her name is Anna from Moon school, and she makes the candles for rest and receive so she came and just helped me to sort of set the energy and get into the space and share it with me. And that was really beautiful to do. But there's just so much inspiration around there is the roses themselves. There's a beautiful, big barn where they actually filmed some of Farmer Wants a Wife. People have had weddings there. There's a stables, which is where you can have lunch outside. There's a big deck, so there's so many little nooks and little spaces where people can sit and write and dream and plan. There's a pool, which will probably be cold in June, but we'll have the fire going inside, and we'll have the fire pit on at night. And we're going to do intention setting at the start to get into the zone, to plan what we're going to work on. We're going to have a fire ceremony and releasing ceremony, just sort of in the middle of the second night of the retreat, just to kind of let go of anything that's blocking us and stopping us. And then we're going to have a closing which is looking in the goal and planning our future vision, just to send us off into a wonderful thing. So that's the only sessions. The rest of the time will be writing, writing, writing, writing, or dreaming, dreaming, resting, whatever you need to do, lots and lots of space to enjoy. So because that's what I want to do there too. That's what I think the space creates. So lots of time to walk around the land and, yeah, just to be, and that's what the rose teaches us to do, is to be, be the rose. Just be so not a bee. Don't Be the Bee. There are bees. There. You can go and see the hives, but be, be as you are. Be the rose. Learn from the rose. So we'll do that at the Rose farm. I hope you've enjoyed this episode, learning bit more about why I've connected to this place, and I hope to see you there and share it with you. If you'd like to know more about my retreats and what I do with coaching and teaching people and hosting, you can head over to rest. Hello at rest and receive. No, the website is www rest and receive.au. As I said, you can also learn a bit more about my belt journey. And yeah, I guess the book that, what that came from there at Emma lovell.au forward slash book. All right. Thank you so much, and see you next time. Thank you for listening. Lovely one. I hope this has inspired you to dream big and start creating a life you love today. If you love what you're hearing, don't forget to follow and rate on Spotify and rate review and subscribe on iTunes. It helps other awesome people to find this podcast and get motivated and inspired as well. Want to stay connected, come and join the live a life you love, group on Facebook or connect with me on Instagram. Emma lovell.au the same as my website, but all the details are in the show notes. Lovely. I'll see you next episode for more inspiration, motivation and freedom seeking. Now go out there and live a life you love. You.