CHAMPION OF THE EVERYDAY

There’s a note on the fridge at the farmhouse Bec Kos shares with her husband, Denis Tomlinson, and daughters Clancy, 17, Imogen, 15, and Edie, nine, that pretty much sums up Bec’s approach to country life. It’s a quote from one her favourite people, the esteemed still-life artist Margaret Olley, who herself was a country lass from Lismore. It reads: “If the house looks dirty buy another bunch of flowers, is my advice”.

And that, pretty much, is how Bec has learnt to navigate the glorious chaos of raising a family on a broad-acre farm called Oakbank, at Daysdale, just north of Corowa in the NSW southern Riverina. As Bec herself is an artist, she knows a thing or two about the constant juggle of looking after her daughters with their busy school and extra-curricular requirements, the demands of the farm, being on a couple of community committees and carving out time for her passion for painting.

“I call it embracing my inner Jack, as in Jack-of-all-trades,” she says. “Farmers are of course the ultimate Jacks as their knowledge must cover a diverse range of skills to deal with all the problems that need fixing in the bush where