Nadia Lim on what makes her happy

Nadia Lim on her Arrowtown farm. Photo/Robert Trathen

Chef, farmer, business owner and entrepreneur - Nadia Lim is never one to rest on her laurels. As well as being mother to Bodhi, 6 and River, 3, she also runs, with husband Carlos Bagrie, the 485ha Royalburn Farm near Arrowtown, which is the setting for her new TV series Nadia's Farm. Here she talks about the simple joy of working the land, her most important life lessons and what makes her truly happy.

I'm not a jump-out-of-bed-straight-away person. So I lie in bed for about 5 minutes after waking up, with my eyes closed, just listening. I hear the boys playing or talking together (or arguing, which can sometimes be quite entertaining), the birds' morning chatter, our roosters cock-a-doodling. I'm not a coffee drinker, instead the first thing I have is a warm water with lemon or apple cider vinegar. It's good for your digestion.

The best way to get up and get started in the morning is by having a poached egg (our own pasture-raised, free-range eggs of course) on grainy toast, with a side of sauerkraut. Followed by a quick three-minute check on the veg garden to see what's growing well. It's always cold here first thing in the mornings (even in summer), but that blast of fresh, cold air certainly helps wake you up.

My husband Carlos always gets out of bed before me (he's an early riser, like all good farmers), so breakfast is usually ready for the kids and me around 7am (thanks Carlos). Then it's the auto-pilot routine of making school lunchboxes, telling the kids (at least five times!) to get dressed, brush their teeth and make their beds before carting them off to school. We almost always eat breakfast together. We time our boys running a few laps around the house before they go to school, and we have a running time record chart on the fridge to encourage them to beat their personal best. I reckon getting the fresh air in their lungs and making them feel they've achieved something every morning helps to set them up for a good day.

I'll wear make-up for special occasions and filming or photo shoots, but other than that I'm an au natural gal. Because we are on a farm, there is no pressure to, and no point in dressing up or getting made up anyway. I love not having to think of what to wear – it's basically just whatever pants/shorts, T-shirt and hoodie I wore yesterday, and gumboots. You don't have to worry about your clothes having holes in them or being a bit dirty either.

The family have access to fresh produce every day from their farm. Photo / Robert Trathen

I feel my best when I'm out in the sun, doing a bit of gardening. Or in the lake for a dip. And catching up with my mum, sister and brother (who all still live in Auckland, but I am trying to convince them to move south), and being around my two boys (when they are being on good behaviour).

I'm not a formal exercise person per se. My movement is all incorporated into daily life - gardening, walking on the farm, playing with the kids and dog. I would like to get back into swimming which I used to do (competitively) as a teenager though. In general, we eat pretty well and pretty simply. Our Royalburn Farm grows organic vegetables and produces meat, eggs, honey, and sunflower oil for a lot of the Otago region. So we are very lucky as a family to have all that produce at our fingertips. Processed food is definitely kept to a minimum.

To keep mentally and emotionally healthy I have lots of cuddles with my boys, give Carlos a kiss and hug every morning, get out in the garden, get sunshine, play music loud (an advantage of having your nearest neighbour a couple of kilometres away) and dance by myself. I think it is so important to be out in nature regularly and observe what goes on ... it reminds you that nothing lasts forever and everything is constantly changing, with death giving way to new life.

The best advice I've ever been given about life is probably from my future old nana-self. If I'm trying to make a decision on something, I imagine what advice 80-year-old nana Nadia would give me. Usually she says "go for it, give it a go. Life's too short to be boring".

The people who have had the most profound impact on my life are my parents. For different reasons. My mother has always been our calm, resilient and stable rock. My father (who passed away eight years ago) was a Chinese Malaysian immigrant who grew up very poor and moved here in the 70s as a university student. He worked harder than anyone I've ever known and, due to his hard upbringing, he had very high expectations of my siblings and me to "do better than him" and he really pushed us mentally and academically. I think, in some ways, his strict style of parenting wouldn't be very "on trend" today, but I am very grateful that he strongly instilled the ethics of discipline, hard work, and constantly striving to do better, along with "never forgetting your roots".

The values I live by are continuous learning, compassion, integrity, honesty, authenticity, loyalty, courage, responsibility and determination.

As I get older, I realise no one is right or wrong, and most things are more shades of grey than they are black or white. We all have different perspectives as a result of many different factors, and who's to say that yours is the "right" perspective? People can view the same thing, but with very different tinted glasses; the old saying rings true - you can't judge others unless you have walked a mile in their shoes.

When the going gets tough, this is what I tell myself: This is just a phase ... nothing stays constant and this shall pass. And I remind myself of just how fortunate I am to have what I have. No matter what you're going through, many others are going through much, much harder times.

The things that make me happiest are cuddles with my two boys, sneaking a quick snooze in the sun, singing in the car by myself, a bit of gardening on a sunny day, catching up with family, chatting to our dog Winston and watching his reactions as he tries to understand me, 24- to 48-hour child-free getaways, travelling to new places and meeting and experiencing new cultures.

On Sundays you'll find me in the garden (if it's a nice day). Otherwise, on the couch watching Outlander or playing Snap with my younger boy, River.

My best life hack is maybe … carry a toothbrush with you whenever you fly. I can't stand the feeling of stale breath after a long flight. You feel so good once you've brushed your teeth.

Nadia's Farm starts on October 5 on Three and ThreeNow.