Nadia Lim and Carlos Bagrie launch ‘Eau de Dagg’ fragrance for a good cause

Carlos Bagrie and Nadia Lim have launched a new fragrance made from wool dags. Photo / Matt Quérée

Nadia Lim’s farming television show may have finished its first season but that doesn’t mean she’s stopped supporting rural New Zealand.

The celebrity chef has launched a cheeky new room fragrance to fundraise for mental health charity, Rural Support Trust.

However, some consumers may find the scent a little bit daggy, even though it’s for a good cause.

“Eau de Dagg” was created using essential oils made from the wool dags from Lim’s sheep.

Lim and her husband Carlos Bagrie run Central Otago’s Royalburn Station, a 485-ha sheep and barley farm on the Crown Range between Arrowtown and Wanaka.

The couple’s TV show, Nadia’s Farm, about the highs, lows and realities of rural life, has just finished its first season.

During filming, Lim and Bagrie connected with the Rural Support Trust through the show’s director/producer Matt Chisholm, who is also the Trust’s ambassador.

An "Eau de Dagg" sheep gift box is available on Royalburn's website. Photo / Supplied

The room fragrance was developed by Lim and local essential oil distiller Michael Sly, who was “the crazy-mad compost enthusiast,” on the show, she told The Country’s, Jamie Mackay.

“It was the perfect tie-in. It was all very serendipitous.”

Sly and Lim were both fans of composting and liked to try and turn “waste into precious resources,” she said.

“He came up with this idea of distilling dags because he’s got an essential oil distiller and I thought what a whacko idea but let’s give it a try!”

The final result was a fragrance that “smells like a woolshed,” Lim said.

Like all good experiments, early trials were not so successful, with the first attempt coming out “a bit too strong,” she said.

“That’s the one that everyone sees on the show [where] everyone was like ‘ooh – that smells a bit pooey,’ but we’ve worked on it.”

Luckily, the fourth time was the charm for “Eau de Dagg”.

“If you like the smell of a woolshed, you’ll like it – it’s actually really pleasant,” Lim said.

Mackay asked Bagrie if urban folk would agree with Lim’s assessment.

“I’m not sure,” he laughed.

Listen below:

Despite this, the inaugural bottle of “Eau de Dagg” seemed to be doing well on Trade Me, Bagrie said.

“So far it’s selling really well … it’s already up to $355 and all of the profits are going to the Rural Support Trust so [we’re] quietly stoked with that.

“Hopefully, the townies are into it.”

Also in today’s interview: Lim and Bagrie reflected on series one of Nadia’s farm, defended criticism of the show and talked about the ups and downs of organic farming.