Article Archives

  • Welcome to Thriving on the Farm!

    Welcome to my blog, Thriving on the Farm! We all know farming is important and rewarding, but also demanding and stressful. Too much stress can be toxic—it can raise your blood pressure, give you headaches, make you anxious and depressed, get in the way of being a good parent, spouse, or friend, and cloud your…

  • Walking My Talk and Saying Goodbye

    For over two and half years now I’ve been writing this blog, posting weekly (more or less) about well-being, taking care, and managing stress in order to keep thriving on the farm. In addition to tips and suggestions for stress management, I’ve shared thoughts and musing about family, loss, and life. One of my big…

  • Dependable Insights in Uncertain Times

    man standing at crossroads at sunset

    The Georgia Ag Labor Relations Forum   will be held at the UGA Conference Center in Tifton on September 16-17. This year’s theme is “Dependable Insights in Uncertain Times,” which is something we could all definitely use! The Forum will have speakers from industry, from the government, from agricultural advocacy, and from research. It will be…

  • You Matter

    This past week I was at the UGA Cotton and Peanut Field Day, talking about farm stress. It was a great day, and I was able to have some stunningly candid conversations with people about stress, suicide, the need to reach out when you need help, and the importance of checking on each other and…

  • Recovery is a Big Word

    September is Recovery Month, when we celebrate people who work hard every day to overcome problems with substance use or mental health struggles. But as I think about it, “recovery” is bigger that overcoming behavioral health problems. Recovery is doing the things one needs to do to get back to a healthy condition. We can…

  • Go Fishing!

    Last week I got to go to the NorthEast Georgia Ag Expo in Hart County. It was a great day—I had a table with farm stress resources I got to share with lots of farmers and their families. Throughout the day I also got to have a number of very genuine conversations with farmers about…

  • When I’m talking about stress and mental health, I often get questions like “What is counseling really like?” or “Will I have to lie down on a couch to talk to the counselor?” or “If I see a counselor, does it mean I’m ‘crazy’?” There are so many myths about counseling, ideas that come from…

  • Building Your Committee

    Long ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I was a graduate student. One of the most important things I had to do was put together my committee—the group of faculty members who would teach, mentor, and guide me through the process of becoming a PhD and part of the university. It was kind of an…

  • What’s In Your Emergency Kit?

    When I was a teen and first driving, I loved going on road trips. My parents encouraged me, but always made sure I had what they called my “emergency kit” with me in the car. An emergency kit was a bag with a few essential things in it. It had a road flasher, so people…

  • Thoughts on My Birthday

    Toddler in high chair looking at a chocolate birthday cake held out to them.

    I had a birthday last week. I turned 67. Yikes! For the past few days I’ve been thinking about getting older and what it means to be closer to 70 than 60. And since everyone gets older, I thought I’d pass on a few of the things I’ve been thinking about, in case it can…

  • What’s a Little Heat?

    We are in the middle of summer in Georgia, and all I hear is “It is SOOOO hot!!”  Yes, yes, indeed it is. But that isn’t really a big deal, is it? After all, what’s a little heat? Well…the other day I stumbled across something that made me pause, and rethink how I talk about…