Recent Articles
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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…
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Have you noticed that, except for around Christmas, we don’t really talk about joy? At the holidays we wish “Joy to the World!” but in the day-to-day we don’t think much about it. Joy is a deep emotion, and an important one. It is different than happiness, which comes in reaction to an event and…
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A few days ago, I saw this slogan on the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) website, and I love it. It’s their slogan for Men’s Health Month, encouraging men to speak up about their mental health and emotional needs. I’d like to expand it even more, and say that it’s not weak to speak…
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In this blog I’ve mentioned Steph Schmidt a few times—she is an Australian farmer who is also a psychologist and she focuses on farmer and farm family well-being. Here’s her website—you should check it out. Recently she wrote something that has gotten me thinking. She was writing about supporting ourselves and others when times get…
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Do you ever have times when you feel like the universe is trying to teach you something? I’m having one of those weeks now, and I think the thing I’m supposed to be learning about is humility. Humility is one of those virtues we’re all supposed to have, walking humbly and all that. But I’m…
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May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s a time to highlight the importance of mental health for everybody—young, old, children, adults. Mental health is key for overall well-being at every stage of life. Regardless of age, background, or experience, making good mental health a priority strengthens individuals, families, and communities. Sometimes people can feel uncomfortable…
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Sometimes, the hardest things people do go unnoticed. Farmers know this—so much of what farmers do is unnoticed and unappreciated, as food “magically” appears on the grocery shelves. Another group that is often unnoticed is the caregivers. These people, frequently family members or friends, take care of someone vulnerable. Often that is a child, or…
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I want to say a big “thank you” and shout out to Amanda Huber, editor of The Peanut Grower, for her editor’s note in the most recent issue of their magazine. It always warms my heart when someone in the agricultural world has the courage and heart to talk about the stresses farmers experience. This…
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I’ve been struggling all week thinking about what to write for today’s blog post. Sometimes I have more ideas than I know what to do with, and sometimes nothing comes. Zilch. Nada. My brain feels empty. When that happens I usually get filled with anxiety. I feel restless and twitchy, like I just have to…
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A little while back I had the good fortune to be part of the Georgia Farm Stress Summit in Statesboro. One of the speakers was Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tyler Harper, and he said something that I’ve been thinking about a lot. Commissioner Harper talked about a saying that farmers live by— “if you break…
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Georgia Ag Week is starting this week, and runs from March 17 through 23. This week is a time to shout out and celebrate our farmers and farm families for their amazing work and dedication to feeding and clothing the world. The Georgia Department of Agriculture has planned a week full of community events, educational…
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