Musings and lessons
Farmer Mental Health
Put yourself in the Picture
Put Yourself in the Picture - Take Care of YOU in 2024
Righto, so we are already halfway through the first month of 2024! Some of you may have enjoyed a break over Christmas/New Years. Others (like my family and I), have been continuing to work through the ongoing farm jobs to be tackled. We had a soft finish to harvest around the New Year, went straight into a few hot weeks of crutching and shearing, thankfully we are finished (for now) and doing final prep to head away for our annual week at …
What is Psychological Flexibility, and why is it the #1 tool every farmer needs?
For me, it is about creating space for regular daily practices – e.g., mindful breathing or just bringing awareness to my daily habits (having a shower with awareness); being more open and learning to skillfully relate to challenging feelings – anxiety, frustration, overwhelm, disappointment – they are all going to show up whether I want them there…
Lessons from the Shearing Shed
Shearing Wisdom: Life lessons from the shearing shed
It's the eve of our final day of shearing, and it feels like we have been shearing forever, even if it's just been a month (with a week and a few days off here and there). For us, shearing is all hands on deck. My roles vary from getting sheep in, helping drafting (my 9 year old is a gun drafter), roustabouting, and probably the most important one - making sure everyone is fed. When I was working full time as a psychologist, I used to daydrea…