Season 2, Episode 4: Why Farm Mental Health Matters (with Adrienne DeSutter of Sow Hope, Grow Hope)
The corn is being harvest right outside my kitchen, and we've spent weeks getting ready. The equipment is serviced. The meals are planned. The schedules are figured out. But we don't always prepare ourselves for what harvest asks of us mentally.
In part one of my conversation with my friend Adrienne DeSutter of Sow Hope, Grow Hope, we talk about why farm life can be so heavy, and why that weight doesn't stay with the person in the combine. It lands on the whole family, kids included.
IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 Harvest is here, and what we forget to prepare for
01:02 How Sow Hope, Grow Hope got its name, and why mental health is about everyday life
04:03 Adrienne's path from school counselor to farm wife
05:26 What makes harvest so uniquely hard
07:02 What to do when so much is out of our control
08:56 Sit with it first: the lesson from a hot bath 10:30 Why talking about it is finally becoming normal
12:02 Harvest stress lands on the whole family
14:27 What the research says about farmers and their kids
15:28 Your kids are watching how you take care of yourself
16:47 Why I stopped trying to be Superwoman
18:16 Resources and what's next
THE RESEARCH ADRIENNE MENTIONS About 60% of farmers and their teenage children surveyed met the criteria for at least mild depression. Most of the adults still rated their own mental health as good or excellent, which suggests many of us have gotten used to living with it. Source: Rudolphi & Berg, "Mental health of agricultural adolescents and adults: Preliminary results of a five-year study," Frontiers in Public Health, 2023. Read the University of Illinois summary:
IF YOU NEED SUPPORT You don't have to figure it out alone.
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988, anytime, anywhere in the U.S.