Buffalo Mentality: Facing Storms Head-On

We believe the farm's greatest asset is the farmer – their knowledge, experience, mind, and health. 

• Springtime on the farm means planting crops and loading fat cattle in Southeast Iowa
• Unexpected challenges are inevitable on the farm – from equipment breakdowns to cattle escaping
• When faced with problems, most people initially react instead of respond
• Moving from "why is this happening to me?" to "what am I learning from this?" shifts your perspective
• The faster you can stop ruminating on problems and start seeking solutions, the better
• Having a supportive partner or friend who can help pull you out of negative thought patterns is crucial
• We're building a community specifically for agricultural families to provide support and growth opportunities
• Face challenges like a buffalo – head-on into the storm – rather than avoiding them

Please reach out to us at farmersgreatestasset@gmail.com to share what you'd like to hear about or problems you'd like solutions to. Go give us a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Transcript

Welcome to Springtime on the Farm

Speaker 1 0:14

The Farmer's Greatest Asset podcast. We believe the farm's greatest asset is the farmer their knowledge, experience, mind and health. Okay, welcome back, I'm Jesse.

Speaker 2 0:39

And.

Speaker 1 0:40

I'm Dr Leah, so springtime on the farm. It is actually sunday that we're recording this happy sunday yeah, happy sunday. We're still plugging along on getting crops planted here in southeast iowa. A lot of people are done. Um, still a lot of acres to go though. I bet we'll be done in a couple days, and we are actually loading out a load of fat cattle today.

Speaker 2 1:03

Two loads.

Speaker 1 1:04

Two loads, so it never ends. There's always something to do on the farm.

Speaker 2 1:08

There definitely is always something to do on the farm, always.

Speaker 1 1:13

We wouldn't have it any other way, would we?

Speaker 2 1:15

Sometimes it feels like I would like to have it another way, especially when you have weeks like I had this week.

Speaker 1 1:22

But we always are busy, like we always do something, like we might get away, but we're still wanting to go and do something.

Speaker 2 1:30

Well, we're just not really sit around people and I think that farming is that occupation is kind of like that, and that's why you choose it. We're probably the other extreme. We have a very difficult time relaxing, and that is a strength that we need to work at building.

Speaker 1 1:52

We like to get away though, so at least we get away.

Speaker 2 1:55

Yeah, and that helps rejuvenate. We talked about that last week, right? So this week has been a very challenging time for myself, and so we thought it would be really great to talk about what when unexpected things happen on the farm which always happen right, whether it's your tractor breaking breakdowns or weather yeah, weather cattle getting out.

Speaker 1 2:21

So the neighbor just called me this morning and when they call when it's high alert high alert when it's kenny or karen. I always see that and I'd go and start running to the door and grabbing my shoes and usually yelling let's go, let's go, everybody's gotta go everybody, get everybody up and dressed well, he just wanted to burn the brush pile in the corner. It's like okay, kenny, stop, I don't have cattle out, right, oh no, no, no, no, it's a good day for you today, but those things, always, things always come up.

Speaker 2 2:57

They do.

When Unexpected Things Happen

Speaker 1 2:57

It's just a farm, right? If it'd be easy, everybody do it.

Speaker 2 3:02

That's not the only reason. It's not easy Right, no easy, everybody do it. That's not the only reason.

Speaker 1 3:06

It's not easy, right? No, even like yesterday. So the plan is tomorrow, monday, to go back to planting. So I thought yesterday I'd take the girls with me and get seed loaded up and fertilizer loaded up and everything's, you know, greased and ready and full of fuel and just ready to go to the field. And so we have literally changed our entire functionality fertilizer program. You know planting, you know routine.

Speaker 2 3:33

And we are growing with it Right.

Speaker 1 3:36

But yesterday I was just so frustrated because the fertilizer tender we got to jack around with different hoses and valves and metering here and there and I was frustrated to say the least.

Speaker 2 3:48

Yeah.

Speaker 1 3:49

You know when those unexpected things come up. We're learning to deal with it.

Speaker 2 3:54

Well, so the first thing that we have learned, so we wanted to kind of talk with you all about what the process that we go through to kind of reset our mind. One of the first things is to realize that you're in a reaction mode. Right, You're reacting to the situation.

Speaker 1 4:12

Which is normal.

Speaker 2 4:13

Which is normal for every human being, and the faster you, kenny, called, and I reacted.

Speaker 1 4:19

I literally ran to the door.

Speaker 2 4:22

I literally ran to the door. So the first thing to realize is you really can handle anything, but you're in that reaction mode and to just kind of take a breath and say this is happening for us.

Speaker 1 4:40

Not to us.

Speaker 2 4:41

Right. It's to get into that higher, higher essence and to Jesse's phone is ringing. It's to get into that higher essence and your higher self and to not be in reactionary mode and to step forward with how you're going to deal with the process rather than react to the process. Because you know, we had several big things come up over the week and we, like I tend not necessarily Jesse, but I tend to ruminate in it Like why, you know, why is this happening and why, why, what did I do to get here? And the whole. This isn't fair and I want to be right and all of those things are not going to build the solution. It only ruminates on the problem and everyone, like human beings, just do that in general. But the shorter you can make that rumination time over, woe is me to what are we going to do about it?

Speaker 1 5:49

how can we learn from this?

Speaker 2 5:51

yes, and what am I learning from it?

Speaker 1 5:54

like you said, and how do we get better? How do we move forward from here right?

Speaker 2 6:00

I think we are doing better. Uh, we still have a lot of I know I still have a lot of reaction when things don't go the way that I necessarily planned them to.

Speaker 1 6:12

Seems like nothing ever goes as planned, but that's just.

Speaker 2 6:16

Yeah, what is that song out there? You make a plan and God's laughing, yeah.

Speaker 1 6:24

You've got to have a plan, you've got to start somewhere, but you've also got to be able to adapt and move on and roll with it. It's life on the farm.

Speaker 2 6:32

Well, I think that's just life in general, even if you aren't in agriculture, like all of a sudden yesterday we're like we've never been to Tulip Days in Pella. Why don't we drive up there? And we got dressed and the girls, jesse, I and the girls went up there, jesse the girls and I To the Tulip Festival. To the Tulip Festival to see pretty flowers.

Speaker 1 6:51

And we saw pretty flowers. So many people in Pella.

Speaker 2 6:52

Yeah, it was amazing to see.

Speaker 1 6:55

It's a beautiful little town you should visit.

Speaker 2 6:56

Yeah, it was awesome and we had a nice time there and had some excellent products.

Speaker 1 7:06

Yeah, just time to get away.

Speaker 2 7:09

And it was a short trip, I mean.

Speaker 1 7:10

I think we were gone like Pella's an hour and a half from us.

Moving from Reaction to Solutions

Speaker 2 7:13

Yeah, we were gone like six hours-ish In the afternoon, but it was nice to just get away and decompress a little bit and walk around. And then on the way home we hit a deer, walk around, and then on the way home we hit a deer again.

Speaker 1 7:37

Things always happen, right and then it's like damn it. How is this happening for us, should I?

Speaker 2 7:41

stupid animals. Right it is. You just got to pick it up and move forward. And yep, it's one more thing that I really don't want to have to deal with this week and for the next month trying to get the car fixed.

Speaker 1 7:53

But it happened, can't change it no. Best we can do is live our best life, be like okay, let's move on. We like to. I guess we chew on it for a while, but I guess that's just how we operate and we talk about it and talk about it and work through it.

Speaker 2 8:12

Yeah.

Speaker 1 8:13

And we literally say, okay, what did we learn from this? How did we bring it into our life? You say that a lot. I just like to think how do we learn from this and move on? What do we change to be better?

Speaker 2 8:23

Yeah Well, and I really look at it from like we are the creators of our life and we have we have a relationship with God and things are brought into our lives to learn perspective and meaning. And so if things continue to repeat and you're seeing things like, for instance, if you're fighting with your spouse about the same thing all of the time, you aren't learning that lesson. What is the lesson that you're supposed to be learning?

Speaker 1 8:54

To learn from history.

Speaker 2 8:55

Right. So if you are continually seeing something in your life, there's something that you need to focus on learning, and for the majority of my life I would say probably up until the last two or three years it was not that way for me, and it's very frustrating when you just are kind of in that victim mentality, like that victim mindset, right.

Speaker 1 9:21

Why do you want to stay in that shit storm?

Speaker 2 9:24

Like yes, and then you just that's all you're focused on.

Speaker 2 9:29

All you're ever going to on like your own problems, and that is then you will not find solutions. So, as human beings, it's very common to to be like you know, why is this happening? When it, when you, when you are thinking, why is this happening, it's good to get in. The practice of this is happening for me and what am I to learn from it, and the faster that that process can happen, the closer you will get to a solution, rather than staying in the problem.

Speaker 1 10:01

Right, you got to get out of the storm. There's no need to stay in it because it doesn't get you anywhere. You don't get better from that it doesn't get you anywhere.

Speaker 2 10:12

You don't get better from that and luckily, I feel like our relationship has developed through our years Um, especially the last few years like us both going through big issues, like me with medicine and you with your injury, we have, we have learned to help pull each other out of those shit storms and to be like okay, right now, like to give each other time to kind of work through it and give each other space to let it out verbally or emotionally and then to come back to a solution and we really have learned to help each other through that. I think the hardest time is when both of us are going through it, so we're not in our highest self.

Speaker 1 11:00

Right.

Speaker 2 11:00

And so then we bring ego to the table and that's kind of where we've been at for the last four or five months.

Speaker 1 11:08

But I feel like we are out of that worth going through that and when you're growing and going through all of big changes and stuff, it's you find your higher self and then all of a sudden, you get into a rut, get in that storm. You got to get out of it and be like okay, take a breath.

Speaker 2 11:27

And I'm glad that not at the time. I'm not always glad that I have a partner that will point out to me like okay, you're in the middle of this right now, like you need to pull out of it, cause sometimes I'm just very much in resistance to even hearing that I just want to be heard, cause I'm I'm a projector, like I like to process things as I'm talking, and it's not always easy to do that with the four people that I spend most time with you and the kids, because you don't always have time to sit and just listen and that's how I process things. So I mean rightfully so, like you're out and you're busy and you do the best you can, but it isn't always the right time.

Building Support and Community

Speaker 1 12:12

Well, I guess the the moral of the story is you got to have have that one, somebody, whether it's a friend or a spouse. Lately you've had a lot of good conversations with.

Speaker 2 12:24

My dear friend Carrie Carrie, I found an amazing. I mean, I have so many amazing friends, but I'm definitely building a really fantastic relationship with a friend of mine who owns Okoboji. She's the CEO of Okoboji Wellness Clinic.

Speaker 1 12:43

They're doing some pretty amazing things there. They are they are Just out there trying to help Healing people Doing the right thing.

Speaker 2 12:49

They are just out there trying to help Healing people. It is.

Speaker 1 12:51

Doing the right thing.

Speaker 2 12:52

It is amazing some of the work that they're doing for their patients, so that's fun to watch as well.

Speaker 1 12:58

They've been a pivotal portion of me getting better, us getting better with what we call the pod. That's where we got our hyperbaric chamber from.

Speaker 2 13:07

Yeah, it's been truly amazing building that relationship and they're just such wonderful people good people, so you gotta have that that support somewhere yeah and luckily you and I have it in each other yes, and that's not always the case.

Speaker 2 13:24

You know, as couples grow and we've had those times in in our relationship as you're growing and sometimes you don't want to hear it from your partner because it's such a smack in the face, and so you're growing at different rates and you're at different places and it can just be hard. So that is one of the many reasons why we are starting to build a community and it's going to be out as soon as we, as you know, we're working on it currently.

Speaker 1 13:59

We're building it and coming up with all the things that it needs to be or have in there.

Speaker 2 14:04

You know my background, as we've talked extensively is in health and wellness and mental clarity and well-being, and Jesse's got a big egg twist on it and I kind of have my own egg twist on it. But we would love to hear, like we're creating this community for agriculture. What do you want from us?

Speaker 1 14:30

Right Agriculture, husbands and wives and everything in between, and it's all about support and growing, because we all have our own struggles. So I was on Farm for Profit podcast Again. Go check them out if you haven't.

Speaker 2 14:42

It was an awesome podcast. Another good podcast out there Great fun guys.

Speaker 1 14:47

So I talked about the community on there that we want to provide and build, and it's just about support and growth.

Speaker 2 14:55

We just want to help ag families I mean, we want to help all families, but specifically families in ag. Like there is such a need for it, the more we we learn about all of it, we see how there's such a need and this is. This is kind of how we are finding our soul's purpose, and we'd love to hear from you all.

Speaker 1 15:17

Share it with all your friends. Uh, the podcast, and we'd love to hear from you all. Share it with all your friends. The podcast, our website the book is out on the website. We're building this community. Let us know what you'd like to hear from us on the podcast. The podcast we're just here to talk about our rawness and our life and what's going on, you know, on the farm and how we deal with things.

Speaker 2 15:37

And we have too in in the past dealt with things very. Yeah, Poor poor, I know.

Speaker 1 15:45

We haven't dealt with things very well.

Speaker 2 15:48

We have had a lot of avoidance, right? I mean, that's probably our biggest go-to. You and I both Like avoid and just keep working. Just avoid and keep working. I mean we really have done that. We have almost perfected it.

Speaker 2 16:04

I would say and now the realization is like how much that has dominated our life and how we can change that in our life as well and just deal with things when they're coming, rather than shoving it down and avoiding well right, you got to realize what you're in and accept it and admit to it and just deal with it head on.

Speaker 1 16:30

I think it was actually carrie that said at okoboji be the buffalo oh yeah the buffalo face the storm head on.

Facing Challenges Like a Buffalo

Speaker 2 16:39

Right, so you can be an eagle. The eagle looks at the problem but just kind of hovers over it, looking and trying to figure out how to. You can see it, but you're still not dealing with it. What is the second? I?

Speaker 1 16:54

don't know. Now I need to call Carrie.

Speaker 2 16:56

I know Shoot.

Speaker 1 17:00

Does it really matter? No, no, the whole point is the second thing, just turns away from the storm I think it's.

Speaker 2 17:07

I can't remember what the second animal was but you turn away from the storm and you're like you know the storm is happening, but you just put your back into it and you avoid it.

Speaker 1 17:17

Yes, ignore and avoid it.

Speaker 2 17:19

Yes, ignore and avoid. And the buffalo? The buffalo is the one animal that looks into the storm and moves forward to deal with the storm.

Speaker 1 17:29

It's a great analogy.

Speaker 2 17:30

It is. I really do wish that I could remember the second animal, but when are you at Carrie? Yeah right.

Speaker 1 17:39

But that's how we just need to learn to deal with life.

Speaker 2 17:42

Face it head on so the community is going to help us find the buffaloes and to help us build ourselves into a buffalo create a herd create the herd. So we're really excited about where all of the farmer's greatest asset is going and how we can serve you all, our community.

Speaker 1 18:05

Yeah, thank you for following along and finding us.

Speaker 2 18:08

Yeah, we really really appreciate it. So thank you so much.

Speaker 1 18:13

What would be great is go out there and give us a review on Apple Spotify, anywhere you get your podcast.

Speaker 2 18:20

We would love, love, love to hear more from you. So if you could just take a minute or two of your time, send us an email at Farmers Greatest Asset, tell us what you would love to hear about or some of the problems you would love to hear solutions to. I love being a problem solver. That's one of the reasons I loved medicine and love medicine.

Speaker 1 18:46

So the email is farmersgreatestasset at gmailcom.

Speaker 2 18:51

Please reach out to us. We'd love to hear from you.

Speaker 1 18:55

It's a good day. To have a great day To have a great day.

Speaker 2 18:59

Bye everyone.