Invest In Yourself To Protect The Farm

We step back in winter to reset our mission: the farm’s greatest asset is the farmer. We share simple practices, community support, and a plan to turn conference energy into small, lasting actions that protect health and sharpen focus.

• seasonal reflection and planning for clarity
• farmer health as the highest ROI
• journaling, sleep, prayer, and writing as tools
• choosing three takeaways from conferences
• small habits that build consistent action
• community as support beyond competition
• building The Farmer’s Greatest Asset network

Reach out to us at farmersgreatasset@gmail.com if you would like to join the community and join our wait list
Find us on all of the socials at farmersgreat assasset

Transcript

Mission: The Farmer Comes First

SPEAKER_00 0:16

The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast. We believe the Farm's Greatest Asset is the Farmer. Their knowledge, experience, mind, and health. Welcome to the podcast. I'm Jesse.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

And I'm Dr. Leah.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

It is convention, conference, slash, meeting season, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:49

I think we're just kind of beginning all of that, but yes. Yeah, the winter time.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

So we attended a conference last week. So that was good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

It was very good.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

So it kind of leads into your um seasonality thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Of kind of rest and reflection and planning slash preparation, but in a slow way.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Right. Learn what worked and did not work last year and learn new things.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

It's a good reflection time this last month of the year. Not that change can't be made the entirety of next year, but just really stepping back to figure out our direction and our vision and realigning with our mission.

Rest, Reflection, And Seasonal Planning

SPEAKER_00 1:42

So what is our mission? Truly. I mean, we we have said it before, but we really I truly have a passion for agriculture, and my purpose now, I feel, is to help American farmers in any way possible.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Aaron Powell But more specifically. It's to help farms and farmers realize that the farmer's the farm's greatest asset is the farmer. Is the farmer their knowledge, experience, mind, and health. Everything stems from that. And and I would also say that also includes the farm, farmer's wife or significant other, should that farmer be a female, right? The spouse of the farmer and the farming family. But in order to safeguard the family, it really is about putting your own health mentally, physically, all of it, emotionally, spiritually, first. Because unless you are sound, you can't pour from an empty cup. And this really goes well with what we've been talking a lot about the last few weeks with rest and the importance of rest.

Health As The Highest ROI

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Take care of yourself. So it was a good good weekend. The meeting was really good. It was helped me realize my purpose that I need to continue with it. And literally, somebody, because they knew that we have the hyperbaric chamber, and they kind of asked about it, and we literally said to them, him and his wife, that your health is worth it. And the farm won't do well if you don't take care of yourself. It is an investment specifically that hyperbaric chamber, but it's okay to invest in yourself.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Self-care is an investment.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

And whether it be making sure you're going for a walk or being in nature or eating a healthy diet or praying or journaling or setting a time setting aside time for yourself to get yourself in alignment so that you can be more present for your family. All of that is an investment.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

We as farmers are so about the investment in well, it'll cost so much money, or we don't have a problem writing that check for how much of hundreds of thousands of dollars for seed. Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Fertilizer.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

We gotta have those things.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

And hydris, rent, but or the shiny new tractor or pickup or it's none of that will work without the person in the seat.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

You know, to this couple that I mean, we met him last year and they knew we had a hyperbaric chamber from last year, and his wife was more or less trying to get us to tell him it you need to do it. And he was hung up on the fact that one, it does, it is a chunk of change. Um, but he also had a different modality that he had already invested in. And if this will truly work for you, it's okay to invest in yourself because you really need to.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

And for one person, it might be a hyperbaric chamber, for another person, it might be a mastermind group. For another person, it might be joining a gym. You know, wherever you are in your life, really take that time, really take this time to put yourself out there and put yourself first. And, you know, we work so hard to really dial in our numbers on what we're doing for field work to produce this maximum yield and get the most we can on our ROI, the return on our investment on the farm acreage. But how much time do we set aside the time and energy for ourselves? Even, I mean, we are so guilty of it, sitting down and enjoying our time as a family. And, you know, we've really been talking a lot about that the last few weeks. What we want this holiday season to be. And we are both wanting to slow down and enjoy the time because hey, it you might if you have littles, it goes fast.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Oh man.

Journaling, Sleep, And Spiritual Hygiene

SPEAKER_01 6:29

And then all of the people whose kids are they're empty nesters, they now see it.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

But we get so wrapped up in the busy time and don't focus on ourselves. Lately, I have really gotten back to reflecting and writing and reading, and it's been the first time in a long time that I have slept at night. You even mentioned that this morning. I slept till 4 30, which is late for me lately.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Well, you weren't up in the middle of the night and then waking up tired.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Right. So those little things, just those things that I've been doing, reflecting on myself and putting it on paper kind of gets it off of your chest, right? And then you and I really do sit down and kind of talk through a lot of those things.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

And well, and from a spiritual standpoint, if you are having headaches, you are not connecting to God enough.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

There's something there that needs to be put out, that energy needs to flow. You either need to reflect and talk to God on paper, or you need to put it out there somehow.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

I really believe truly that putting it on paper, whatever it is, it'll help you remember, it'll help you get it off your chest, but it makes it seriously four times more effective if you write it on paper.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Oh, yeah. Studies, I mean, there are studies that show that.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Right. And I like I I really see it, I know it. Like, you write it down, things are more likely to happen, or they're more likely for you to remember them. It seems old school, and people say, Well, I got a phone, I got computers, videos, and that's all good. And those things should happen as well. But man, if you write it down, it's just that much more powerful than putting it in your phone because then it just gets buried in your phone.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Well, and the same thing can be true for a journal.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

If you don't reflect, like go back and look. Right. So for some for you, it works really well writing it down. Others, it may also be like dictating it into your phone. But you have you that that whole self-reflection portion is important. Right. To really see how far you've come in your growth process.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

That's probably it. That it it sees it gives you that progression that you can see it.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

It's like taking pictures.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

If they're all in your phone and you don't go back and look at them, why have them? It's just a collection collecting dust if you don't utilize it.

unknown 9:13

Right.

From Conferences To Focused Action

SPEAKER_01 9:14

However, it fits for you, I highly recommend allowing your creativity to blossom, to flow from you in one modality or another. And I am so thankful that it works for you in writing. I like to write as well. I do a lot of dictating into my notes on my phone. I do well put like speaking it out loud. Right. So I love the transcription ability of that. And then you can go back and look at your ideas. But that being said, the most important thing then is to act. And I think your the busy time keeps you from putting that time forward for yourself. I because I would challenge you that you should journal every day.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

I know I should.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

And there I'm shooting on you. I shouldn't shoot on you. It it it is of your benefit if you journal every day. You may never have another headache again.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

I might sleep for For eight hours or more.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

So, right, to tie that into it's meeting season because everybody's calling and saying come to our meeting and uh come to this conference, go to that conference. And it's great to go to those things and network with people and just get in rooms with like-minded people because we can lift each other up, first of all, but and we can learn a lot of things from those rooms. But also, you don't have to take home every single well, so-and-so somewhere did this practice on their farm. It may not work for me in southeast Iowa. It might. So know that you you need to come home and try to carry out that energy, but you don't have to implement every single thing that every single meeting says, because then you're just overwhelmed with you know it's like drinking from a fire hose, right? A lot of times anyway. Um, so that's why they always ask you at these certain meetings, well, what are your three takeaways? What are the three things you're gonna take home? You know, and then if you go to these fertilizer meetings and chemical meetings, and you can't do it all. And I think a lot of I know for me, a lot of times I'm trying to do too much. And well, so and so said I need to do this, and so-and-so said I need to do that, so I keep adding all these things. Maybe I need to do a little less sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

To me, it's what I'm hearing is it's kind of like busy work. All of that stuff is out there, and the more you pile on, the more your ROI becomes lessened.

Small Habits That Create Big Shifts

SPEAKER_00 12:15

Well, you also need to realize if you're going to like these chemical and fertilizer and seed meetings, they're trying to sell you something. And you maybe not don't need it, maybe you do. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Yeah, it's tailoring it to what's going to work for you. So you're right. Like, I agree. The hardest thing to do is to come home and take action because the minute you walk in your in the door, your kids need you, your farmhand needs you, somebody needs something, and it is so so easy and comfortable to fall back into habit.

unknown 12:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

So, what action is is technically a change in habit. And those can feel uncomfortable. Even the smallest things, even journaling every day. Oh, yeah, the first day or two or three, I'm journaling, and then by day five, it's like, oh, I gotta do A, B, C, D. I'll do that tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Tomorrow becomes next week.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Which becomes, oh, I'll do it at the beginning of the year. Oh, you know what, first quarter's over. Oh, like, oh, it's summer's busy, and here we are next winter, and things aren't implemented. It's because it's comfortable complacency. Like it just, you just get comfortable. So you have to disrupt, and you need to have something to disrupt you every week. So Sunday, somehow, we gotta reclaim the charge. Like I got back last week, we had the energy. How do we ignite that every week? So it can be as easy as me asking you, how's your journaling going? We set that as a goal for both of us. Let's try and encourage the other person to do that. Not with should and shame, but let's encourage. That's how you make small changes. Because the small changes with consistency, the small habits become big shifts in your momentum and in your farming practice or in your business, uh, whatever that may be.

Finding Strength In Real Community

SPEAKER_00 14:34

All of those small little changes and shifts all of a sudden become boom, a major transformation or something really happens. And it's like all of a sudden, oh yeah, yeah, it happens. Like you don't even know it happened almost.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

A big takeaway I had from the weekend, besides take action in small steps, was the importance of community. And our generation and the millennial generation, we were really pushed to be an island, be able to do it all on your own. And it really made me aware of how important community is for building things. In farming, there's a lot of competition for ground, for you name it, yield for all of it. And you feel in direct competition with your neighbor. So it doesn't feel as comfortable being in that room.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

With your neighbor.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

With your neighbor. And it can even happen between family members. I mean, we see that everywhere we go, all these conferences we go to, we hear about that as well. So it feels good to sit in a room, in a an actual room, to be able to share your story with people who are all there, who have common interests, who are there to help build each other up.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

And that community and being in that room is important.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Well, in those those communities or rooms, you can air out your your problems because we all got them. We're just afraid to talk about it around home with our neighbors because we're afraid they'll judge. Right. But to your point, it's community is is huge, and we can lift each other up.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

I have joined a lot of online communities over the last seven years and found just a different way of thinking, which has helped me evolve.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Well, you joined a group and you went to, you know, the live gathering and then kind of sparked a whole nother little friend group where you guys meet in person for coffee. And yeah, big things can come out of those things.

Building The Farmer’s Greatest Asset Network

SPEAKER_01 17:08

And that's one reason that we are beginning the community with the farmer's greatest asset. There is such need. I I think it's easier for women to converse about all of those things, but the farmer themselves, you know, it's it's superficial talk over coffee at, you know, the equipment dealer, or there's a lot of superficiality.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Well, generally those turn into just gossip.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

But there, you know, there needs to be a place for a man to go and be able to get deeper in order to grow.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

As you put yourself with like-minded people and you can lift each other up and be happy for their successes, things change rapidly after that.

Modern Farming Mindset And Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_01 18:02

And that's why we feel like there's so much importance in building community. And we're gonna be we we are doing that with the farmer's greatest asset. If you would like to join, that is a possibility for anybody out there who wants to start not only building their farm and their legacy, but building themselves in the process. That being said, we will be starting a newsletter that will be coming out that you can sign up for. But in the interim, reach out to us at farmersgreatestasset at gmail.com if you would like to join the community and join our wait list. Big things are coming in 2026. And we hope all of you want to be part of that with us. Um, this evolution in agriculture and the spark to keep the the change ignited to build legacies for our farms, help shift the mindset within the agricultural community.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Right, because farming is not what it used to be when our fathers and did it. It's so much more now.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Well, there's so much more weight, so many more things that need to be done.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Well, you can't we've said it before, you can't just go out and work hard and make it work. And this is part of that other stuff. So again, thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Reach out to us at farmersgreatasset at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Find us on all of the socials.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

At farmersgreat assasset.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

And remember, it is a good day.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

To have a great day. Bye.