Farm Hands

pic courtesy of Aaron Joel Santos

Obsessed with how dry and aged my hands have become lately, in my despair I took to an online search for miracle creams to buy. On my travels I came across this site The Hands of a Farmer: The Story of American Agriculture Through the Hands of Farmers. 

Nobody Told Me There Would Be Days Like These

Today I........

• Woke at 6am to feed our son scrambled eggs. He played with them and fed them to the dogs.
• Cleaned the house for the cleaner.
• Caught our horse to assist the vet mend her hoof abscess.
• Climbed the electric fence to feed the chickens and collect eggs whilst on lookout for Diamond Python in coop.
• Drove an hour with son to pick up chainsaw attachment for wipper snipper.
• Helped cleaner/maintenance man work out how to attach chainsaw to wipper snipper to cut brush around house so snakes could not hide and kill baby and/or dogs.
• Took son and dogs for walk only to accidentally let cows through gate to house paddock when they thought son in pram was wheelbarrow of hay.
• Helped cleaner/maintenance man chase cows back into main paddock with lure of food.
• Pushed son in Mountain Buggy through paddocks for afternoon walk with stick to fight off sunning snakes.
• Put on 1,000,000th load of washing for the day.
• Met with local fire volunteer at home to discuss bush fire plan in case of emergency.
• Called farrier.
• Organised water cartage to fill our tanks so I could do 1,000,001th load of washing for the day.
• Fed chicken and leek pasta dinner to our son. He played with it and fed it to the dogs.
• Waited desperately until 6pm for glass of wine.
• Went to bed at 9.30pm with dog while partner watched sport on tv.

R U OK?

Suicide and mental health are issues close to my heart. My father took his life after suffering depression. I have suffered bouts of depression through my teenage and adult years and experienced mild Post Natal Depression soon after my son was born. I have friends who have suffered depression. I follow the work of Black Dog Institute and beyondblue and have always thought that there needed to be a foundation that was current, relevant and dedicated specifically to educating and campaigning against the prevention of suicide, as well as supporting positive mental health. It turns out there is.

R U OK? is an independent, non-profit organisation committed to providing national focus and leadership on suicide prevention. It encourages people to have open and honest conversations to build a more connected community who support each other through life's ups and downs. 

R U OK?Day was launched in Parliament in 2009 and only an estimated 58% of the population know about the national day. I am part of that statistic as I have only just stumbled across the organisation recently, despite doing my research (I know I live on a farm, but that is no excuse...) R U OK?Day is a national day of action to empower people from all walks of life to ask each other R U OK? Despite being a prevalent issue the subject of mental health is still quite taboo and needs more open discussion and exposure. So reach out. Thursday 13 September 2012 is R U OK?Day.