Hana Martin of Old Friends Farm

The 445th recipient is Hana Martin of Old Friends Farm in Shelburne Falls, MA. Hana writes:

What self-care and well-being mean to me as a farmer: “I have been a farmworker for 12 years now. Self care and well being to me mean paying attention to my mental and physical health and taking time to recover. Self care at work means that I use good body mechanics and ask for help when I need it. It means I warm up before lifting something heavy. It means I change positions when doing repetitive tasks. For my mental health, it means taking a day off when I need to rest my brain. I keep up with meditative practices at home, which carry over into my solo work on the farm. I ask my employers for better tools and ways of doing different tasks.”

How I might use this $100 self-care award: “My body and mind benefit greatly from deep tissue massage. It is a cost prohibitive practice though, usually around $90-110 for an hour massage.”

Most important self-care needs that contribute to my well-being as a farmer: "The most important self care to me is to have regular massages and talk therapy sessions. This keeps me feeling attuned to my body and mind. My body responds really well to a deep tissue massage, especially working out all those hours of repetitive work and bouncing along on the tractor. Talk therapy helps me process all the millions of things running through my head while I harvest that bed of carrots and drive the tractor for miles and miles every week in circles.”

#realfarmercare