Jasmine Barber of Pharm to Body

The 607th recipient is Jasmine Barber of Pharm to Body in Portland, OR. Jasmine writes:

What self-care and well-being mean to me as a farmer: “Self care means taking care of your body, mind and spirit. It is taking intentional time to rest and reflect.  It is taking time to nourish yourself and do the things that make you feel replenished. Self care is doing the things that bring you joy and feed parts of your soul. In farming we use our whole body and it is a tool of our work, it is important to take the time to care for the body and mind that allows us to steward the land. It is the time to steward and care for ourselves like we care for the land. We must fertilize ourselves and remember to treat ourselves well. It is enjoying time with the people you love and doing the things you love. It’s taking time just for you, letting everything else wait. It is making space to find the good in life, trying to let the worries before later and just being able to enjoy the now. Self care is having time to be in touch with yourself. Often times we are working with the land and pushing through our own tiredness and need for rejuvenation because there is always something to be done. But it is having the time and space to remember that your body needs you to take care of it. To rest, to laugh, to eat well, to enjoy the fruit of yourself. Self care is reading the books that you have to put on hold to farm. It is spending time with the land just to be there. Self care means I am focusing on myself instead of focusing on all the other important things there is to focus about. It is saying today, or even right now is for me and letting it be all for you. It is knowing taking time to care for yourself and your well being is caring for your farm. Without your body, mind and soul being intentionality revived, you are neglecting the very important part of farming, yourself. It is import at to remember the relationship we have with ourselves is tied to the relationship we have with the land. ”

How I might use this $100 self-care award: ”The award would allow me to spend some time on myself without worrying how I am paying for it and I could truly enjoy the experience. It would help me feel better about taking time out of farming to care for myself. It would take the stress away of self care moments. It would help me feel better and reground me mentally. It would also be great for my body to have some time for self care, and help me continue to find joy. I think I would want to use it to care for my body which then would help my mind and soul feel better too. I would love to just spend some time on me. I think it is something I hardly ever get to do as farmer and especially during farming season it really gets pushed to the back burner. I think I am always talking about the health benefits of my mushroom farm and having a mushroom enriched diet. But at the same time I am forgetting to feed the other important parts of myself.” 

Most important self-care needs that contribute to my well-being as a farmer: "I think body care and rest is very important as a farmer. I think farmers need to rest their entire selves and have the ability to do so. Farming and ranching is such a physically and even emotionally demanding job that in order to keep going, having body work like massage or chiropractor work is necessary. I think often rest and body care does not happen and as farmers we just push through those discomforts instead of taking care of the source. I think it is important farmers take time to rejuvenate theirselves in whatever capacity that means to them. I think farmers and ranchers do not get the chance to do that during their busy seasons especially. I think if we do not take time to rest and recover, our whole selves suffer as a result. I think self care has to be a part of every farmer and rancher’s itinerary. I think we all need to spend a little more time on taking care of our bodies too.”

#realfarmercare