Tips from the In Her Boots community ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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Week 7: Connection

Moving on to week seven of our Resilience Boot Camp as we connect with ideas about how to grow stronger through connecting to the land, our farm businesses, and each other. Read on for inspiration from fellow women farmers on how to both plow through this peak busy summer season while continuing to build those connections needed to grow to be better farmers and people. 

If you missed the webinar last week with Denise O'Brien, you can catch it here. And, on the subject of "connections," connect to our women farmer community through our Facebook group—tap into the wealth of experience and knowledge by asking questions, sharing ideas, and letting us know how things are going on your farm!

Lisa Kivirist, MOSES In Her Boots Coordinator

 

Strength through Connection 
By Kelsey Ducheneaux, The DX Ranch 

1.  Contribute positively.

To me, resilience means being able to exist in a manner that contributes to more life, more productivity, and more efficiencies. I am a botany and soil nerd, so when I think of resiliency, I have all these diagrams in my head of different plant physiological features that are indications of the plant's shift towards a more resilient way to exist with our soils. What I appreciate about the Great Plains is when you are involved in that resilient ecosystem and you're managing it in a functional manner that is conducive to enhancing the resiliency that already exists there, you see more productivity, more biodiversity, more grasses, and plants and animals coming in. Resilience really spawns new life, which in so many ways is magical to see.  

2.  Cultivate change

I am a member of the Lakota Sioux Nation here in South Dakota. We were originally a nomadic tribe that went as far north as Canada and as far south as Kansas and from Wyoming to Minnesota. We covered a great span of the ecosystem because we knew we needed that being so large of a tribe. We needed to be moving so that we didn't overuse any particular resource. Sometimes there were patterns of our travel where we wouldn't return to the same spot for two or three years because we knew what the resource could handle. 
 

3.  Embrace efficiency.

Make sure to not be wasteful and that you're not overusing a particular resource. Or if you are, be fully aware and cognizant of that and you do what you need to mitigate the potentially disastrous impact that you could have on that exploited resource. Give back to that resource base to enhance it and help it express its own resiliency and recover from the overuse. 


4. Share with youth.

A rite of passage that used to exist amongst our tribal communities was that at a certain age you engage in the bison hunt or go out with your mother and aunties and they would teach you the ways of womanhood while they were out gathering and preparing for the winter to come. Those are things that I'm so blessed and fortunate to be able to share with our youth and find ways to engage with our youth to expose to them to all of the greatness that exists in our resource base. I always try to make it my goal to help the youth of Indian country realize that they don't just live in the middle of nowhere. They live in a sea of untapped potential and limitless opportunity. It's just up to them to really connect with those resources and figure out what their responsibility and role looks like when it comes to engaging in and being a steward of that land. 

 

 
 

Podcast: 
Kelsey Ducheneaux on
Strength through Connection

Listen to our conversation as Kelsey shares how her Indigenous roots drive her work today, particularly in connecting more youth and the next generation to the land through her role as Natural Resources Director and Youth Programs Coordinator for the Intertribal Agriculture Council. It’s all about connections for Kelsey, from observing and appreciating the diversity on our land to building awareness to know when soil is depleted.

 

 

 
 

Resilience Tips from the Field

Kelsey Ducheneaux
The DX Ranch

One of the things I like to do when working with producers (and that I do myself) is to carry around a hand-clicker when walking the land, or in my case attached to my saddle as I’m on my horse. When I go out and ride through the cows or I push cattle from one pasture to the next, I am trying to train my eye to count how many different plant species I see in that pasture and I’m thereby constantly looking at the plants and it puts me in a mindful state. Sure, my travels would be a lot quicker if I wasn't stopping to pick some sage here or to dig some roots there, but this practice has really helped me understand diversity and soil resilience.

Mary Jo Borchardt
Atmospheric Floral 

As a farmer florist, getting our products to people has changed fundamentally this season under COVID. Where our customers came to us by way of weddings and farmers market previously, we now had to pivot and reach them at home and deliver. More than ever, our website is the bridge between us and our customers and this means that my most important role is that of photographer and storyteller.  Understanding this new hierarchy of tasks has helped me prioritize. I have a well-lit table in my studio dedicated to photographing our flowers and doing so has now become routine. It’s a subtle but powerful shift in how I see the hats that I wear as boss.

Denise O’Brien
Rolling Acres Farm

I take cues from Mother Nature in building my own resilience and have realized that seemingly small, daily practices keep me connected to the land and my farm and thereby grounded. For example, I like to go barefoot as much as safely possible. I regularly take photos of things like the flowers in bloom which cause me to stop and slow down as I take the picture and as a result appreciate it all more."

 
 

Recipe for Resilience: 
Pickled Sweet & Sour Courgette (zucchini)

Each week, we share a change-of-taste recipe that blends healthy nutrition and seasonal vegetable abundance with a dash of simplicity.

This week we travel across the globe to Valle Nuova, an organic farm in Italy, offering eco-minded lodging alongside farm-raised fare. Thank you, Giulia da Urbino, for sharing your Pickled Sweet and Sour Courgettes (zucchini). Perfect timing as we experience our annual zucchini overload! 

 

Contact Us

info@mosesorganic.org | 1-888-90-MOSES

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