Recently two neighboring farmers knocked on the door of our farmhouse. “Would it be alright,” one of them asked, “if two elves showed up someday to turn your woodpile into firewood?”

 

I didn’t know what to say, and it took me a few seconds to respond, “Only if you keep what you need for yourselves. It’s a huge pile,” I added, as I considered the 10-foothigh pile of well-seasoned elm, oak, ash and mulberry logs that have accumulated over years of trimming trees and cleaning up after storm damage.

“We don’t have fireplaces,” they replied. “We’ll bring our log splitter and chainsaws someday when we’re looking  for something to do. Where do you want us to stack it?”

I pointed to my closest machine shed, where there are a few remaining logs and smaller pieces of firewood that we didn’t use up last winter in our fireplace and wood-burning kitchen stove. For the past 30 years I have stacked firewood in the shed.

Two years ago these same two men stashed substantial split wood in my machine shed. Were they perhaps considering my gradually worsening physical limitations or something else in their generous offer? Probably not; they just want to do something for someone else.

Marilyn was as stunned as I was, for she had overheard the conversation from the kitchen that adjoins our front entryway.

After they left, she commented, “We’re so fortunate to have farm neighbors who look out for one another.”

Again, I didn’t have a ready follow-up response. Even though Marilyn suggested I write in this column about farmers’ willingness to help one another, I knew these generous people would not want me to reveal their identities.

Marilyn is right in suggesting that people everywhere need to know about farmers’ generosity. Acts of kindness are especially needed in today’s life arenas.

It has long been known that poor people donate a larger percentage of their earnings than wealthy people, to help others in need.

There are many exceptions, however, like Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, who have pledged to donate most of their lifetime accumulations beforeor shortly after they pass on.

Recently a social movement has evolved which can be best described as random acts of kindness. I deliberated my neighbors’ generosity. Theirs wasn’t a random act of kindness; it was a planned act, but also without expectation of anything in return.

Like my neighbors, most farmers are imbued with a strong sense of looking out for their neighbors. Planting and harvest bees when a neighbor is unable to plant or harvest crops due to health or other incapacitating experiences have always been common in my community.

People everywhere usually help one another, especially during and after a disaster. For many years, AgriWellness, Inc., the nonprofit organization I directed for a dozen years, provided behavioral health services following disasters in  Iowa when the governor or the presidentissued a disaster declaration.

Our basic expenses were reimbursed by the Iowa Department of Human Services (IDHS) or the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Trained volunteers, whose basic expenses were usually covered by their affiliating organizations, also helped provide recovery services, such as the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and many other church-based groups.

We made sure we had farmers who were well-trained and prepared to assist farm families, just like we had crisis counselors who matched various ethnic backgrounds (e.g., Hispanic, Sudanese) of Iowans affected by floods, tornadoes or whatever the disaster. Understanding our varying cultural backgrounds is key to being helpful.

Farm Rescue (www.farmrescue.org) is a contemporary example of a nonprofit organization of volunteers who plant and harvest crops free of charge for family farmers who have suffered a major illness, injury or natural disaster. Since 2006 Farm Rescue has assisted 400-plus farm families.

While most recipients of aid have been in North Dakota, Farm Rescue has assisted many families in other Midwest states. Farm Rescue has the capacity to help in 60 locations in 2017. Benefactors greatly assist Farm Rescue, just like many organizations helped AgriWellness when we served Iowa for almost 10 years until the IDHS established a permanent cadre of trained crisis responders, that was modeled after the AgriWellness approach.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized many farmers I know look after one another. Several call each other on their phones one or more times each week to check on each other. Some are without spouses and others  have partners who are gone regularly to salaried day jobs off the farm. The farmers need to talk with someone they trust.

These connected people are mostly men, but a couple of the farmers are women. In an ideal society, everyone would help each other in the ways that are needed.  Kindness is necessary, without expectationsin return, and especially now in America.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Dr. Mike Rosmann is a psychologist and farmer in western Iowa. Readers may contact him at mike@agbehavioralhealth.com