Publisher’s Note November 2022
We just experienced one of the most beautiful falls we’ve had in years. We enjoyed warm days well into October and even relaxed for a few days after a hectic summer and fall.
Planning this issue took some creativity as our copy editor and website designer, who is also our niece, was up against a timeline that was out of her control. Expecting her first child, she finished editing articles just a few days before the birth of her beautiful baby boy. We couldn’t be more excited for Kayla and Chace Walker.
We’re pleased to feature a couple of young Montanans adding supplemental income to their family’s traditional ways of farming. Kate Stephens has built a social media following as she explains, by video, different aspects of farming. She also has a successful clothing line.
Clay Boyce started growing hops on his family’s farm and has successfully built his business up to supply a nearby brewery with hops for several of their beers.
Even with positive stories such as Kate’s and Clay’s, we felt compelled to cover an epidemic that is growing in unprecedented numbers across rural Montana and Wyoming. An alarming increase in both suicides and accidental overdoses from substance abuse indicates that there has never been a harder time to be a farmer or rancher. Many are dealing with stress, depression, anxiety, pain, loneliness and sadly, suicidal thoughts.
A visit with the mother of a young man who died from accidental fentanyl poisoning opened our eyes to the easy accessibility to prescription and illegal drugs and the horrible consequences of experimenting with the drug even once.
But there are people and organizations available for help.
Out of Bosler, Wyoming a young rodeo producer hopes to bring awareness and help to those struggling with unhealthy thoughts and addictions. His organization, No More Empty Saddles, has become a platform for people both suffering and overcoming.
The Montana Department of Agriculture launched a program bringing to light the stigma of mental illness and substance abuse and through a grant are offering free counseling to anyone in the field of agricultural.
With counseling, support and being taught the skills of coping and making good decisions, life can be manageable. But the first step that must be taken is that the one suffering reaches out. As we move into the holiday season, our prayer is twofold: that if we are suffering, we’d let someone know and that we would also be sensitive to the sufferings of those around us. Let’s open our hearts and our minds to one another. If we tackle this together, we will win the battle.
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10: 24-25