Register for our Field to Heal Webinar

by Troy Bishopp

From my analytics on this website, everyday 200 to 300 people click on the Grass Whisperer site looking for something. If you’ve “lingered” here, you know of my vulnerabilities that I’ve shared with my inadequacies, burnout, grief and plain talk about this in agriculture, that we don’t talk about all that often. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-O6PVHVBT0&t=59s). My experience in this realm is REAL. In that reality, I have met some amazing people who have helped me shoulder a burden of knowing the backstories. In that narrative, there are these 3 gentlemen who have come into my life recently through fate and connection and the desire to help others through stories, feelings and the grit to share.

Ryan Sexson came into my life after meeting and talking on a bus tour in Vermont. But it was watching his story on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM2h9oxVbVE&list=PLUyfKfQ1oiXdMw98viMETx8DdH8WkHipl&index=20 ) that had me sobbing and connecting over grief, which through fate, had him sitting in my mental health talk in Tucson at the 9th NatGLC Grazing conference last December. That and a bit of whiskey, cemented a friendship and a desire to do something for our farming peers.

Dave Voth with his huge, John Wayne stature and big moustache was also in the audience. He came up to me afterward and said, “You hit the nail on the head” and we need to start talking about this and bring mental health out of the shadows. He told me that he talked about it here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE6sWrqSmJg&t=3788s) on The Profitable Regeneration Webinar Series hosted by Jared Sorensen.

Out of the shadows is a metaphor and video (https://vimeo.com/1055356355) about mental health that is used by my new friend, Jeff “Ditz” Ditzenberger of TUGS(https://tugsgroup.org/who-we-are/ ) who says “Even Big ships need small tugboats sometimes”. It just so happened that I had used his quote in my presentation, and after watching this video and others, https://www.ruralminds.org/mental-health-news-for-rural-america/blog-post-jeff-ditzenberger-tugs), I was a believer in his message and wanted to partner with him and his experiences.

So us 4 have a project on our hands that is the first of its kind, in terms of diverse backgrounds in agriculture, weaved into a desire to help other farmers and ranchers through our stories and places to go to get real help when you need it.

We invite you into our homes on May 21st, 2025 at 7pmEST to hear our context on Mental Health. Register here with NatGLC’s Graze on Over YouTube platform: https://www.grazinglands.org/events/graze-on-over-field-to-heal

Thank You, Help is just a conversation away. Troy