Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Blog has Moved

Have moved over to wordpress...

You can find me at http://www.mommydocfarmer.com

Check it out!!!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Meeting Mommy Bloggers

Just had an excellent session with three engaging, interesting, and social media motivated "Mommy Bloggers" here at Agvocacy 2.0 in Nashville, TN.

This was a great session. We as producers (both organic and tradition, pick your own, and farmers marketing to larger wholesalers) we given roughly an hour to talk and ask questions of the three ladies above. One who has turned her social media blogging experiment started when her baby was napping 6 years ago into a job utilizing public speaking and social media and another who is still learning about healthy foods and how to share this information and information about her faith to others, and a third who is dealing with life threatening milk, egg, and peanut allergies in her youngest child.

These women were awesome and really interested in what we as producers are doing. They let us into their issues and concerns and by doing so are helping to shape a new outlook on interactions with other "Mommy Bloggers" and society in general. The issue that these three women face in their daily lives mimics the same issues faced by many of us in agriculture today as well. We all want good food from healthy sources - regardless of our individual food issues, whether this means a vegan lifestyle choice or severe life threatening allergens in food. We all want to be able to have a back and forth educational conversational discourse about these common issues. They want farmers to be the source for information, they want to see our farms, and they want our information in a positive manner.

The overall outlook that I am getting both from this time with the "mommy Bloggers" and with the other social media attendees here at Agvocacy 2.0 is that it is time for agriculture to stop the war with persons with a far right outlook on agriculture and time to move to a progressive stance about the positive things modern agriculture is doing.

The talk from Jennifer Dahm from the United States Farmers and Ranchers Alliance was also inspiring this AM. Her whole talk was on being positive and alleviating the FEARs and CONCERNS behind the day to day work in modern farming and to relate the reasons moderns famers may need to implement these practices.

She spoke of using less industry approved wording in our message, because the majority of American Farms are still family owned and factory farming seems to be an emotional buzz word. The need for open and honest conversations are being emphasized. Reaching out to people on social media is as you might expect, is being highly emphasized. As is the need to stop engaging agricultures detractors in negative debates. The need to tell our story in our own words is being emphasized.

Overall, this has been a motivational meeting and I highly encourage anyone with an interest in agriculture and social media to attend future sessions.

Mike Haley (@farmerhaley on twitter) just presented an awesome talk with a letter framed to agriculturist from the average America Consumer... we need to look at these thoughts and start telling the awesome story of modern agriculture to people, Mom's, Bloggers, and consumers who are rally interested in what modern agriculture is providing for them.

The time has come to stop spewing facts at the American Public. They don't need to be educated - that can make them feel smaller and afraid to ask the next time they have a concern, when what we want to have is a conversation on foods, production agriculture, and pubic concerns about agriculture with us and not others who may have very different opinions then we do as a community.

Twitter, Blogging, and Facebook represent excellent ways for us to tell our stories in our own words.

Back to listening and learning now from farmers about social media... learning about #foodthanks


Links to our "Mommy Bloggers" - any errors are mine not theirs
http://www.sububanturmoil.com
http://www.allergenfreeplease.blogspot.com
http://www.sbrawner.com

I have really decided that taking today to come here and work on my agriculture concerns is definatly worth missing two days in the office. Hope my patients can forgive me, but food and agriculture are as much a part of my personality now as medicine has always been.

Preaching to the Choir

Am here at AgChat Foundation 2011 Agvocacy 2.0 Conference here in Nashville. Today has been eye opening in hearing from other leaders in AGVOCATING for American Agriculture and modern consumer ideas about what actually happens on a farm. I have the privilege meeting other agvocates, famers and ranchers involved in spreading the news about agriculture via social media.


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

A good thing

I had a treat tonight as a mom. My little Cordell went up at service tonight and led Jesus loves the little children all by himself. No, he did not take the songbook, but at three he went up and stood in front of our entire church and sang.

I am so proud.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Doing as I say...

Today was my first day back at work after my most recent surgery. Yes, that's right, I went back to work 4 days after abdominal surgery. Let's just hope my doctor is not a fan of my BLOG.


As I was working, slowly, today at the office, I realized how naive modern medicine can still be. I was exhibiting the perfect exam. I know in my head that I was going back to work to early, but I had patients to see and a job to do. So, what is the difference in a patient choosing to stop a medicine after I tell them to take it.

Most patients don't understand the biochemical and enzymatic issues affecting their cells. For that matter, most patients have more problems after starting certain medicines than before the doctor gave them the prescription. Case in point, the 40 year old man that has no symptoms what so ever from his hypertension (elevated blood pressure) but has depression and impotence after starting the beta blocker written by the doctor (a specific type of blood pressure medicine).

So, I know that my body is still healing and yet there I was at work. So, how can I presume to comp ell my patients to listen to me....

I found this an interesting ironic humor...

And laughing helped me make it through today

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Taking Time

Well, I have now made it through my fifth and hopefully final GYN surgery. I guess it is unusual to write about such personal type of surgery on the internet. But, these surgeries and dealing with my own human frailty has been a profound educational affect on my day to day outlook on life.

My Husband and I are both self employed and when one of us is sick there is significantly less income into our home. I have found that this economic crutch has had me going back to work sooner rather than latter. I, who starting again on Monday, will be telling patients to listen to the advice of doctors, will be going against my own MD's advice. I cannot seem to listen.

I have found that being sick is not the best thing I have ever done. I am so frustrated when I cannot lift a pot of water or pick up my three year old son. I hate hearing my kids talk about being easy with Mommy. But for the last year and a half, I have not had the best time. It seems like I am either getting surgery done or recovering from surgery.

I hope to be all better now, and am looking forward to better times. I am blessed to have been able to have my children before all my female troubles started.

I hope to have more interesting tales in the future.

Friday, June 24, 2011