Last year, a National Public Radio broadcast inspired me to write about women’s leadership roles and what I consider the virtues of being an unsafe woman.

Editor’s note: The author, an Indiana dairy producer and freelance writer, is exploring resources and methods to help dairy farmers deal with farm stress. In this article, she shares personal reflections on a family farm accident.

As farmers, we face challenges and feel stress every day. It is when it becomes unrelenting and overwhelming we begin to experience negative side effects. Dairy farmers are some of the smartest, most innovative, problem-solving, optimistic people in the world. It is good to take a moment to be reminded of this fact.

Editor’s note: The author, an Indiana dairy producer and freelance writer, continues her exploration of resources and methods to help dairy farmers deal with farm stress. Find a comprehensive list of programs, help lines, websites, videos and factsheets and other materials online (Farm stress: Sources and resources).

Editor’s note: The author, an Indiana dairy producer and freelance writer, is exploring resources and methods to help dairy farmers deal with farm stress. Visit Farm Stress: Sources and Resources to find a comprehensive list of programs, helplines, websites, videos and factsheets and other materials.

Recently, a friend sat down beside me at dinner and asked, “What do you do when someone calls you and asks about this crisis we are going through? What do you say when one of your neighbors calls you and tells you it’s over – they’re selling out? How do you help someone else when you’re unsure yourself?”

While listening to a recent National Public Radio broadcast about women in leadership roles, the term “safe women” was mentioned multiple times. I was intrigued, irritated and then inspired to speak from the heart. During the interview, safe women were portrayed as women who can be counted on to do what is expected of them.

Talking with Midge Chambers provides the opportunity for a lesson in the history of dairy processing from the female perspective. Chambers spent her entire working career in the dairy industry.

We all know dairy farmers are some of the smartest, most innovative and creative people in the world. Who else gets to do everything and be everyone? We get to be accountants, doctors, teachers, chefs … heck, some of us even have a bit of interest in robotics, microbiology, genetics, nutrigenomics and environmentalism.