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🎙 Barn & Soul Podcast - Where farming meets heart, history, and a mission to preserve the past for a more sustainable future. Episode 24: “The Cost of Care: A Personal Reckoning with  Animals, Land and Life”

In this episode, I don’t stick to the usual form. I’m speaking honestly about the heartbreak and discouragement I feel watching the way humans treat animals, land, and the natural world. From the relentless development of open space in Massachusetts and across the East Coast, to the industrial pressures on the meat industry, to the flood of plastics that choke our ecosystems, it’s a lot to witness.

I explore what it feels like to care deeply for creatures with nervous systems and feelings, only to watch them ignored, exploited, or displaced. I share hard numbers about land loss and development, the impact on animals, and why it all feels overwhelming right now. This episode is a cry for help, a candid look at environmental grief, and a reminder that these feelings are valid.

If you’ve ever felt despair looking at the state of the planet, or wondered how small farms and local stewardship fit into a bigger picture, this one is for you. It’s not solutions-focused, it’s honesty-focused.

📚 Resources and Bibliography

Official statistics / government
USDA NASS (2022). Census of Agriculture: Female Producers (Highlights PDF). U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights/2024/Census22_HL_FemaleProducers.pdf

USDA NASS (2022). Census of Agriculture general portal and demographic tables (includes data on producers, gender, age, and farm characteristics). https://www.nass.usda.gov/AgCensus/

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (2024). Massachusetts Climate Report Card: Natural and Working Lands Sector. https://www.mass.gov/orgs/massachusetts-department-of-environmental-protection

Research and scholarly articles
Penn State University (2024). Coverage of study on the “triple burden” of invisible labor as a major stressor for farm women. Search “triple burden farm women Penn State” via Penn State News
MDPI, Núñez, P. G. (2020). Rural women’s invisible work in census and state records: Recognition and visibility. Land 9(3), 92. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/3/92

FAO / UN (2022). Global livestock impact overview. http://www.fao.org/livestock-environment

Environmental and land-focused resources
Mass Audubon (2015). Losing Ground: Open Space in Massachusetts. https://www.massaudubon.org/our-conservation-work/land-conservation/losing-ground

Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). Massachusetts land parcel database, parcel-by-parcel development data. https://www.mapc.org/

Gulf of Maine Research Institute (2013). State of the Gulf of Maine: Coastal Land Use and Development. https://www.gulfofmaine.org

Plastic and pollution context
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Marine Debris Program overview. https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/

EPA (2022). Plastics: Material-Specific Data. https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-a

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