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Farm women circle together

ELKHORN — Admit it.

At least once in your life, you've felt lonely and isolated, even in your busy neighborhood or lively office.

Even surrounded by people, you had a hard time finding a way to talk to someone about what was wrong.

Now, imagine you're never surrounded by people. Your closest neighbor is a mile away, and your busy "office" is your kitchen or yard.

That could make it really hard to talk about what's wrong.

One women's advocacy group is working to change that.

The Wisconsin Rural Women's Initiative, a non-profit organization that promotes wellness and social interaction among farmwomen, will host a roundtable discussion that will become the sounding board to bring "Gathering Circles" to Rock and Walworth counties.

Gathering Circles are discussion groups that help farm women who are feeling isolated to vent with their "rural sisters," said Mary Bub, founder of the initiative.

The initiative wants to bring local leaders and service providers together to form a plan to bring the circles to Rock and Walworth counties.

Bub and her family run MoonStar Farm outside Elkhorn where they raise and sell produce, poultry and grass-fed beef and goats.

At a morning-long brainstorming event, Bub and others will demonstrate a Gathering Circle and invite questions and comments from attendees.

Along with the circles, future activities could include a local farm women's weekend, which would be a retreat for survivors of domestic violence, with a focus on older farm or rural women, Bub wrote in an e-mail to the Gazette.

Bub previously told the Gazette that 15 circles are active in Wisconsin. Typically, 12 to 20 women attend a circle, Bub said.

Aside from the circles, the initiative hosts free weekend getaways for women or couples, workshops for group leaders and free health screenings, including mammograms and diabetes screening.

Gathering Circle participants learn to speak up for themselves and share their stories. Group leaders learn crisis intervention skills and how to run a meeting that's safe and comfortable.

Bub has chosen to focus on rural women because resources are less available and accessible for them, she said.

Domestic violence programs might cover thousands of square miles, leaving women to drive hours for help. Self-employed rural women might lack health insurance. And they might hesitate to seek counseling in a nearby small town where everyone knows them, Bub said.

Bub in 2008 won the Fred Lindner Prize for Social Innovation in Wisconsin for her work with the initiative.