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  • Cara Evans, a founder of Custom Land Management LLC, speaks about networking and marketing in the agriculture business Friday during the Women in Ag Luncheon at Autry Technology Center. (Staff Photo by BILLY HEFTON)

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May 14, 2010

Ag networking

Speakers talk at Women in Ag spring luncheon

By Kasey Fowler, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle

ENID — Women involved in agriculture heard about marketing and stress Friday during the Women in Ag spring luncheon.

Cara Evans, a founder of Custom Land Management LLC, spoke during the meeting at Autry Technology Center about networking and self-marketing.

“We know about face-to-face networking, Whether it be in civic organizations in the community or in professional groups or events like today, where we are all meeting each other,” she said.

Evans asked how many in the audience had Facebook pages. Most of the group responded they did.

“Do you use it to promote your business or do you use it to keep up with photos of peoples’ kids that are out of town?” she asked.

Most of the group said they used Facebook for personal use, not for business.

“We’ve used it for our business. We had a guy from Las Vegas call us,” Evans said. “He had inherited some land around Billings. He Googled land management in Oklahoma and our Facebook page popped up.”

Marlene Buck, extension educator for Garfield County Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service office, followed Evans, speaking about stress.

“Money and crisis are not stress.” Buck said they are stressors. Stress is what happens on the inside.

Stress is an internal reaction to external stimuli, she said.

“Not all stress is bad. You know, when a friend you haven’t seen in years calls you and they are an hour away?” Buck said. “I know I can clean the house so fast because it gives me so much energy. Not all stress is bad.”

One way to deal with stress is to be physically active.

“The key is physical activity. Everyone says that is my answer to everything, but it is true,” Buck said. “We have heard it over and over again. It is the answer to stress.”

According to Buck, stress affects muscles, and if it does not affect voluntary muscles, ones we can control, it affects involuntary muscles, ones the body controls, leading to things like ulcers or colitis.

“When stress gets bad enough, it causes bigger problems: Depression, not just feeling blue for the day; suicide, my family has experienced that; divorce; and stress progression to all-consuming obsession,” Buck said.

She gave the group the warning signs of suicide but left the group with a “bright side.”

“I want to leave you with this ... There are two consistent characteristics of kids who succeed,” Buck said. “They have passion, you may call it a hobby. The other is the family has gone through a tragedy — a hard time — and they came out together on the other side.”

Before wrapping up the luncheon, Kayle Castello, with Central National Bank, spoke to the group about trusts and estate planning, followed by Lacey Voth, of Custom Land Management, on planning for the farm’s future.

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