Nearly every real farmer carries a pliers as well as a pocketknife that possesses two or more keenly sharpened blades, and maybe has a screwdriver among its essential tools. Swiss Army knives aren’t the only option with a screwdriver; many farmers have pocketknives with a broken blade that they use as one.

Farmers usually also carry a mobile phone, ever since cellular phones became readily transportable, and for good reason: They can call for assistance and check with people and websites as needed. The cell phone can be a lifesaving tool.

If you are like me, you also keep a book of matches in a pocket where it stays dry when you sweat so you can burn empty seed bags and other trash, start bonfires, find something in the dark when you don’t have a flashlight, heat up something that doesn’t work such as a frozen hydrant, or enjoy a smoke.

The website www.quora.com says the axe, hoe, and shovel are the most common farm tools. Quora.com may be correct about worldwide farming methods and tools that are used by subsistence farmers in developing nations that farm mostly manually, but not by most U.S. farmers.

Another online source that has a Top 10 list – which I chose to mostly disregard although I understand the logic of its choices – says farm jacks, the come-along, cordless power tools, chains, tractors, and farm implements are among the most-used farming tools. Sorry – baling wire and duct tape are more necessary, and not just because the TV personality Red Green says so.

Like most farmers, a smart phone has replaced my earlier cell phones even though I don’t know how to use many of its available functions. It substitutes for a watch when needed; it helps me find routes while driving; it displays the weather radar and forecasts; it enables me keep up with current news; and more.

Like most people, I detest robo-calls and any telephone messages aimed at selling me something. Political messages are also too common these days, especially in my state of Iowa.

There are additional important tools agricultural producers can rely on. I vote for equipment to fish, to hunt, and for stuff to carry out meaningful retreats from the work environment, like a camping trailer. Sports equipment such as bicycles, balls of all types, skis, and any equipment that help us escape our usual duties for a while also qualify as useful tools.

These items can be lifesavers – they provide ag producers, and everyone, opportunities to not think about work. Our perspectives change when we have a big fish on the line, aim a shotgun at a pheasant busting out of a weak patch, or just by trying these and other non-work feats.

Even the preparation for the activities associated with recreation can relieve stress, such as tying flies for fishing, reloading shotgun and rifle shells, and getting a camper ready for an excursion.

We all become bollixed, and we need tools to help us disconnect from the sources of our stress periodically. That’s why I protested when I couldn’t find my fishing rods this spring, after a contractor painted the walls of our basement this winter.

In the process of painting the basement, somebody moved my fly-fishing rods and equipment. I couldn’t find them, even though I found my other fishing equipment: waders, a float tube that doesn’t leak, flippers, fishing flies that I tied, reels, a net, and a fish storage bag.

For weeks I searched for my rods and had to forgo opportunities to fish because the most essential items – my fishing rods – were missing. I blamed my wife, partly because she hired the painter. Accusing Marilyn without proof of a misdeed was another reason for me to distance myself from work.

Guess what? A couple days ago Marilyn asked the painter if she knew where my fishing rods were hiding; the painter promptly found them in a place I had not checked. All I could say was, “Ahem, sorry.” I meant it.

The necessity to solve problems that occur regularly for farmers, and all of us, for that matter, should be addressed by more than keeping our favorite mechanical tools handy. Our well-being can be improved by how we take care of ourselves with properly implemented planning.

Restorative activities like fishing, hunting, and whatever suits us as recreation are especially important tools this year, when uncertainty about farming outcomes is rampant. Recreation changes our perspective when we think about something else besides farming, or whatever our vocations are.

Taking a vacation for several days is best, but even a few hours away from our work scenes can open us up to new thinking, to meditation, to repairing relations with loved ones we may have ignored or treated harshly, and to options we haven’t thought of previously. Use your therapeutic tools this summer.

Dr. Mike Rosmann is a psychologist and farmer in western Iowa. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers may contact him at mike@agbehavioralhealth.com