What if I get injured?

I am alone here on a small farm, and it has been brought to my attention that I could be injured out in the back field and no one would know. my phone is somewhere nearby most of the time but I don't keep it on me all the time because I might break it or get it wet.
Do you all have any suggestions? A few friends have suggested that emergency thing that hangs around your neck lol "I've fallen and I can't get up!"

If your farm is all/mostly in cell range, you could just get a heavy duty waterproof case for your phone. I think those life alert buttons come with a pretty hefty subscription fee.

Your phone is probably less expensive than "I've fallen and I can't get up" subscription, since you use it for other things.  My dad (88) has "I've fallen and I can't get up" and he's never needed it.  It does go off almost every time he does push-ups.

Buy or make a sturdy case for your phone which you can wear around your waist or neck, and it will probably be safe enough.

both phone and the emergency button are great options to have.
you do need something for just in case. ive heard some use walkie talkies on farms. but that would require having someone monitoring at the home base.

it was suggested to me that old phones with no service (even flip phones) can call out to 911 if charged. ive never tried but, that would be an option if it works that way, collect several charge them up, place in ziplock bags and post around the homestead/barn/fence post... ect.

I kept an old flip phone in the car for that use and it still drained the battery so you may need to consider that. Plus sun isn't great for them.

But I share your concern at times as I am usually solo too.  I often have my phone with me but sometimes when I don't I think what if...

Yes any phone can make an emergency call even if it has no sim card. you do still have to remember to charge it of course. My phone A FLIP PHONE! (I do not have a smart phone) lasts turned on for about 10 days on one charge, so off it would probably only need a charge every few months.

My Aunt was trampled by a horse on her farm in NZ she had to crawl over a mile up and down very steep hills with broken ribs, ruptured spleen and a punctured lung, she now carries her phone round her neck at all times. Could you get a second sim for your normal phone contract and put it in a old style phone? They do still make them, keep that one in your pocket when out and swap to the better one when it's less likely to be broken. All this assumes you have coverage of course.

Personal locator beacons have no monthly subscription. Charges do apply if the big red emergency button is pressed.

Like previously said, a charged, in service, weatherproof cell phone at your side seems like the best option.

Look at it these two ways - if you are able to crawl/hobble to eventually find help then you'd be considered one tough son of a gun and that would make you legendary...

If you die from your wounds then you would have died an honorable death that would be admirable - in nature's hands, trying to forge a life alone off the land.

A win either way

I once dropped my flip phone in two inches of water. All I knew was it was somewhere on my fourth acres. It had been an hour since I’d irrigated. Some how I found it and after a night in a bag of rice, it would make and receive calls, but texting became a challenge.

I do a lot of demolition work on my own. There have been a few times when i've asked someone to check on me if i'm going into a difficult spot , but they almost always fail to do so. Quite often, i get a big chimney down to attic level and then i plan to tear it apart brick by brick as i descend inside an enclosed cavity. They are dropped down into the basement through a hole that could clog. My helper is supposed to check and clear occasionally .On my last three , i told Sahoshi,  my helper to check on me occasionally. Twice i got to the bottom and after executing my escape i hunted him down and gave him shit for not clearing or checking. The third time, i discovered that he had finished up and gone home. I don't take my cell phone into places where it could get ruined.

Yes, purchasing a good mobile phone case and maybe making a heavy duty leather carry case you can attach to a belt would improve things. A lot of farmers here wear high visibility clothing (particularly shirts) so they stand-out in the fields - a horizontal high-vis shirt raises alarm bells! But, it also makes it easier for rescuers to find people in a large area.

(A lot of smart phones have a torch function, so it could be used for signaling too.)

We don't have cell phone service(other than wi-fi within proximity to our homes) on our property, so we are looking into getting walkie-talkies for the property. Other than that, I try to avoid more dangerous activities if no one else is on the land. If I was always alone I think that I would notify someone (friends/family) when I was doing something particularly dangerous, and would have a plan to let them know that I'd finished said task, and that I was okay, and if not notified, they should check on me. As far as everyday risks, well, I'd say we all take risks, such is life.

Where I live there are a lot of single people living alone.......mostly seniors who have lost a partner. We all carry a cellphone. But we also have an email (or text message) buddy system set up. We have a buddy who we email at least once a day, just to let them know that we are still alive and ok. If the email doesn't come , them somebody would go to check on us. The system works. Sometimes a person has been found laying on the floor after having a stroke or something. Sometimes it's a person who fell but wasn't coherent enough to use the phone. Sometimes it's a sick person. That buddy system has saved people here.

Ty Greene wrote:
Look at it these two ways - if you are able to crawl/hobble to eventually find help then you'd be considered one tough son of a gun and that would make you legendary...

If you die from your wounds then you would have died an honorable death that would be admirable - in nature's hands, trying to forge a life alone off the land.

A win either way

I must be legendary then!

I look at it the same way, and when  I was in a logging accident three years ago, I did just as you described; running about a half mile through the woods after being struck between the eyebrows with a fully running chainsaw. I passed out once, but realized if I did not get up and make it out, I would die. Yet I surived to tell the tale, and in fact consider my logging accident as being very fortunate as it was determined I had cancer.

Despite my near-death experience and a four day stay in the hospital, I have not changed how I do things. I am about the only person in the free world who does not have an electronic leash (cell phone), and I still log alone.

I refuse to live my life in fear of something I cannot control.

Travis Johnson wrote:

Ty Greene wrote:
Look at it these two ways - if you are able to crawl/hobble to eventually find help then you'd be considered one tough son of a gun and that would make you legendary...

If you die from your wounds then you would have died an honorable death that would be admirable - in nature's hands, trying to forge a life alone off the land.

A win either way

I must be legendary then!

I look at it the same way, and when  I was in a logging accident three years ago, I did just as you described; running about a half mile through the woods after being struck between the eyebrows with a fully running chainsaw. I passed out once, but realized if I did not get up and make it out, I would die. Yet I surived to tell the tale, and in fact consider my logging accident as being very fortunate as it was determined I had cancer.

Despite my near-death experience and a four day stay in the hospital, I have not changed how I do things. I am about the only person in the free world who does not have an electronic leash (cell phone), and I still log alone.

I refuse to live my life in fear of something I cannot control.

Yes a true legend!! Ouch - but that is awesome you made it!  I have used chainsaws several times in the past but just recently bought my own. Been doing a little research on cutting techniques and came across some of the horror stories of kickback...hopefully the chain brake function on this new saw works if I find myself in that bad situation.

Ty Greene wrote:Yes a true legend!! Ouch - but that is awesome you made it!  I have used chainsaws several times in the past but just recently bought my own. Been doing a little research on cutting techniques and came across some of the horror stories of kickback...hopefully the chain brake function on this new saw works if I find myself in that bad situation.

In my case it was not kick back that caused the incident, but something called a spring pole. That is a sapling that is sitting under a felled log and arched up like a bow and arrow. In my case I was limbing out the tree and just thought it was another limb, but the moment I cut through it, it released all that tension and threw the chainsaw into my face.

My chain brake never went off.

After I got to the house, I had my diesel mechanic go up into the woods and shut my skidder off, (it was up in the woods just idling), and when retrieved my chainsaw, he said the chain brake was not on when he grabbed the saw. It was a professional chainsaw too; a 72 cc Stihl so I was very fortunate.

But if I was to be killed in the woods, it would be in doing something that I love. And far better than my Great, Great, Grandfather. He was logging when he was shot...murdered actually...by some guys that were stealing wood off him. They got away with it too, saying it was a hunting accident, but I have his diary right up to the day he was murdered.

Travis, I have a similar attitude to risk taking as you do. I don't allow fear of injury or death to rule my life. Most of my farm is without cellphone coverage. I work alone most of the time. If I wouldn't show up for dinner, then hubby would come looking for me. I've been injured many a time on the farm, but so far I've been able to get myself back to the house.

Sadly there are plenty of people where fear rules their life's choices. I have friends who won't buy a house in a place without cellphone coverage. They won't buy a house which an ambulance can't access or is further than 15 minutes to a hospital. They have a constant subtle fear of emergency, they won't get involved in anything they consider risky.

Having a farm style life is risky. Perhaps that is one of the things that keeps many wannabe farmers from joining the movement back to the land. Cellphones and walkie-talkies makes it safer if something goes wrong.....and in farming, something will surely go wrong eventually.

I see myself balancing risk with reasonable precautions. I mostly work alone, and that's fine, but I don't use the chainsaw when no one else is on the property and won't be for days. If it was something that I did often, or if it was necessary to be done at that time, I would. But I use a chain saw a couple times a year, so waiting until my daughter isn't out of town isn't a hardship.

I am also balancing my daughter's fears as well. So if it makes her happier for me to wait, I do. But living out here is new to us as well, I'm sure that if we were raised this way we would feel different. Just as those raised in cities aren't afraid of the myriad of emergencies that can happen there.

This is the best thread EVER! Ok, maybe not, but I got some good ideas on what to do. Having an extra old cell phone nearby is something I never would have thought of in a million years. I've been using a mobile phone since 1986 and my first phone was a bag phone😱  I have a box of old cell phones (go figure), and I do know if the battery's charged you can call 911. What I wasn't sure about was whether or not it has to have a SIM card so if course I searched it and posted a photo of the result below in case you're curious.
As for carrying my own phone, I will work on a way to attach it to me it doesn't drive me nuts. Lord knows I couldn't hang it around my neck - I'd bend over and catch it on something and strangle myself. Some kind of fanny pack would work...Do they still make those? LOL
So the whole reason that I posed this question is that I am a 60 year old woman who is fit as a fiddle and often takes on jobs that I should probably get help doing. My friends are constantly on me about that, but that just isn't going to happen. I live on 5 acres and really only work one of them since I'm by myself. Everything I need I can pretty much get on an acre. But I'm invisible back here and it's not like someone would drive by and see me bleeding to death in the backyard. I use a lot of power tools, saws and such, I was grinding concrete earlier in the week, and I just bought a chipper shredder. I'm very careful and safe, but that's what we think right before we get injured.
Thank you everyone for your ideas! It was sure fun reading them.

We have 13 acres and I pay for a smart phone w minimal plan for the coverage.  We are in a cell phone hole for everybody except U.S. Cellular. People are always calling / texting about piglets, anyway.    I have beat the heck out of it. I wear a fanny pack or jacket w zip up pockets, over the shoulder pack w my knife, pistol,  phone, pen and paper, needle nose pliers, dog treats. That's  my daily carry.  So far, I have only dropped the phone inside in the toilet, when it was in my pants pocket.

You need a knife/pliers for whatever string/ wire an animal got tangled up in. Pistol for protection from 2 leggeds or 4 leggeds,  or to put an animal down humanely.  And a phone in case one of those doesn't  work. Stuff happens. My husband has tipped our tractor over part of the way and got stuck.   Most....of the time he carries his phone, and would need it if he tips it over all the way.