Life After Loss in Rural America with Danielle Kruse [episode 113]
Listen to Life After Loss in Rural America with Danielle Kruse on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | your platform of choice
I’m honored to welcome Danielle Kruse to the podcast today!
Danielle’s story stopped me in my tracks the moment I heard her speak at the Farm Wives Club event this fall. Danielle has walked through a kind of loss most of us can’t imagine. Yet she shows up with honesty, clarity, grit, and a steady hope that feels rare in this world.
In today’s episode, we’re talking about life after loss in rural America. Danielle and her husband built a life in northwest Iowa, raising babies, crops, and building a farm alongside his parents. Like so many rural families, there was pride, responsibility, and pressure.
What Danielle didn’t know was that her husband was quietly battling a drinking addiction he kept hidden from nearly everyone. The weight of that secrecy, shame, and the “I don’t need help” mentality eventually became too heavy for him to carry, and he took his own life.
Life after loss changes everything, but Danielle is proof that it doesn’t have to erase your future. You can keep going while still grieving, and you can choose honesty over silence.
You can ask for help, even when it feels foreign. And you CAN build something solid and steady for the future.
Danielle doesn’t carry guilt, but instead, carries deep compassion. Her vulnerability is a gift, and I’m so grateful she was willing to share it with us. These stories matter in rural America, because we NEED to be having these conversations!
Meet Danielle:
Danielle Kruse is a 39-year-old “farm girl” from Northwest Iowa. She received her degree in ultrasound, married a farmer, and had three kids. Her husband passed away, but she chose to continue the farm (alongside his parents), to give her kids the opportunity to farm someday (if they choose to). Navigating the past 3 years has been challenging, rewarding, and everything in between for Danielle.
In this episode, Life After Loss in Rural America with Danielle Kruse, we cover:
- Danielle’s path from healthcare to farm wife & now running the farm with her in-laws
- Her husband’s hidden drinking addiction, shame & circumstances surrounding his death
- Why asking for help feels impossible when you’re numbing or afraid of being a burden
- Danielle’s experience with grief and anger, and the reality that closure is often a myth
- How she and her in-laws strengthened their relationship while keeping the farm going
- The support system that helped her navigate life after loss
- Her kids’ resilience and the role therapy played for all of them
- The financial + operational learning curve she faced stepping into farm responsibilities
- Danielle’s commitment to honesty, hard conversations & letting go of others’ opinions
- The stability & support she finds in her part-time ultrasound career
Resources & Links:
- The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change
- Join the waitlist for the Good Movement Collective
- Good Movement music by: Aaron Espe
- Podcast produced by: Jill Carr Podcasting
Connect with Danielle:
- Follow on Instagram @dlkruse
- Connect on Facebook
- Follow on TikTok @danielleleekruse
Connect with Terryn:
- Follow on Instagram @terryn.drieling
- Check out my website
- Send me an email at terryn@terryndrieling.com
Related Episodes:
- Episode 6: Rethinking Mental Health with Ashley Machado
- Episode 46: Cultivating Resilience + Fighting Well: Dannel Wissler on Mental Health and Family Dynamics in Rural America
- Episode 107: Trading Whiskey for Witness: Will Hudson on Being Seen and Staying Sober
More about the Good Movement Draws Good Movement podcast:
In stockmanship (the art and science of handling cattle in a safe, effective, low-stress manner), we have this phrase . . . good movement draws good movement.
It’s this thing that happens when we ask a small group of cattle, maybe a cow or a pair, to move out in a certain direction, and their movement draws the whole herd into moving in the same direction.
Good movement happens when we approach the cattle with a positive attitude, read and really listen to what they’re telling us, and communicate accordingly.
We don’t approach the aware, flighty cattle the same as we do the tame, docile cattle. We adjust ourselves, our energy, and our approach, and we communicate with each other differently.
These adjustments help us effectively draw good movement from each, which then draws good movement from the herd. But it starts with us.
The same is true for humans. Good movement starts with us.
Welcome to Good Movement Draws Good Movement, the podcast where farmers, ranchers, and rural folks can grow relationally through awareness, understanding, and effective communication.
Hey, it’s me – T. I’m your host, and I, along with my guests, will be covering topics related to drawing good movement – things like self and social awareness, brain science, positive psychology, extending grace, and so much more.
We’ll share tools that can help you understand why you are the way you are, why others are the way they are, and how you can use that to step out of self-told lies with grace and compassion to draw good movement in conversations, relationships, and life in rural America.
Tune in every Tuesday, and make sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode! Let’s go draw good movement!
