upcoming draft animal-power field days

The Draft Animal-Power Network are running 3 days of events at the Cornish Fairgrounds NH from September 29th – October 1st. The Draft Animal-Power Network aims to advance the use of draft animals, to promote sustainable land stewardship and to build vibrant communities through year-round educational and networking opportunities that highlight the ongoing efforts of people throughout the region.

The weekends events will begin on Friday, September 29th, with 3 intensive all day workshops which will give participants the opportunity to spend an entire day learning with hands on experience from experienced teamsters. The topics for the workshops include ‘Cultivation and Tillage with Draft Animals’, ‘Growing Your Draft Animal Power Farm’ and ‘Forest to Frame’. Friday evening will end with a square dance with the Bob Boynton Square Dance Band. On Saturday and Sunday, there will be more half day workshops, round-table discussions, music by the bonfire, obstacle courses and teamster challenges and much more!

There are also 20 weekend scholarship places for young teamsters, to apply, email dapnetinfo@gmail.com explaining why you are interested in attending asap!

To find out more about the weekend’s events and to register click HERE 

help wanted on draft-powered farm in saratoga springs

Now Hiring for 2017 Farm Assistant!

Featherbed Lane Farm is a full year and draft horse powered CSA, located just outside of Saratoga Springs, NY, producing vegetables and eggs.  We are seeking a Farm Assistant for the 2017 season.  The Farm Assistant will participate in all aspects of farm work with a focus on vegetable production. A full PDF of the job description is attached here:2017-farm-assistant_featherbed-lane-farm.

For more information about the position, please contact Tim at tim@featherbedlanefarm.com.

job working on a cooperatively-run horse farm in NY for the 2017 season

Abode Farm is Hiring for 2017!

 Abode Farm— is a cooperatively run 8-acre horse-powered farm in New Lebanon, NY. We produce vegetables, herbs, and flowers for our summer and winter CSA, wholesale accounts, schools, and farmers markets. Our farm is located on historic Mount Lebanon, a diverse ecological site; with wetlands, ponds, streams, woodlands, and meadows. We work to honor this diversity in our growing practices with a holistic farm system that builds soil, protects wildlife, and produces healthy crops.

Practices— Our bio-extensive farm system focuses on diversity, cover cropping, composts, mineral amendments, and careful crop rotation. We do not use any synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides on our farm. We rely on our Belgian draft horses as our primary source of power, which helps us stay light on the land, and sensitive to the biological rhythms we work with. We also use a small Farmall Cub tractor for bed-preparation and light tillage.

Community— The farm is a dynamic educational and community space. We share our land with The Abode of the Message—a Sufi spiritual community, and Flying Deer Nature Center. It’s a busy place and there are always events going on. At the farm, we host many performances, workshops, potlucks, artists’ visits, and educational programs throughout the season. Community outreach and food access are extremely important to us. We are looking for someone who has an interest in community organizing, food justice, and education in addition to holistic agriculture.

Abode Farm Job Description

Seeking –  2 Full-time farm co-workers
Start/End – April-November
Schedule – Tuesday–Friday 7:30-5pm, weekend chore rotation
Spring and Fall hours 8:30am-5pm
                   35-40hrs/week—potential for extra hours
Compensation – TBD, $10/hr or Housing & Stipend

Full job description below the break!

radio interview with draft-horse vegetable farmer

Farmer David Fisher with his draft horses. Photo by David Charles/NPR.

The GH radio is still on break, so if you need to satiate your weekly hunger for radio stories about farming, let me suggest this great piece by NPR’s the Salt about Natural Roots Farm, a CSA farm in western Massachusetts that uses smart systems, ecological growing techniques, and draft power to create self-reliant farm systems that rely as little on fossil fuels as possible.

Though short, the interview with farmers David Fisher and Anna Maclay touches on the discontent with consumer society that drives many of us into the fields, the idea of right work, and the emotional tolls that perfectionism can have on a farmer’s relationships. In fact, we can’t help but wish that the interview could somehow open up to explore these topics in more depth.

Oh, and breaking news! NPR reports that small-scale vegetable farmers are perfection-seeking idealists.

 

 

 

a+ technology (adaptive, accessible, appropriate)

Image by Swathi Sridharan

Examples of Questionable Applications of Technology:

1. using garden sheers to trim your bangs
2. building a forest fire to barbecue burgers for two
3. mincing garlic with a machete
4. driving a ton of steel to transport a 150 lbs human body across town
5. relying on expensive, petroleum-reliant, highly-commodified tools to support innovative, unconventional, and ecologically-sound small farms

 

This week in the Food List, the focus is on Appropriate Technology— or, in other words, technology that suits its purposes (in scale, cost, application, etc.). The presented case studies presented prove that when it comes to sustainable, small-scale farming, bigger is not better and one size doesn’t necessarily fit all.

our horses are bigger than your deere. support draft animal power field days!

Help us create a sustainable fund to support Draft Animal-Power Field Days in the Northeast!

As American agriculture is struggling with aging farmers and a shrinking number of farms, sustainable agriculture and new farmers are repopulating the American food system. Increasingly, these farmers are moving towards draft animal power—the use of mules, horses and oxen—to till and fertilize their new agricultural pursuits.  The Draft Animal Power Network is at the forefront of connecting these farmers with resources and information to power their farms.

GIVE THEM A BOOST ON INDEGOGO