[KMichelle]

George – I am wondering if the link for the Les Barden plans has worn out? As I can not find it, or I am not certain how to navigate to it. Or, do you know about the year that SFJ article was in?

[KMichelle]

Wow George, I never thought I would lust after wood and hardware… You must be quite pleased with your workmanship. Thanks for the inspiration!

[KMichelle]

Also, what size/weight dimensions should I figure on for the box-body? We’re talkin’ about some beef-cake Belgian mares here… I swear Roxie’s neck is tall as my out stretched arm. OK, maybe not quite.

[KMichelle]

I have seen some of the ‘scoots’ around on the internet and I am liking that for the alternative. I wonder if there would be some way of making the box body detachable so that I could also use it to drag small timber and brush out. There are some very basic specs for them online and it seems this is on the same level as stone boat construction. I am wondering if anyone has leads on detailed fabrication info? Maybe SFJ? I have years/decades of archives that I could pour through, but maybe someone knows where to go. I’d been willing to pay a couple courtesy bucks for a really straight forward plan, as I am not the most competent/creative carpenter I’ve ever met. Thanks for the advice thus far!

[KMichelle]

Not sure if the Round-up question is tongue-in-cheek or not… but my understanding is that a marjority of the farms that I have discussed concerning no-till, practice with heavy herbicide application(Round-up). An intern from Germany I worked with last year on the draft horse farm showed me videos of no-till implements which are certainly impressive and innovative, but agreed that all farms he knew of in GER, were not organic. Certainly alot can be gleaned from the theory of no-till, but many of those practices can be applied through proper knowledge of when and what is appropriate for plowing, cover crop rotation and dynamic composting. The Nordel’s have alot of info regarding this idea.

[KMichelle]

Thanks Erika! I look forward to getting some quotes back and finalizing my plans. I plan on moving the horse in late fall/early winter. Additional networking and comments are always welcome!

 

[KMichelle]

Sounds great Ann, I don’t shop at Walmart anyway… kmichellesanders@yahoo.com I’d appreciate whatever you can send! I guess maybe a visit and trial run is in order, but that would be several months away, anyway – thanks for your good work!

[KMichelle]

Although I do not plan on returning to Vermont until Spring 2013, a situation like this would be very appealing to me! I would need space enough for my 3 horses (2 draft 1 saddle), and would be willing to buy hay etc… That’s pretty far in the future but I’ll keep it in mind and would particularly like to visit since I will begin prep work on my homestead which currently has very poor soil. The first few years I only plan on setting up bee hives and planting pollinator/cover crops. My homestead land is in Plymouth Vermont but I am very framiliar with the Danville area and in fact spent several summers boarding my horse at the Morgan Horse Farm!

[KMichelle]

I’ve seen the add for this tool in the SFJ, and an article too… I went to the website listed, but I only found submarines (not that it is not really incredible)… alot of your art work it really great too! The hinges and harness brasses… Do you have more written work about the Anny’s All In One? I’m getting ready to make purchases for my homesteading operation and yours is definately of interest!

[KMichelle]

Geoff – You mean there aren’t a bunch of draft-horse farms in eastern Oregon that give away teams of horses?? 🙂 Yes, I am working for the Mader’s this summer and enjoying every minute! Oh, and don’t tell my mom I need to stay out here even one day longer then I already have… my “farm-lusting” has aged the poor lady. But I notice that I keep extending my stay in Oregon six months at a time…

Andy – I am always encouraged to hear more and more people having “just two hives”… “The answer is not one guy with 10,000 hives, it’s 10,000 people with one hive.” A qoute that I think sums up the solution of our global apicultural/agricultural/societal crisis.

[KMichelle]

23 and I’m starting my team of Belgian mares this summer. I’ve owned my own horse since I was 11 and used to ride and compete very seriously through the international level. I always wanted a farm bursting at the seams with horses, but when I went through some life evaluation stuff, I wasn’t sure how I was going to justify that part of it. When I lived with my brother for a few months on his grass-fed farm in north-central Vermont I got turned onto SFJ and realized that draft horses was a very real and lively thing, that was four years ago. I did find a little touble breaking through the ‘glass-ceiling’, even with the horse-sense that I had, but now I am involved in an internship in eastern oregon where I am trading my time for a team of horses they will help me start. I look forward to bringing them back to Vermont!

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