Introduction – Lisa McCrory

[earthwise]

Hello,

My name is Lisa McCrory (Earthwise) and I am one of the Administrators for the Draft Animal Power forum.

I am married to Carl Russell and admittedly have limited experience with draft animals, but am looking forward to the time when I can be more involved with the draft animal production part of our farm. My excuse is often that our kids are small right now(3,5 &10), I have a few other jobs that beg my attention, …etc But really, I just need to get out there and start doing it. Being married to a horse logger, I have plenty of opportunity to hop in there, so I INTEND to make this year the year that I take the next step and shed some of those excuses.

I grew up with horses, but spent my time on their backs; from pony club, to horse shows, to competitive trail rides. Horses have always been a life line for me and I really valued the relationship that I had with the riding horses in my life; they taught me a lot.

We have a diversified ‘homestead’ farm where we raise chickens for meat and eggs, cows for meat and milk, pigs, turkeys, draft horses and a team of steers (2yrs old now).

We also grow a lot of our own food for the year and sell our surpluses at farmers markets and to a small group of loyal friends/customers. We manage the farm using organic and biodynamic practices. I work off the farm as a consultant for organic livestock and dairy producers, am editor for an organic dairy newsletter, and have fallen in LOVE with growing flowers, garlic and herbs – which I also sell at farmers markets. My hope is to be farming more each year and consulting less…which is not as easy as I thought it would be. Part of it is cash-flow, but the rest is habit. Some day I would like to see myself working side by side with Carl in the woods or in a field with my own team of horses or oxen.

We are proud of the fact that our agricultural products are grown without the use of fossil fuels – and have been done that way for over 20 years on this property. This is not an easy task as some have described as some years don’t offer a lot of good weather to perform certain tasks. Not having a tractor keeps us from having an alternative. But we keep things small and usually have a ‘plan B’ or a ‘plan C’ and try not to have high expectations.

I am looking forward to participating in this forum and looking forward to getting to know some of you better.

Lisa

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