Dave Lindig has a farm that he makes money on through agritourism. The farm grows sorghum, gourds, and pumpkins. It also has several species of poultry, a few calves, and a handful of goats (including two baby goats). Entry is $5 for adults, $3 for children. A variety of products are for sale on the farm, including cookies made with sorghum molasses, Jake's maple syrup, and pumpkins.I visited Lindig's farm on Homestead and Draft Day -- a special event in which people were demonstrating plowing, tilling, and farming techniques using horses instead of tractors. Others were pressing sorghum with a mule-powered press, then boiling the juice to turn it into molasses.
At Draft Day, I talked with a fellow who bred mules. He told me about the relative advantages of mules over horses: mules live longer; mules are more agile on uneven ground; mules are easier to train; mules have sturdier legs than horses.
It was beautiful to watch the horses and mules plow the fields. There was a bond between the farmer and the horses -- an organic, loving, symbiotic relationship. The farmer and team worked close to the earth -- the farmer was literally a couple feet away from the ground, in the open air, not "protected" or isolated by the cabin of a big machine. It was such a contrast from the gigantic tractors, run by agribusiness farmers in air-conditioned cabins, rolling on huge tires over large acres of monocultures.
I left feeling like horses and mules were the clear path to a better future for sustainable agriculture.
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