Rural Heritage Reading Room
Volume 33, Number 4, Summer 2008

RURAL HERITAGE is a bimonthly journal in support of farming and logging with draft horses, mules, and oxen. The Summer issue was mailed to subscribers on July28, 2008. The mailing was delayed due to the flooding of the Rural Heritage office June 13. Below is this issue's annotated Table of Contents, with links to a few samples of the good reading delivered to your door every other month when you subscribe to Rural Heritage. If in your reading you run across a drafty word you don't recognize, consult our online Draft Dictionary.

Table of Contents

~ Departments ~

Feedback
(letters from Rural Heritage readers)

A Reader Asks about...a 5 Horse Evener
Sam Moore, author of Implements for Farming with Horses & Mules, answers a reader's question about hooking up two horses in front of three for plowing.

Guest Editorial: An Immodest Proposal
Paul Strong offers suggestions for using bovine flatulence to achieve energy independence.

Farm Fresh: Danger in the Pasture
Alina Rice tells a story about

Teamster Tips
A compilation of tips from 30-plus years of Rural
Heritage Magazine
.

Let’s Talk Rusty Iron: Spading Harrow
Sam Moore, author of Implements for Farming with Horses & Mules, discusses the uses and history of a unique and handy tillage tool.

Horse Logic: The Trouble with Patterns
Ron Meredith explains how developing predictable habits can make working with horses easier for a novice driver, but can create problems for the experienced teamster.

Christopher Otsby of Gatzke, Minnesota, walks beside Pum, his father's Holstein ox, as they prepare to walk the 420-mile Pembina Trail.

Photo by Joe Mischka.

The Wheelwright: Build a Wagon Box II
Wayne Clemm continues his demonstration in words and pictures how to construct a new wagon box during a renovation project.

Hoof and Hammer: Keep Your Farrier Safe
F. Thomas Breningstall gives advice on how to make your stable a convenient and safe place for your farrier to work.

Associations
(contacts for breed registries and regional draft clubs)

Calendar of Events
(frequently updated online)

Advertisers in this issue (with links)
(please tell 'em you saw it in Rural Heritage)

Grandma's Kitchen: The Family Chowder
Bryan Dale Headley provides his chowder recipe that serves 100 and explains how most communities in his region have their own "chowder days", each claiming theirs to be the best.

~ Features ~

Heritage Horses
Valerie Kirkwood reports on the horse-drawn farming demonstrations that were conducted at the 2007 heritage sector of Ontario's annual fall International Plowing Match.

British Horse Logging I: Harness
Doug Joiner shows us how they skid logs in the UK and what kind of equipment they use to get the job done.

Those Were the Days: Neighbors to the Rescue
Tom Kovach recalls a close call on his father's farm as his family struggled to get in the hay before the rain came and how the neighbors helped save the day.

Montana's Draft Horse Capital
Elizabeth Kidwell provides a guide to touring Montana's horse attractions.

Whittling away at NAIS
Karin Bergener gives an update on the fight to stop NAIS.

Reclaiming Bess and Kate
James Hines tells the story of a pair of mules, an impromptu horse pull, and a dishonest teamster.

Surprise Birthday Bash
Lynne Howe reports on a special birthday gift for a northern Illinois man where 55 teamsters with 123 head of horses and mules plowed 40 acres in one day.

Walking the Pembina Trail
Joe Mischka tells us about a northern Minnesota man who is remaking history by walking the 420 mile trail used by trappers and traders in the early 1800s.

Starting a Team IV: Longeing for Respect
Dave Feltenberger continues his discussion of horse training, this time with a long line and a stick and a lesson on learning basic commands.

Iowa's Teamster Day
Bethany Caskey provides photos and results from the annual event near Moravia, Iowa, where 13 teamsters and 14 teams competed in obstacle and log pulling contests.

The Wisdom of Cattle: Earning Trust
Philip Henderson describes how he learned to develop trust between drover and oxen and how humility brings about a cooperative relationship.

Hog Composting - Can You Dig It?
Ralph Rice explains how to use the natural rooting tendency of pigs to help turn over the manure in cow pens, making compost.

Training Buff
Hellmut Patzelt discusses how he trained his one-year-old steer.

Liability Insurance
Bill Speiden explains the law regarding liability when it comes to providing rides to the public using draft animal power.

Blast from the Past
Linda and Bud Henderson introduce us to the annual Palouse Empire Threshing Bee held on Labor Day with an informative article and lovely photos.

Index of Past Issues of Rural Heritage

This Reading Room is updated with each new issue. If you wish to be notified by email when new contents are posted, please Contact Us. If you wish to receive Rural Heritage in your mailbox every other month, please Subscribe.


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05 June 2008