Publisher's Post - October 2024

A couple weeks ago, Larry Jollisant of Plantersville, Texas, watched an episode of Rural Heritage on RFD-TV in which Scott Bryant and Matt Post drove Scott's team of crossbreds over 850 miles from Matt’s hometown in Walker, Iowa, to Scott’s farm in St. John, N.D. The horses were put to a covered wagon loaned by Clayton Skoien that had most of the amenities you’d find in a RV-camper.

The episode resonated with Larry, as he had been planning something similar for the spring of 2025 — a 350-mile trip from his hometown in Plantersville to Bandera, Texas. He called me, and I put him in touch with Scott so Larry could learn some tips Scott had learned during his trip.

At 82, Larry is calling his trip the “Cowboy’s Last Ride,” and he's using it to raise awareness and funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a cause close to his heart, he says. He expects the trip to take about four weeks, and, having traveled over 4,000 miles on the Sam Houston Trail Ride already in the past 40 years, Larry has a pretty good idea how fast and far he can go each day.

His home will be a meticulously replicated eight- wheel Lindsey log wagon fitted with bows and canvas to help keep out the weather, and it will be pulled by four draft mare mules. He will cook most meals over a campfire and sleep under the stars during good weather and in the wagon during rainy nights. A team of mules pulls the Lindsey log wagon after it had been converted to a covered wagon for the Sam Houston Trail Ride.

We’ll bring you updates about Larry’s ride in upcoming issues, then try to spend a day or two with him filming a Rural Heritage TV episode next spring.

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Speaking of wagon trips, John Coley of Hillsboro, Ky., called the other day to remind us the Montgomery Wagon Train will leave Forney, Ala., March 3, travel 10 days and arrive in Montgomery, Ala., March 13 in time for the SLE Rodeo. It will be their 52nd ride and sure to include folks who’ve been on nearly every one. It is a tradition in a lot of families, started in one generation, carried on in the next, and laying the groundwork for the next.

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Longtime RH advertiser, Gordon Harness is preparing for retirement, and, as part of that preparation, they're selling at $35 each, the new plow points they've had in inventory: Syracuse #31 and Syracuse/John Deere points, #1441. You can find their contact information on their MyCard ad on page 99.br>
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I hope you’ve noticed a new feature we're launching this issue, Business Spotlight, where we focus on a small business involved in draft animal powered farming, logging or homesteading. This issue we look at Peach Lane Harness in Ronks, Penn. Let us know if your business should be one of the next ones we report on.

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A man from Kernville, Calif., called us a few days ago to place an ad in the magazine looking for a couple saddle mules and a team of draft mules to join their nonprofit program, One Spade Youth Packers. The organization grew out of the love of the back country and packing with mules that its founders, Reid and Eileen Hopkins shared. As the numbers of young people they'd see packing in the back country began to fall off, the couple decided to do something about it.

In 1995, they formed the One Spade Youth Packing team which, in addition to participating in conventional packing in the Sierra Nevada mountains, competed at the Bishop Mule Days Celebration in Bishop, Calif. Many of their participants are considered “at risk” kids. Working with mules, packing in the mountains and competing at a national event instills in them self-discipline and respect for themselves, others and nature.

They rely on generous sponsors to help make their important work possible. At present, they are hoping to find a team of draft mules and a couple saddle mules. Their ad appears on page 41.

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My father turns 90 years old this month, on Halloween 2024, actually. I’ve written about him before — about how he and my mom first lived in Madison, Wis., after marrying in 1954, where my brother David was born. And how after my dad graduated from college there, he eventually wound up working for US Steel in Pittsburgh, where I and four other brothers were born. Ultimately, my parents moved us to a farm near Whitewater, Wis., where they converted an old dairy farm to a farrow to finish hog operation which, in turn, morphed into a horse stable.

When I was 10, they sold half the acreage, which included the farm buildings, to be added to the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest, and built a new house, barn, indoor riding arena and machine shed on the other half.

About 25 years later, after my mother died, he sold the second set of farm buildings and most of the remaining acreage to one of my brothers and built a house in which to retire on a small remaining parcel where he lives today.

I wouldn’t be doing what I do today if it hadn’t been for my father. Looking back, the business Susan and I run, started with him and my mother. We’ve changed it some, adding things like this magazine we bought in 2007, and shifting our focus away from performance horses and carriage driving shows to focus on working draft animal power and general homesteading.

But a lot of the day-to-day work I do — both on the road and back at the office — I learned by watching and listening to him over 20 years ago. I learned how to take better photos, filling the frame but giving the horse room to run, never cutting off the ears or hooves and keeping the sun to my back. He taught me how to stay on top of projects by moving them off my desk and into the next person's hands as quickly as possible.

I learned to send out for bids on jobs even when I already knew which printer I planned to use just to make sure they kept “their pencils sharp.” He taught me that it paid to advertise, even when you weren’t sure the ads were doing you much good, because it was one of the ways we support one another in this community.

Finally, I learned how to deal with dissatisfied customers over the phone by listening to his end of the conversation. He tried to always follow the Marshall Field maxims: “Give the lady what she wants,” and “the customer is always right,” as well as the Crouse Cartage Company's slogan: “Service is our Salesman.”

And he taught me a lot more.

Even today, having slowed down a little at the age of 90, he works harder than I ever have. Harder than most people I know, and most of the people I know work very hard. He has a perpetual prod inside that keeps him busy. At present, it is taking photos at high school sporting events in southeastern Wisconsin, coming home and sorting the photos (and I am talking about hundreds and thousands of photos) and sending them to some of the various newspapers and websites that cover local sports. He also puts them on his website: www.mischka.pics. You can also find some of his equine photos there, too. It's worth the visit. He is a better photographer than I will ever be.

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I was home for a lot of September, but that’s about to change. At the end of September, I'll be at the Old Iron Show and Swap Meet in Eldon, Iowa, where a lot of area horse and mule teamsters demonstrate a wide range of vintage horse drawn farming equipment. They'll also be unveiling their new building, housing their museum- quality collection of implements.

After that, I’ll be going to a Draft Horse, Mule and Pony Field Day near Cincinnatti, Ohio, Oct 5, then three events in three states on three days. On Oct 10 I’ll be filming at the 2nd Annual Cedar Creek Plow Day put on by Emery and Katy Edwards in Linden, Tenn. Then I go to Boonville, Ill., for the Boonville Plow Days Oct 11, where a few years ago, I met several teamsters and their horses and mules. Hopefully, this year it won’t be as hot and they’ll be able to spend more time working their teams. I leave Illlinois and head to Kinzers, Penn., where, on Oct 12, The Rough and Tumble Engineers will be holding their annual Time of Harvest event where steam powered machines and horses demonstrate how farming was performed years ago. On October 13, I hope to spend some time touring a historic stone barn and house in the Lancaster County area for an upcoming Rural Heritage TV episode. Then I head home.

Next, I'll visit the American Brabant Association Conformation Clinic Oct 17 in Hastings, Iowa, and then it is off to Nelsonville, Ohio, for an informal day of horse logging. The next weekend I will be at a plow day in Agency, Mo., before dashing back to Iowa to attend a wedding.

The following weekend is the Cinder Ridge Farm Festival in Thurmond, N.C., where I had promised to visit last year but had to cancel. This year I'll be there and looking for places to visit on the way down and back. I am sure there will be places to go in November, but I don't seem to have them on my calendar yet.

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I am grateful we were able to get this issue out on time, as Susan, and I came down with COVID in the second week of September. Susan had fairly mild symptoms, but I was knocked on my back for several days, showing just about every symptom associated with the virus.

Next time I write this column, the 2024 election will be in the can. Regardless of whom you support, I know you, like me, will be grateful to have it behind us. — jm