Rural Heritage Reading Room

rural heritage cover
Above: Rural Heritage February – March 2025 Cover: Gideon Harlow binds corn at the Second Annual Cedar Creek Plow Day

Rural Heritage is a bimonthly
journal in support of farming
and logging with draft horses,
mules, and oxen. The February – March 25 issue was mailed to subscribers on January 25, 2024. Below is this issue’s annotated Table of Contents, with a link to a full feature article to showcase 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
Publishers Post
Joe Mischka had a thoughtful conversation with Gerald Schmidt about how his farming operation changed when the economy changed for small dairy farmers. He also tells us of upcoming travel and shows.
Business Spotlight
We introduce readers to 72 year old Schrock's Harness Shop where Urias Schrock mends and crafts leather harness as well as a wide variety of other leather items such as leads for hunting hounds, dog collars, belts, saddle horse riding equipment and more in Medford, Wis.
J C Allen Archives:
Vintage photos of rural life by renouned photographer JC Allen including photos of Percheron mares pulling a buckboard, disking cornstalks, prize winning Jersey cow, and the Crane Dairy farm.
Selections from our extensive catalog of books and videos
on draft animal farming, logging, self-sufficient living
and much more.
Associations and Breeders Directory

(contacts for breed registries and regional draft clubs)

(frequently updated online)

(please tell ‘em you saw it in Rural Heritage)


Features
four abreast pulling a haybine
Lucy, Max, Ethel, and pulling a haybine.
Why One Horse is Always in Front of the Other
Donn Hewes reviews the reasons your team may not always be in stride and then offers suggestions for correcting the issue.
Building a Breed - Part 1 − − − click on title to read this story in full.
Joe Mischka details the efforts to establish the American Brabant as a registered breed. Briefly, this breed contains at least 25% post-1972 European Belgian genetics, as well as working North American draft stock.
harness
Donn Hewes uses simple rings and snaps from the hardware store to make drop rings.
On the Horns of Honor
Dick Courteau recounts the time he put life and limb on the line in order to maintain his honor and pay back a bet.


Tales from Carter County: Greek Alphabet

Jerry Hicks describes the time he got into a bit of trouble with the law, but talked his way out of it with the help of a lesson he learned in grade school.

Born too Late?
Philip Henderson muses about the advantages of living in the 1800s … and some of the drawbacks.


Farmstead Makeover
As his life plans change, so does Ralph Rice’s farmstead. Here, Ralph details several changes he made to outbuildings to accommodate his Suffolk breeding operation.
hay tedder
A harnessed light horse provided the power for a cane press pressing sugar cane.
Ode to the Bitternut Hickory
Donn Hewes recounts his quest to identify some prolific saplings in the woods near his central New York home … and how that lead to some introspection on future generations.

Cinder Ridge Harvest Day :
Joe Mischka includes information and pictures about the Cinder Ridge Harvest Day, that was started by Joe Snow of Thurmond, N.C., to bring farm history to life and to showcase is Appalachian farmstead, complete with historical buildings.


Planning the Farmstead Layout
Reprinted from Farm Knowledge Vol III: Farm Implements and Construction, 1919 H.H. Newman takes the reader through several considerations when planning a farmstead, including: local factors like climate, type of farming, topography. He then discusses the buildings that may be involved: such as the general purpose barn, granary, dairy barn, poultry house, and more.
farmstead layout
Jake White of Mt. Sterling, Ky., won the Novice class at the US Plowing contest this year.
Powercart Makeover
Ralph Rice how he had a powercart built for him in 2010, and how (and why) he recently had it rebuilt.
Forney to Montgomery
Joe Mischka talks with John Coley about how the Forney, Ala., to Montgomery, Ala., wagon train got started and what it’s like today.
Montgomery wagon train riders 1951
A team stands on a steep slope while the 20-foot log is hooked to the logging arch.

The 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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    This file last modified: January 25 2025.

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