We’ve got a slightly different type of episode this time around. Since registration is about to open for Draft Animal Power Field Days 2024, the podcast crew looked back at audio gathered at Field Days 2023 at Shelburne Farms, VT and created an audio collage of sorts. In a corner room of Shelburne Farms’ incredible Breeding Barn, I interviewed Jared Woodcock, Eric Westergard and Rick Eshuis. The indefatigable Caralyn Roeper did our guest introduction. Bear with us on the audio quality; there is some human and animal background noise going on from the event outside.

Jared Woodcock is, in his own words, a father, farmer, forester, and ecologist. Among many other things, he manages private woodlots with horses under the moniker Timberdoodle Horse Logging. Eric Westergard is an ox drover, logger and carpenter in West Virginia and a perennial feature at Field Days despite the distance to his home turf. And Rick Eshuis manages the farm at Tillers' International in Scotts, Michigan. He is a longtime horse teamster who volunteered with Tillers' for many years before becoming an employee, and his passion for the work can be heard loud and clear in our interview.

*2024 Draft Animal Power Field Days has been moved to the Orange County Farmers Museum in Montgomery, NY. The dates are still September 27th-29th and the itinerary is not expected to change much!*

Friday features day-long intensive workshops focusing on forestry, fieldwork, mowers, and horse and oxen basics. Saturday is a mix of shorter workshops on all types of topics and features a benefit auction, and Sunday has a mix of family-friendly programs and the DAPNet’s annual member meeting. You can learn how to register to attend the event (or sponsor, exhibit or volunteer at it) at draftanimalpower.org.

Editing for this episode was provided by the stalwart Louis Menard and fabulous Alexia Allen.