Ruby and Amber's is a small very diverse market farm. Our farm has been Certified Organic since 2000 and Certified Biodynamic since 2007. With one really great seasonal worker and ourselves, we do 3 farmers' markets a week, have a small CSA, and sell a bit of pork, beef, milk and eggs. We have roughly 2 acres of vegetable and fruit production, any where from 1 to 3 acres of grain production, and about 12 acres in grass hay. We are a mixed power farm: 6 draft horses, 3 people, 1 tractor, 2 Berkshire sows, 1 milk cow and her heifer, and 50 laying hens. About 75 % of our tillage is with draft horses; we have a small tractor, and several sturdy garden forks for our people tillage. We experiment a bit with chicken and hog tillage rotations.
In the off-season Walt likes to refurbish horse drawn equipment. He has come up with some creative but simple horse drawn implements; pathway harrow, tool bars, and sweep cultivators, 3-4 horse disk with safety deck, tine weeder, etc.
Western Oregon gets a lot of precipitation during the fall and winter. We have nine 150'X 20' open air hoop houses (no covered ends). We use both a single horse and a team in the hoop houses. What a joy it is to work the horses in these hoop houses, rain, snow, or shine. In the field, we use the horses for single row crops, some intensive bed production, and for grain and hay production. For our small-scale farm production we find working draft horses deeply satisfying and beneficial to the farmstead. With our temperate climate and long season we can grow a diversity of produce for our markets and we are lucky to live in a community that supports small local farmers.
Mentorship with draft animals is of utmost importance. Several generations ago one grew up and was nurtured in traditional environments with working animals and livestock. We would not be successful with our working animals without the help and mentoring of folks such as Lynn Miller of the Small Farm Journal, Doc Hammill of Doc Hammill's Horsemanship Workshops, The Mader family of Horsepower Organics, Mac McIntosh of Lazy "M" Ranch, John Erskine, Lise Hubbe of Sweetwell Farm, Randy Clayton and Andy Eggers of Draft Horses for Hire, and countless other experienced and generous individuals. We are grateful for their advice and counsel. If you have a keen interest in working with draft animals we encourage you to find a local mentor, be safe and have fun!
For more information email: walt@workhorseworkshops.com