Plowing through a Pandemic

 Life has to go on, Pandemic or not. Karma and Karla are ready and willing to help do their part. We pulled our plow out of the barn and brushed off cobwebs. This Emerson plow is over a hundred years old. No doubt, it broke up soil during the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918. That's the year my wife's parents moved onto this farm.

 My horses and I are working to get this plot ready for sweet corn. I'll try and do more posts as we progress and let you see more of the process.

I've been following the pandemic through the news. Iowa Public Radio does a fine job of keeping us informed. Just recently, I discovered that one of my favorite radio personalities lives on my mail route. I knew the name but didn't make the connection until last week.

Another of my favorite news sources happens to be The Irish Times podcast. They do a daily Confronting Coronavirus podcast with great information. Not only do I LOVE listening to Irish voices but I find it useful to know what people outside of the U.S. are experiencing. 

Here are a few of my personal observations: We, here in Iowa, and everyone in the world are facing very similar struggles. We all have moments of fear. Only the Lord knows how this will all end. We also experience some beautiful lessons. Many of us have learned what benefits a slower lifestyle can provide. We've been made aware of the value of freedom, family, and friends. Some people are making the most of this timeout. Others are in survival mode. Most of us have a mixture of both good and bad. My Irish friends have been encouraging me to let both happen. Enjoy the good experiences and lessons without putting pressure on ourselves to be productive.

Many authors are finding it difficult to focus on writing, as I have. We find ourselves distracted. My Iowa Public Radio friends explained that the desire to watch too much news is a survival instinct. Our subconscious minds are searching for information that will take away the unknown element.

One of my daughters expressed that she had been feeling depressed lately. I encouraged her by saying, "The world is experiencing unprecedented suffering through illness, job loss, and isolation. We might not comprehend everything with our conscious mind; however, our souls feel the weight of it all."

 It got dark before we could finish on our first outing. We were able to finish the second time out. Karma grazes just outside of the fence, showing our completed plowing project. Meanwhile, we'll keep plowing through this pandemic.

Would you be interested in reading about life on an Amish farm?

Click on this link: Books by Thomas Nye

Plowing with Horses

 Although I've had draft horses for years, this is the first I've owned a sulky plow.

This past April, I purchased an Emerson plow at the Kalona Draft Horse Sale. It is probably more than 100-years-old and works amazingly well.

A "sulky" plow has one plowshare (digging blade) and a seat for the driver. (as opposed to a walk behind style)
There are also "gang" plows which have more than one plowshare. In my novel Under the Heavens, main character Lenny drives a "gang" plow with six-horses. Unfortunately, I tell the readers that he is driving a "sulky" plow. I mention and correct the error in book II, Catbird Singing. If you have read or want to read the Amish Horses Series, this blog post should help you visualize what plowing with horses is like.

After I got my plow home, I needed to come up with a tongue. This type of plow needs a tongue and mine didn't have one.

 I stopped in to visit one of my Amish friends. He and his boys dropped what they were working on to search through their collection of old plows for a tongue that I could use this spring. They plan to make a new one for me before next summer.

This tongue is longer than I need for two horses. It was made for a six-horse-hitch. I had to add a section of chain-links so I could use it.

You may notice that my furrows aren't that straight.
Well, I'm a novice.
I have plowed with a six-horse hitch on an Amish farm. However, they set everything up and gave clear instructions on how to proceed. This time I was on my own.

My experiences of plowing with a six-horse hitch on an Amish farm are shared in detail with my readers in the Amish Horses Series.

 You can see a light section of soil that was plowed a few days earlier. The darker area was just plowed, and I finished up the grassy strip after I snapped this photo.
Karma and Karla patiently waited while I took pictures. They are 18 and 17-year-old sisters and happy for a break in the action.

Plowing with Horses

        Farming with horses is aesthetically pleasing as well as environmentally friendly. Gas fumes released from this six-horse engine pass almost unnoticed and have no ill effects on actual air quality. This young man is driving six Belgian horses in two rows of three, a very common hitch method for Amish farmers.
        Below, you will see six horses hitched abreast. (the sixth horse didn't make it into the picture) This is the hitch method I describe in the Amish Horses Book Series. When I write about farming with horses, in my novels, I use my own experiences. I've been blessed with opportunities to plow and disc with a six-horse hitch on an Amish friend's farm. My own horses were part of that six-abreast Percheron team. Unfortunately, I didn't feel free to take pictures.

        You will notice in the "six-abreast photo" that Belgians, Percherons, and buggy horses are working together to get a job done.

        Notice in this hitch formation, two horses have to walk in the plow furrow, the other four horses walk on sod. In the six abreast style, one walks in the furrow, two on sod, and the other two on plowed ground. All of this becomes important in the story-lines of my novels, Under the Heavens and Catbird Singing. I try to keep these blog posts short and to the point. If you want to read a whole book filled with horse-drawn adventures on an Amish farm, you'll have to check out the Amish Horses Book Series.

        A friend of mine (Laurie) took these photos on her neighbor's Amish farm in Wisconsin. She told me that all six of these Belgians are mares. Another wonderful thing about farming with horses: Not only can these six horses help raise their own fuel, they can reproduce and raise their own replacements. They also produce organic fertilizer in large quantities. We have not yet come up with a tractor that can do that.