Plow Sharing

By Pete Watson

Director of Howell Living History Farm

On December 8, Howell Farmers Jeremy Mills and Pete Watson went to Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation to help David Nielsen and his crew get started with their new plowing operation.  Although the goal at CPP is to farm using Colonial period tools and methods, David thought it would be good get things started by eliminating the behind-the-scenes tractor plow and teaching his staff the basics of plowing with some relatively easy-to-use equipment from the late 19th century...imported from not-too-distant regional neighbor, Howell Farm.  David invited members of his board to attend the plowing clinic, as well as CPP's education director and assistant farmer.  As part of the overall plan, CPP recently bought a nice, quiet, field-ready workhorse -- a 12 year old mare -- from dairy farmer Pat Hlubik of New Egypt, NJ, winner of this year's Howell Farm plowing match.  David had been working the horse in the garden and woods throughout the fall, so she was fit and ready to go. 

David Nielsen, Farm Manager at Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation, fall-plowing some ground they'll plant next spring. Their horse is Abbey hooked to the plow, a one-horse Syracuse they're using to get the feel of things until they build a reproduction plow appropriate for their period of interpretation. At the top of the field, Howell Farm horses Bill & Jess lead by example.

December 8 was a sunny, late fall day with temperatures in the high 30s, and a slight northwest breeze.  Soil conditions were near perfect.  In Jeremy's words, the ground "plowed like butter."

CPP Education Director Danya Pilgrim gets a plowing lesson from Howell Farm's Jeremy Mills and horses Bill & Jess.To help David and his horse Abbey get off on the right foot, Jeremy opened the field (which was about 65' wide, 240' long) using Howell Farm's team, Bill & Jess.  Abbey had no problems walking along the edge of the land right next to the furrow opened by the veteran team, enabling David to take nice, 10" wide slices with the one-horse plow. To get that width, we hitched the plow in the second to last hole of the plow's horizontal adjuster, which on a one-horse walking plow is off the left of the beam.  The plow not only turned a nice, even furrow, but covered the trash well -- and without the aid of a jointer.  We had the vertical adjustment at the second highest setting, to allow for a 5" depth.  Because there weren't any heelchains on the traces of Abbey's harness, we used a short piece of chain between the plow hitch and the singletree, to give us the overall length needed to keep the plow bottom running flat.  

Once everything was hitched and working correctly, everyone took turns using the one-horse and two-horse plow, including CPP's Education Director Danya Pilgrim,  Board Member Joe Saunders who chairs the museum's Farm Committee,  and CPP Farmer Rachel Koski.  They all did a fantastic job, and will no doubt soon be ready for the transition to a period plow.

By lunchtime, the entire field was plowed and it was time to give Abbey a well-deserved break:  an afternoon off, grazing with a cow and some sheep.  Bill & Jess also had an afternoon of eating ahead of them, during the trailer ride home.  But before we left, we helped David make a  back furrow in another field he plans to plow before the ground freezes. 

In exchange for the plowing lesson, CPP staff members will visit Howell Farm to provide training in open hearth cooking, a skill needed as the farm introduces colonial period  programs in Pleasant Valley, in the circa 1785 John Phillips house.