Rural Heritage June/July 2026

Publisher's Post F or the past several years, we've been trying to get the word out to people about our YouTube channel where we have over 550 videos to watch for free whenever you want. All you have to do is go to YouTube and do a search for Rural Heritage and click on the channel button at the top. That will show you a list of videos as well as playlists where we've curated video subjects such as logging with draft animals, wagon trains, historical sites, and frequently featured personalities like Ralph Rice and Donn Hewes. Once you're at the channel page, you can subscribe for free and be notified whenever we add new videos. By subscribing to the channel, you help support us in our work to bring you stories of people "borrowing from yesterday to do the work of today.” ° ° ° ° S peaking of supporting our business, you can show your support by doing business with our regular magazine advertisers and our new TV sponsor, Huberd’s Shoe Grease. We're proud to recommend their leather care products to our readers and viewers. Since 1921, Huberd's has been restoring and protecting people's leather goods. For many, using Huberd’s is a family tradition that goes back generations. ° ° ° ° W e've launched two new video projects recently. The first is documenting Ralph Rice’s training program for a couple young Suffolk geldings he plans to make his go-to team once they’ve matured. He loves his mares and raising foals but needs a team that he can rely on all year long, when the mares are pregnant or nursing. We’ve covered his work getting the two horses desentisized and accustomed to being handled and harnessed. We will be heading back several times in the next several months as he begins driving them first single and then as a team. The second project is filming Donn Hewes as he talks about and demonstrates some of the techniques he uses to operate a horse drawn farm.

The first couple videos have been about how to put on a bridle using his multi-step method and how to hook and unjook from a farm implement safely. We will have lots more to come. Donn is an excellent communicator and has many years of experience farming with horses and training beginning teamsters. ° ° ° ° I n the last couple of months, I've been to Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, North Dakota and Nebraska to bring stories of folks working with draft animals to our readers and viewers. I've met a lot of new people I am glad to now call my friends and visited with lots of folks I've known for years. At every stop and every event, people emphasize that they enjoy getting together to use their teams in a group setting, but much more than that, they enjoy the camaraderie of one another. At one of my more recent stops, a plowing and planting day at Taylor, N.D., folks pulled in with their trailers and unloaded and harnessed their horses before 10 am, but weren't in the field in force for a couple hours afterward. They were too busy greeting old friends and making new ones. ° ° ° ° T his issue has several excellent articles, including many tips for using draft animals and managing a homestead. One of my favorites is the teamster profile Anna Knapp-Peck wrote for us about Ivy Pagliari. Included in that story is an essay written by Ivy for another magazine that Anna and Ivy felt should be included. We agreed wholeheartedly. The essay touches on a topic that is sometimes ignored. A farmer's life can be sometimes lonely and his or her mental health issues unnoticed. One of the tools that can promote socialization and a feeling of involvement is working with others. Plow days and heritage festivals can help people meet others with similar interests and issues. Without painting too idyllic a picture, I think many of the safety nets our great-grandparents …continued on page 69

June/July 2026

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