DAPNet Board of Directors & Committee Members
Board of Directors
President: Jennifer Judkins jenjudkins930@gmail.com
Resting Heart Farm, PO Box 471, 18 Cross Place, Springfield, NH 03284 • 603-372-2456
Jennifer runs Resting Heart Farm, a small scale, organic, diversified farm in Springfield, NH. Focusing on organic and sustainably raised vegetables and meat for her family, she has incorporated animal power to perform many farm chores over the past 4 years, first with a single Percheron and now with a team. In a small farm store, locals may purchase fresh chicken and duck eggs, seasonal goat cheese and composted mixed manure for their gardens. Though a relatively new teamster, Jennifer has nearly two decades of horse experience. At her New Hampshire farm she has enjoyed rehabilitating injured and nutritionally challenged draft and saddle horses over the past 5 years. During this time she has become actively involved in the Draft Animal Power Network and served as last year's DAPNet Vice President.
Vice President: Tim Harrigan harriga1@msu.edu
Michigan State University, 206 Farrell Hall, Biosystems Engineering, East Lansing, MI 48824 • 517-353-0767
Tim Harrigan has worked teams of oxen in central Michigan since 1999. In the last few years much of their effort has been in applying restorative forestry techniques to improve the health of a woodlot damaged by the Emerald Ash Borer. He believes draft animal teamsters have a responsibility to contribute to the education and advancement of the draft animal community and that DAPNet has an important role in that process. In addition working with his team and contributing to DAPNet discussions he is currently the President of the Midwest Ox Drovers Assn. (MODA) and a member of the Board of Directors of Tillers International in Scotts, MI.
Treasurer: Reva Seybolt revabseybolt@att.net
Stone Circle Farm • PO Box 49, East Woodstock, CT • 860-928-0754
Reva came to draft horses in her 50s after taking 30 years off from horses. She has done some haying (including mowing), logging, spreading manure, hauling stones and brush, Memorial Day Parades, and general chores with her farm team of Belgians on her hay farm in northeastern CT. She studied the soil with the VT Grass Farmers/NOFA and uses rotational grazing. She has assisted with the Low Impact Forestry weekends at MOFGA, has been a volunteer at the Field Days, managed the Brooklyn CT Draft Horse Show for 2 years, and is a member of ECDHA and FPHMPC. Recently, since having to retire her farm team, Reva has been focusing on actually learning how to drive with her larger Belgian team by exploring competitive driving. In her other life, Reva is a dowser and has had a hands on healing practice since 1989 specializing in severe trauma. She was on the Woodstock Conservation Commission and the Woodstock Open Space and Farmland Acquisition Committee for five years. Presently, She is chair of the Woodstock Agricultural Committee. Going way back, She has an MBA from Harvard Business School. She cares passionately about land and draft animals and hopes to bring some thoughtful energy to DAPNet.
Secretary: Ethan Tapper jethantapper@gmail.com
PO Box 15, Saxtons River, VT 05154 • 802-376-5545
Ethan is a forestry student at the University of Vermont, currently working with the draft horse program at Shelburne Farms. During the school year he lives in Charlotte, VT and he calls Saxtons River, VT his permanent home. He apprenticed with John Plowden, logging with horses, last summer in Stow Maine. He is interested in logging with horses and his fiancée is studying draft horse agriculture at Sterling College. They are both looking forward to a horse-powered life, together.
Mark Cowdrey mark@raggedviewfarm.com
111 Bradley Lake Rd., Andover, NH 03216 603-735-4010
Mark lives in Andover, NH with his wife Lea, where they have been reclaiming a small farm since 1999. They have a team of Suffolk horses and do a little logging, some general hauling and harrowing, maple sugaring, and sleigh rides.
Brad Johnson bradburyjohnson@gmail.com
All Together Farm • 2435 Ridge Road, Randolph Center, VT 05061 • 802-345-7488
Brad owns and operates ALL Together Farm in Randolph Center, VT with his wife and daughter. The farm incorporates horse power year round, and they sell pasture-raised chicken, turkey, beef, pork, and lamb. In addition, Brad offers positive-impact horse logging, and sheep shearing services.
Erika Marczak marczake@hotmail.com
341 Macintosh Hill Rd, Bethel, VT 05032 • 518-441-9870
Erika Marczak is a seasoned market gardener and horse fitter of hunters on the "A" circuit. Though originally a horse person she has recently converted to working cattle and is training a yearling team of Milking Shorthorn steers to various farm tasks. Erika hopes to combine her gardening and oxen practices into a successful small farm someday. She is actively involved in several Agriculture organizations including the DAPNet Newsletter, sitting on the Troy Waterfront Farmers' Market BOD and running the poultry show at her hometown fair. Erika enjoys any opportunity to educate youth and adults about the importance of agriculture and demonstrates with her steers and poultry at a couple events a year.
Kenneth Mulder mulderk@greenmtn.edu
Cerridwen Farm, Part of Green Mountain College's Farm and Food Project • 489 Granville St., Poultney, VT 05764 • 802-287-4279
Kenneth is Farm Manager and Research Associate at Green Mountain College where he teaches sustainable agriculture, draft animal farming, and systems thinking. He has been farming with oxen for eight years and currently works with students at the college to use oxen for haying and vegetable production.
Kenneth is also a scientist with a PhD in ecologicaleconomics. His research interests include the efficiency of human-and animal-powered farming, and he is currently leading a research project comparing the land, labor, and energy efficiency of oxen-, human- and tractor-powered vegetable production. He has a wife and five kids and is seldom bored.
Pamela Rickenbach pamela@equiculture.org
Blue Star Equiculture, PO Box 7, Bondsville, MA 01009 413-289-9787
Pamela grew up in her teens and twenties in Peru and Boliva. While in South America she met and married a native from the remote amazonian village of Chimore,Bolivia. They grew (and hunted and fished) their own food for over 10yrs. It was there that she began working with horses and the earth. They used their horses to carry loads for them on their farm and to the local rivers.
Later, Pamela drove carriages in historic Philadelphia, PA. While driving carriages in Philadelphia she learned of the contribution horses made in building our country and about the serious misconceptions a lot of people have about working horses. In response to the growing homeless horse problem in the U.S and in an effort to try to make a difference in the general public's understanding of just how important horses have been and still are to creating a sustainable future going forward Pamela co-founded Blue Star Equiculture, a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring equine awareness, working horse advocacy and historical and environmental education to the community. Blue Star Equiculture is also a retirement, sanctuary and rescue with 30 horses, mainly working draft horses.
Pamela is very proud to be a member of DAPNET and looks forward to helping spread the word about it's mission to provide educational and networking opportunities, highlighting ongoing efforts of people throughout the region who are educating, mentoring and building community around animal-power and renewable land use.
Jason Rutledge rutledge@swva.net
Mr. Rutledge is a lifetime farmer, forester, horseman and father of four. He co-founded Healing Harvest Forest Foundation in 1999 along with community volunteers and fellow horse loggers. He has provided leadership as a visionary and practitioner of “restorative forestry”. He has spoke on the issues of sustainable forestry, and sustainable agriculture all over the United States. He has coined several phrases that influence modern forestry such as “worst first”, “enhanced residual dividend”, “pro-generative selection”, “pro-passive erosion control”, “tree gardening”, “Carbon Positive Forestry”, and “Ecological Capitalism” to name a few. He was awarded the Rock the Earth Planet Defender title in 2006, was nominated for the Virginia Arts and Humanities Award 2009, and was awarded a grant from Virginia Foundation for Humanities in 2010. He has been featured on the cover of the Mother Earth News, Draft Horse Journal and has written and been featured in many articles in magazines, newspapers and periodicals. He has been featured on television for PBS, A & E Discovery Channel in the documentary “In The Company of Horses”, local television, radio and public radio. Jason has raised, trained and worked Suffolk horses for over thirty years. He is a native Virginian and lives on Ridgewind Farm in the Appalachian Mountains of Floyd County, Virginia. “Jason is a born teacher who has done more than anybody else known to me to establish horse logging and sustainable forestry as a way of life and work among younger people. In my opinion, his educational efforts are worth whatever you may wish to invest in them” Wendell Berry, December 31, 2007.
http://healingharvestforestfoundation.org
Ridgewind Farm Suffolks • 8014 Bear Ridge Rd, SE, Copper Hill, VA 24079 • 540-651-6355(h) • 540-798-1831(m)
Ed Thayer ethayer@gsinet.net
Fletcher Family Farm • 2528 East Washington Rd., Washington, NH 03280 •603-495-3554
Ed Thayer is a 5th generation farmer on the same land in Washington NH. He enjoys farming and homesteading with the help of his draft horess. He is employed as the public works director in his town. He and his wife Jane have raised two children. Their son is an active United States Marine and has done a tour in Afghanistan. Their daughter is attending Clark University studying Bio-Chemistry. He has volunteered with his local fire department for 25 years and in his spare time he does do some hunting and fishing.
Kevin Tucker roughdraftfarm@gmail.com
www.roughdraftfarm.comRough Draft Farm • 24 River Road, Clinton, CT 06413 • 860-664-0142
Kevin lives on a small farm in Clinton, CT with his significant other, Melissa Evarts. They have two Suffolks, Wedge and Max, that they use for logging, driving, and (Max) trail riding. They also have a Morgan and a Standardbred. Kevin "married into" draft horses when he joined the Evarts family since Melissa's father always had a pair or two. He fell in love with the Suffolk breed when taking a course at Healing Harvest Forest Foundation and bought his first pair after losing his old Belgian, Bud, in 2009.
Administrator:
Jean Cross draftanimalpower@gmail.com
271 Plank Road, Vergennes, VT 05401 • 802-763-0771
