Sam & Sadie

Please note: This is the posting that I mentioned earlier would have the pictures of the mules we trained with. Though I believe the dialogue that precedes the pictures is valuable, feel free to jump down a page or so and view them, as I am sure you’ll enjoy them.

In the posting, What a Retirement Plan!, I spoke about the difficult process I undertook with the help of many others in determining if the Missouri Woods vision is of the Lord. With so many voices in this world, it can be quite a challenge not to presume or dismiss the will of God, but to know it instead, especially when it comes to planning for the future. Even so, this process is something we do prudently in fear and trembling, a needful humbling experience that can be quite revealing to us as to how we actually view and do things. What it comes down to for all of us is submission where if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.

From the extensive research done thus far, it became quite apparent that a team of trained draft mules will be an essential, central element in implementing and undertaking the vision and for three primary reasons. First, they are incredibly intelligent, agile, and unwavering animals that work well with man in the difficult terrain of steep wooded hills, like here in Missouri. More so, they do not tend to founder as horses do and feed well in areas “where even goats are known to starve.” Second, they work at a pace conducive to the biblical economics and agrarianism we believe the Scriptures teach, which is why we believe mules are the most advanced, affordable, and biblically profitable technologies for the task at hand, bar none.

That’s right, technology, and Divinely advanced at that. God created the earth with its animal and plant systems to a scale specific to familes that are to steward it according to the boundaries and scope of His Word. Families (via sole proprietorships and biblical partnerships) are to be the primary producers, owners, and caretakers of the Lord's land, not governments and corporations. More so, the Lord created certain animals – living technologies so-to-speak – to work with man to accomplish this stewardship and the horse family is one of them. Now, before you think I am preaching a primitive “Ludditeism” that condemns all progress and modern technology, realize that I am using a pretty decent computer to write and publish this article and that we intend to use certain modern technologies in conjunction with the mules to harvest the trees we select, such as a GPS equipment, high quality chain saws, and, Lord willing, state-of-the-art steam engine technologies.

Just who is mankind to presume that what the Lord created in nature is primitive compared to the trinkets he creates, which he thinks is the "advanced technology" by which all “progress” is to be measured? Let’s see mankind create anything alive, even a single cell, let alone something that works so well with man, yet doesn’t destroy the land while also producing beneficial manure. No, when it comes to true, life-giving and sustaining technology, mankind’s feeble inventions are nothing compared to the marvelous living creation the Lord has given us to steward. “Man—despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments—owes his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” -- Anonymous

Third, in the logging industry it is becoming quite obvious that the modern technologies used today are unsustainable because of the horrific, long-term damage they cause. I have seen it live and up close. Take for instance the skidder, a primary tool in commercial logging, which is a behemoth of a machine that ranges from $50,000 used to $300,000 new and consumes over $100 a day in fuel, alone. Even the smallest commercial skidder being used in the least intrusive manner runs over and snaps trees up to 6 inches in diameter while gashing bigger ones that will diminish in value and may even die prematurely through invasive diseases and insects. Though this residual stand damage is bad enough, in order to be “profitable,” that is, harvest at a monetary rate that exceeds the daily, high overhead including expensive lease and usury payments, networks of primitive roads must also be cut within the forests being logged, which is why many skidders also have a small dozing blade. These skidder roads or trails, though quite temporary in purpose, cause long-term land damage both in disturbance and compactment. By comparison, mule logging is far less intrusive and damaging by a wide margin, as was confirmed in a recent research project held in the Ozarks of Missouri.

Given the particulars of restorative forestry and logging in Missouri, we believe mules fit the bill far better than draft horses, though they are an equally amazing creation, just like oxen. As mule expert Melvin Bradley put it, “A mule can cope with everything better than a horse. It's the mule's nature to stop, think, and make a decision for itself. And if it's different from ours, we call it stubborn. There's always a mental tug-of-war between the owner and the animal. A number of humans haven't been able to outsmart the mule, and you've got to be smarter to work it. The horse is easier to get along with. It's just too dumb to know when to quit.”

One would think, however, that living in the heart of the Show-Me state where the famous “Missouri Mule” originated that finding such a team would be easy. We found this not to be true, by any means, as it is most difficult to find a good team of draft mules anywhere in the nation, which is a chilling testimony to the incredibly destructive paradigm that took place in our nation when the “agribusiness industrialists” destroyed the true family farm and logger after WWII. For many weeks I searched high and low to no avail, but the Lord was gracious. Hidden right in our own backyard there is an Amish farmer and logger whose specializes in training and selling draft mules. What a God-send he has been, which is a whole other story, as my respect for the Amish has grown considerably since meeting this man, though I am and will remain a staunch reformed postmillennialist.

Last April with a fellow “potential muleskinner” and my youngest daughter, we made an initial foray to this man’s farm to spy out the land of mules. Our goal was to look at mules and learn as much as we could about them, their availability, and viability for us. I say "potential muleskinner" because neither of us has worked on a farm, let alone with draft animals. Little did we know what was in store for us! There comes a time when the waters are to be tested and that day was it for us, by God’s providence, as we not only accomplished these goals, but we did so with our first muleskinning and log skidding lesson. We learned firsthand that yes, with training and patience, we could work a team of draft mules. That was a huge “can we do it” test that we needed to get past in moving forward with the vision. The pictures that follow tell the story.

Pictures

Let me introduce you to Sam and Sadie (left to right), a matched, brother & sister team of trained draft mules. At 1,700 lbs each and standing 17 hands, these large sorrel mules (a cross between a Belgian draft horse mare and a Mammoth Jack stud) are truly an amazing team. Note their long ears, which work like carefully tuned antenna to pick up the quietest of verbal commands. The gentleman in the back ground is Art Morrill, a close brother in the Lord and my fellow “potential” muleskinner, who is talking with our Amish muleskinner.

We started out by going for a wagon ride on the highway (Sadie is on the left and Sam is on the right).

After a few minutes of explanation I was handed over the reins and instructed to proceed on, traffic and all, which included big semis zooming close by, which didn’t phase the mules or their owner in the least, though it sure had me trembling. Yee ha!! . . . talk about an exciting lesson!! I learned immediately that mules must be led like a car is steered, as they go where they are directed. Imagine that! Mules are smart enough though that they will not run into a fence, which is where they get their so-called “stubbornness,” which is really self–preserving intelligence at work to protect themselves and their human handler. The story of Balaam’s donkey (jack) tells it all. What was incredible is that these very powerful animals are so well trained and obedient that their owner trusted me with them after only ten minutes of instruction. They obeyed flawlessly.

Next, we went into a field where all three of us learned the basics of muleskinning (wagon handling), which included the basic teamster commands. I’ll never see Little House in the Prairie in the same light again. The commands are few, but powerful. A quiet “gid dep” moves them forward, “whoa” stops them, “back” puts them in reverse, “gee” (or jee) turns them right, and “haw” (or hoi) turns them left.

My daughter Susan is driving the team with real confidence and joy, a born muleskinner for sure.

Art drives the team around with precision and ease. It looks to me like he isn’t so potential anymore.

Yours truly gets the hang of it. For you Luddiphobites, please note that there is a cell phone attached to the waist of my pants about 4 inches from my left suspender. Suspenders are another wonderful technology that does, in my opinion, a far better job than a belt. I must say that these beautiful animals are a pure joy to work with.

Here is a side shot where you can see the harness equipment, something that I now know is going to take a real education to get right.

Last, we took a log skidding lesson. In honoring the scruples of our Amish friend, we have not included him in these pictures, though he is certainly worthy of recognition as he did a splendid job in getting us greenhorns to skid a log, without killing ourselves in the process! Basically, the harness is attached to a devise called a double-tree where the logging tongs also are attached. Like ice tongs, the tongs grip the log as the mules pull.

Art started first and took off with real gusto. These mules can really move!!

I went next. In order for the team to get the necessary momentum it has to take off at a good clip, wherein the driver follows . . . at a fast walking pace in this case, since the two animals could handle the 700 lb log quite readily.

After getting the hang of it on flat land I decided to try skidding the log over a small mound of dung. The mules and I went over just fine, but the 700 lb log plowed right through it. What fun!!

We also learned that mules are incredibly affectionate critters that bond well with their masters, when treated right. Susan bonded quickly with Sadie. I’m sold!

We were incurably impressed and blessed by this once in a lifetime opportunity and believe, though in fear and trembling, that God, indeed, has called us “over the hill” guys to labor with draft mules in logging the rugged woods of Missouri. By His grace and mercy, we intend to press on.

If you have not had a chance to read the previous posting, you might want to, as it details how we came to see that even us over-the-hill-guys can log with mules, by God's grace and strength, if it is done at the right pace and with the right business model that produces the end product.

The next testing of the waters came some weeks later when our Amish friend gave us a firsthand lesson in taking down a tree, big ones for that matter. That’s a whole other story. --- The Rural Missourian