Published: August 29, 2008 09:55 am            

Carper farm clinging to the old days

SPANISHBURG — You might not notice as you drive through the Lake Shawnee area between Princeton and Spanishburg, but just out of sight off Route 19, a unique phenomenon is occurring.

On their 120-acre farm located about a half-mile down Low Water Road, Richard and Jan Carper have hearkened back to the old days of farming, when man and animal worked together to execute the work that high-powered tractors now tend to complete.

“They’ve basically parked the tractor,” said Tyann Evans, the couple’s Farm and Family Insurance agent. “Because of the fuel prices, they are doing everything with their horses. They have this huge, expensive tractor with a completely enclosed cab, and it sits in their driveway showing the comparison of, ‘This is what we have, and this is what we choose to use.’”

For more than 10 years, the Carpers have raised field corn, hay and goats on the peaceful farm that they have called home since 1999. They bought their tractor in 1996, a necessary investment in the farm business they were preparing to enter. And for several years, Richard completed almost all of his farming with the diesel-powered machine.

Four years ago, though, the rising costs of diesel fuel inspired the retired railroad worker to begin utilizing some of the farming methods that his father taught him, using horses to work the land.

“I grew up with horses,” said Richard, a Princeton native. “I have been around them all my life, ever since I was big enough to walk. They were all my dad farmed with; they were all he had.”

Jan shares Richard’s connection with horses, having grown up around show horses in her native Ohio. The couple has owned their own horses since 1983. This year, with diesel prices reaching record highs in July of $4.85, and fertilizer costs skyrocketing just as rapidly, they made the transition to farming almost exclusively with their 10 draft horses.

“It was a necessary move,” said Jan. “The expenses of running a farm are quite high with the fertilizer and the feed and everything else. We just couldn’t afford the diesel prices. We have to try to cut back as much as possible.”

So, most days now, the Carpers’ tractor remains in place in the driveway, while Richard harnesses up the horses. He bought a gas-powered power cart this year that the animals pull to mow, tedder, rake and square bale the hay. In the spring, he used the horses to plow the cornfields.

“We do basically everything with our horses,” said Jan. “We have been on rides with them; we’ve done weddings; we’ve been in parades with them. We just enjoy them.”

And, like any good family members, she says, “They work for their feed.”

Far from viewing the switch from tractor to horse as an inconvenience, Jan says the move has come natural, especially for her husband.

“Richard would rather do it this way,” she said. “Even if diesel prices go back down in the future, he’ll keep working the horses; it’s his passion. He’s one with the horses.”

The Carpers’ farm is the perfect setting for the old-fashioned farming techniques they choose to employ. Surrounded by green hills that seclude it from the noise and activity of Route 19, the beautiful valley location seems to be much more than just a few short miles from the Princeton city limits. Standing on a hill that overlooks the farm, watching from a distance as Richard and his horses mow hay, one might even begin to sense a 1950s aura in the air.

“This place is like a retreat, really,” said Jan. “It is paradise to us. Before this we had just one acre on Brickyard Road, so this has been a dream for both of us.”

It isn’t just the use of horses that makes the Carpers’ way of life uniquely reminiscent of days gone by. They grow the majority of their food in their garden. Jan cans her own vegetables, and Richard cuts wood for their outdoor wood stove. Each fall, the couple helps to lead a community molasses-making gathering, using their horses to power the mill.

“It’s a good way of life,” said Jan, who works as a night-stocker at Wal-Mart. “It’s a healthy way of life. You’re outside; I love the outdoors. And you’re in tune with nature.”

The Carpers understand that the world is quickly changing around them. They know that the convenience of modern technology has lured the majority of the country away from the manual labor methods of the past. Still, they insist that they are content with their decision to revert to a nearly bygone lifestyle.

“In the old days, things were a lot simpler,” said Jan. “With all of the high-tech things today, the world is changing so fast. We still think this is where it’s at. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The Carpers say there isn’t much difference in the time factor involved in farming with horses versus tractors, and they downplay the rigor of the added physical labor. Outsiders, though, take inspiration from the down-to-earth couple’s dedicated work ethic and ingenious survival ability.

“They prove that there are still people willing to go back to the hard work of it,” said Evans. “It’s such a contrast with today’s time when everyone is so busy and wrapped up that we don’t know, ‘What would I do if it got to the point where I couldn’t afford to drive?’ The Carpers know what to do…they’ve gone back to the earth.”

As much as their move to horse farming has simplified their lives, Richard maintains that the decision to do so stemmed from basic economically-charged motives.

“It’s cheaper,” he said. “I don’t know how much we save doing it this way, but it’s a lot, as high as diesel is. And the horses give us our own natural fertilizer, too.”

But Jan says what started as a response to the economic crunch has turned into something more. Going back to traditional, manual-based methods has allowed the couple to become free of dependency on the technology that drives so much of today’s world.

“If something were to happen to this world, a lot of people would have trouble surviving,” said Jan. “I believe that the people who do work like we do, and the Amish, they would survive.”

Survival is first on the minds of the Carpers and thousands of farmers across the country, today. Jan acknowledges the sad reality that changing times and a poor economy have caused her and her husband to be part of a dying breed.

“Small farms like ours are becoming extinct,” she said. “With the diesel and fertilizer prices, I think they’re trying to drive small farms out of business. But we keep plugging along. It might get us one of these days, but right now, no.”

It seems highly doubtful that the Carpers will ever let their farm be driven out of business. While virtually everyone old enough to drive or pay bills has voiced complaints about the toll of a plummeting economy, Jan realizes that she and Richard are uncommon in their willingness and ability to stand up and do something about it.

“Yeah, I’m proud of that,” she said, emphatically. “We’re bucking the system.”

And, there are 10 horses bucking right along with them.

— Contact CharLy Markwart at cmarkwart@ptonline.net.

        

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