Horse power plants the fields

LIMA — Amble back to yesteryear and discover how farmers planted their fields during “Spring Plow Days” going on Saturday and Sunday at the Allen County Farm Park.“This is put on by the Area Horses in Harness Club, which involves six to eight families from about eight counties coming out to plow, disk and plant 18 acres. We're putting one field out in oats, and the other in soybeans,” said Mark Mohr, a naturalist for the Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District and president of the Area Horses in Harness Club.He anticipates that the work will need an additional weekend to get it all completed. “The horses get the job done, but in slow motion,” he said. “It's hard work, but the horses like it. They're like athletes. The first day they'll take it slow with lots of breaks, but when they start getting in condition it will go easier,” Mohr said.This form of farming, Mohr added, was common in the area up until the turn of the 20th century, when the Model-T and gas tractors came on the scene.“A team of horses could do 40 acres, and that's about it,” he said.Later in the year, the group will return to cultivate and harvest in the same manner. “Those dates are dependent on the weather,” Mohr said.“This club is a group of families who farm the old-fashioned way. The younger ones learn from the older ones to keep the tradition going,” he said.