The Future of the Past.

Internationally

Our primary mission is to collaborate with small-scale farmers in developing countries to improve food security concerns in their communities. We work with groups like the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification and Appropriate Scale Mechanization Consortium (ASMC) alongside partners such as Michigan State University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, North Carolina A&T State University, the University of Nazi Boni in Burkina Faso, and the University of Thies in Senegal.

As the ASMC phrases it, we work towards “mechanized technologies that are technically, environmentally, and economically appropriate for use by smallholder farmers. Such technologies sustainably reduce poverty among smallholders (small-scale farmers) by contributing to enhanced labor and increased land productivity.

The overall objective of this project is to integrate social, economic, and environmental impacts, as we work towards sustainably intensifying smallholder farmers’ cropping systems and on-farm operations through mechanization.”

We also collaborate with leading manufacturers of farming equipment for the Amish community, most notably Pioneer Equipment, given their expertise with equipment for draft animals.

In the USA

Classes at our U.S. site include farming with draft horses, woodworking, blacksmithing, coopering (barrel making), tinsmithing, timber framing, toolmaking, and other traditional skills.

Our international tools and methods take inspiration from a time in the United States where few had access to electricity or motors. We look at tools and methods common to people from around 1860 to 1920 when most rural Americans were “off-grid.” As a result, we attract many people to our classes that are interested in history, the use of hand tools, nostalgia, and a sense of accomplishment of doing something ‘the old-school way.’

We partner with many historic and professional organizations including The Timber Framer’s Guild, The Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums (ALFAM), Midwest Ox Drovers Association (MODA), Michigan Artist Blacksmith Association (MABA), and others.