Gouldsboro farm powered by horses

GOULDSBORO – With a click of her tongue, Sara Faull signaled to her Norwegian fjord horse to walk the steady line of a row that will eventually be growing vegetables. She used the reins to keep the horse straight and, when the work was completed, softly said whoa.

She didn’t have to shout over the sound of a diesel engine, or turn away from exhaust fumes, or spend $400 for fuel to fill a tractor’s tank.

Instead, as she worked, she could hear the horse’s breath, the creak of the harness, and the sound of the earth being turned over.

Using horses rather than tractors has suddenly become a trend in the face of rising fuel costs. What began as a lifestyle choice for Faull and her husband, Eugenio Bertin, now has become an opportunity to pass on their knowledge of horsemanship to fellow farmers.

It is a skill they learned when apprenticing at the H.O.M.E. cooperative in Orland, and one they now teach at Mandala Farm on Jones Pond.

The couple, who met at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor and bought the 100-acre Mandala Farm in 2002, practice what they preach, using mostly horse power in their diversified organic operation. Working the horses originally wasn’t a matter of avoiding high fuel costs, they said recently.

It was a lifestyle choice, a matter of going lightly on the land.

“It wasn’t based on the economy at first,” Bertin said. “It was about the quality of our life.”

The couple breeds Norwegian fjords, a small horse with a reputation for hardiness, gentleness and a desire to work, and other farmers began noticing how the horses were used on the farm. They began asking Faull for training, at first to augment their farm’s operation and eventually to offset high fuel costs.

“We have a lot of people interested in using horses on their farms,” Faull said this week. “They are worried about fuel not being available or affordable in the future.”

At Mandala Farm, horse power is all that is used in the 3-acre garden. The horses are used to haul wagons on the farm and during the hay harvest. They also are used to harvest firewood from the farm’s woodlot.

“Using the horses allows us to use smaller trails than would be needed by traditional machines,” Faull said.

“We have a commitment to the land, to make it more healthy and fertile than when we came to it. Using the horses for power is part of that commitment.

“I much prefer the horses rather than being on a fuel-based machine,” Faull said. “This feels much more sustainable.”