A Year on the Field
A Year on the Field
Growers
A wide variety of growers participate in our project - from museums
to (organic) farmers to living history farms.
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Meet our growers:
Lauresham (GER)
The Open-Air Laboratory for Experimental Archaeology Laurerahm is situated in the heart of the extensively remodeled and expanded UNESCO World Heritage Site Lorsch Abbey.
In the 1:1 model of a Carolingian manor, visitors have the opportunity to learn about manorialism in a vivid and accessible way.
Lauresham is also a forum for ongoing experimental archaeological research. A range of primitive technologies, crafts and agricultural methods from the Early Middle Ages are researched and tested here as part of day-to-day operations.
Some of our most prominent experiments include work on animal traction (e.g. plowing), the micro-climate of the houses and exploration of the formation of ridge and furrow field systems.
As it is well known that potatoes were not planted in the Middle Ages in European countries, we are taking part in this year's potato year through our partner project, WIR in Lorsch. The aim of this project is to bring old cultivation methods, such as ploughing with animal traction and cultivation without pesticides, into a modern world, including agriculture, and to market the products in the interest of regional value chains.
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Howell Living History Farm (NJ, USA)
This 130-acre (53 ha) Howell Living History working farm presents the agriculture and lifestyle typical of the region, circa 1900, through crop and livestock operations as well as domestic activities. Annually, 65,000 visitors participate in the farm's tours and hands on programs.
Many horse powered operations are used on the 45 acres (18 ha) where corn, oats, wheat and hay are raised using period equipment. The farm produces hay and grain needed for its livestock; vegetable and grain needed in educational programs; and vegetables, eggs and meat for local food banks and pantries.
As a farm complete with crop failures, successes with bumper crops, and the work of raising livestock, Howell Farm is a place where visitors can easily see and learn about the realities of food and fiber production in times past, while broadening their understanding of the challenges facing farmers today and tomorrow.
Koch family (Germany)
The Koch family owns a small scale farm which uses as little land as possible. That is why draft cattle plays a particularly important role for them.
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The farm lies on a bit of marginal land in the south german low mountain range „Odenwald“. There, machinery can only be utilized with difficulty, which is why the family relies on cows and oxen to work with. With their help they produce hay and firewood and are as self-sufficient as possible.
The Kochs also are the last cowherding people in Germany to use the endangered herding dogbreed „Westerwälder Kuhhund“.
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For haymaking, they rely on haystacks, hay racks and normal ground drying.
Contributors
Our project also includes numerous individuals with interest and expertise in aspects of our topic.
Our contributors include scientists, museum collection staff and others.
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Stay tuned for more contributors!
Claus Kropp (GER)
Project Coordinator / Lauresham
After graduating from Heidelberg University (GER), I worked at the Department for History for three years, most recently as an assistant at the chair for medieval history. In 2013 my professional path led me to the Lauresham Laboratory for Experimental Archaeology, which I am still managing today. It is both an archaeological open-air museum focusing on the Early Middle Ages as well as a research facility.
One of my main research interests is the study of medieval agriculture and its relation to the present. Both professionally and personally I am a passionate ox driver and run a very small scale farm with my family as a sideline.
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I have the great pleasure to be in charge of the "A Year on the Field" project.
Lauren Muney (US)
"Silhouettes by Hand"
I am a professional artist working both in live demonstration and online. I earned a
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland USA; yet for over 20 years, I have been working in special events, production, and interactive presentation to the public. My specialty is the traditional trade of silhouette portraits. I created the logo for Year on the Field and assist in media.
I am a member of the the International Agricultural Museums (AIMA) and in the Association for Living History, Farms and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM), the latter where I served a 3-year term on the Board of Directors, including chairing the Skills Training and Preservation committee. I helped create means and methods to pass skills of the past --and of presenting the past-- to new generations. I am especially interested in traditional trades and farming.
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(Photo at left: I'm dressed in 1770s clothing at George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Museum, one of the Year On the Field Growers)
Bob Powell (UK)
A member of both ALHFAM and AIMA, I am a working horse and farming historian and retired open-air / living history museum curator.
Born in Ireland, I live in Scotland but have also worked in England.
I have been involved with growing wheat including in an historical context for producing thatching straw. I envisage my contributions being from an historical archive perspective.
Anamaria Iuga (Romania)
Anamaria Iuga (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9516-2672) is a researcher in Ethnology at the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, in Bucharest. She finished her PhD in 2009, at the BabeÈ™-Bolyai University, in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), with a thesis concerning the dynamic of traditions and traditional objects.
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Since 2017 she coordinated the editorial activity of MARTOR, The Museum of the Romanian Peasant Anthropology Journal, and coordinated several issues, together with colleagues. The issue 21/2016 is on the topic of the traditions and transitions of hay and hay meadows management (www.doi.org/10.57225/martor.2016.21).
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Her research topics are: dynamic of peasant objects, dynamic of contemporary rituals, traditional ecological knowledge concerning meadows management, and local legends and their dynamic.
