Bill Butler plows a field in Lexington with a team of horses. Photo via the town of Lexington's website.
During the last week of June, the town of Lexington in Greene County broke ground on its brand-new community garden in a way that most back-to-the-land DIYers can only dream about: with a plow and a team of mighty Percherons.
The town's website describes what it was like to watch turf being cut without an internal combustion engine:
The Bicentennial Community Garden project, honoring our farming and gardening history, officially began Friday, June 24, when Bill Butler and his beautiful Percheron horses arrived at the field next to the Lexington Post Office at approximately 10:00 am ... It was a beautiful sight watching those big black horses plow the garden plot. Our heart felt gratitude goes out to Bill Butler, whose wife, Edith, told us, "This is Bill's greatest love - to work the land with the horses."
The groundbreaking marks the beginning of the town's preparations for its bicentennial celebration, which will happen in 2013. The community garden is officially known as the "Bicentennial Community Garden," and for the next two years, at least, it will be tended by patriotic Lexingtonians.
For more coverage of the garden's horse-drawn plowing, check out this article in the Daily Mail.
