Draft Animal Power Network (DAPNet)

Welcome draft animal enthusiasts to the Draft Animal Power Network

We are a non-profit organization of farmers, foresters, loggers, teamsters, animal owners, homesteaders, land owners, partimers, etcetera and folks interested in becoming part of any of the above.  Our new organization is the merging of an annual event,  Northeast Animal-Power Field Days, an international online discussion forum, www.draftanimalpower.com, and a group of driven people.  We show that not only are there still people that use animals for power, but many that do it for a living or to support their lifestyle in a kind and sustainable manner.

The goal of the Draft Animal-Power Network is to provide year-round educational and networking opportunities, highlighting ongoing efforts of people throughout the region who are educating, mentoring and building community around animal-power and renewable land use.

The Draft Animal-Power Network has obtained fiscal non-profit sponsorship from Rural Vermont, selected a Board of Directors and has many volunteers sitting on several working committees.  Please contact any of our Board Members or our Administrator if you would like to get involved.

We are Publishing Quarterly Newsletters.  If you would like to  advertise, submit and article, calendar event  or Classified Ad (classifieds are free to members), please contact Erika Marczak or Jean Cross.  Remember classified adds will be posted on our website for all to see, not just in the newsletter.

Please join us on our international online discussion forum, www.draftanimalpower.com, also known as DAP.  You can read any of our thousands of discussions that you please and add to them if you register with the site.

Membership
DAPNet is a non-profit organization run largely by devoted members and volunteers, and we can’t do it alone. We rely on memberships, donations, sponsorships and grants to provide the services of this website, our free online forum (draftanimalpower.com), our events and the continued development of our organization as a hub for people interested in working with draft animals to share, learn, and network.

If you would like to support the work that DAPNet is doing, receive our newsletter, take advantage of our classified ads, and want to get discounted rates to our our events, please become a member so we can keep you in the loop and keep our organization plowing forward.  Business and Founding member benefits include being listed in our Business Directory. 

Upcoming Events

Our schedule for 2012 is unfolding. We have decided not to hold Northeast Animal Powered Field Days in 2012, as we concentrate on strengthening our organization, but it will be back and better than ever in 2013.

In the mean time, we recently held a multi-day plowing workshop with champion plower Sam Rich, at We-Li-Kit farm in Abington, CT.  Upcoming events include the Spring Wood Bee in Charlestown, NH, May 19th and a Horse-Power Filed Day at Donn Hewe's Northland Sheep Dairy on June 17th.  Some of our teamters will be teaching at the NOFA Summer Conference in August as well.  Our annual gathering is taking shape and will be held at Perry Farm in Brownington, VT September 14-16.   For more information about all of our upcoming events please go to our event page.

To receive more information on our upcoming events, as well as events hosted by some of DAPNet's sister organizations as it becomes available, please become a member or sign up for our FREE e-Newsletters.

We hope that you find the Draft Animal Power Network  to be a valuable resource, and remember if you can’t find the information that you are looking for please use our online forum (draftanimalpower.com) to search for topics or ask questions. Our members have a wealth of knowledge and are very generous about sharing what they know.  For questions about our organization please contact us.

Thanks for you interest, have a look around, and welcome to the network!