A sixth generation resident of Idaho’s Teton Valley, with a passion for preserving history, A. J. Woolstenhulme loves the old farm contraptions and the horses that pulled and pushed that equipment. All across America, people are keeping the traditions of draft animals — horses and mules — alive on farms and ranches. But A.J. takes it to the extreme.

Contracting pays the bills, but when time permits, he and his family raise American Brabant draft horses. The breed — originally from Belgium, are used on farms. AJ has restored land near Driggs, Idaho, that had been in his family for several generations, and now re-builds and uses old farm equipment. He hosts a community Hay Day that keeps many of the old pre-tractor farm traditions alive. You will meet him in several of our stories, but we first got to know him in our video “The Old Ways,” which tells us about old farming traditions and we briefly meet the other family that can tell their old family story of two of the most famous barns in America.