Ploughman

The Van Ripper homestead farms stony upland at a profit through thrift alone. You follow the plough through it from thaw to frost, behind the only horse on the place.

The work

• Plough, harrow, and sow the upland fields from thaw to frost.
• Work behind Gunpowder, the homestead's one and only horse.
• Mend what breaks along the way, with what is already on the place.

Context

• Reports to Hans Van Ripper — hourly, whether asked to or not.
• Headcount: Hans, you, and Gunpowder.
• Pay is £12–18 New York currency per annum (~$30–45 in silver dollars), modest but paid on the day, in full.
• In-person, daylight, thaw to frost.

Recorded in the parish register of Sleepy Hollow, autumn of 1799.

• Has ploughed behind a difficult horse and finished the field anyway.
• The patience of stone.
• Asks for nothing twice; once may also prove too often.

Not a fit if hourly direction you did not ask for would grate.

A small, stony, stubbornly profitable upland farm run on thrift by Hans Van Ripper since 1775.

Who we are

Headcount: Hans, one hired hand when he must, and Gunpowder the plough-horse. No frills, no waste, no debts, and no intention of acquiring any of the three.

How we work

By hand, by daylight, and by the shortest route to a finished field. Wages are modest but paid on the day, in full — and the boarding, whatever else is said of it, has never yet starved a schoolmaster.

Who thrives here

Someone with the patience of stone who can take direction hourly, whether or not they asked for it, and finish the field anyway.

Recorded in the parish register of Sleepy Hollow, autumn of 1799.