In spite of starting at 4:30 am every day, renowned saddle maker Cary Schwarz has, until now, found it hard to take a break. Order books are full for a couple of years ahead and the work just keeps coming.
He and his wife live in the mountains in Salmon, Idaho, U.S., and for years they’ve struggled to make time for an off-grid cabin they own, three hours drive away, or to visit family and friends.
My wife and I had been discussing spending more time at this ranch property that she grew up on, and so I told her, well, honey, we got a few bills to pay, so we need to figure out how I’m going to keep some workflow.
That all changed when they came up with a really practical solution that provided two solutions in one. They fitted out an ex toy-hauler as a mobile workshop and provided it with enough go-anywhere solar energy to power the lights, run his craft machinery …anduse it as a plug in power plant for their mountain cabin.
Cary Schwarzhas been a custom western saddle maker for almost 45 years. He’s also a founding member of theTraditional Cowboy Arts Association and uses an online learning platform from his website to share what he’s learned with the next generation of bespoke saddle makers. Hands-on, making beautiful things that are also functional – crafts that are critical, Cary says, to our future as a human race and living an embodied life. ‘We mustn’t lose sight of that.’
Ninety nine percent of what I do is custom made and so I’ve got a very, very long list of commissions – many years, frankly. A customer came to me with a historical saddle in mind – one that was ridden by the legendary horseman Tom Dorrance, whose saddle was left to a family in California and pictures of it have circulated online …and so this customer said he just had to have something like that – but turned me loose when it came to some of the artistry on it. It has a fairly bold floral design and so we went with big flowers that are four inches across in places, which has been awesome. I’ve really enjoyed that process. His wife’s family’s ranch home is a ‘dry’ cabin – no water, no electricity – but they always wanted to get power into it to install a little refrigerator and have lights.So one thing kind of led to another, and I’ve got a mobile saddle shop with a power outlet so the cabin can just plug in to my mobile power system. And now the whole idea is we can maybe head south for a couple of months in the wintertime.
I can see the possibility of having an order from someone on a ranch in Montana, Wyoming or Nevada or California, and loading up the workshop – going to that ranch and building their saddle parked in ‘the orchard over yonder’. They get to check in on progress – which is a big part of what I do with my customers now. How many people – even accomplished horsemen – have seen a saddle made?
Orion XS12/12–50 DC-DC Charger to allow Cary to charge the system’s batteries from his truck alternator while driving.
100W solar panel
2 x Pylontech RT 12V batteries which share temperature and voltage data with the rest of the Victron system
Cary’s mobile power system runs large LED light panels and a leather stitching machine in the workshop and has been configured to connect to a generator. It also supplies power to their off-grid ranch cabin, allowing them to power lights and a small refrigerator.
This gave us a tremendous amount of mobility and versatility in our lifestyle, not only in the shop, but living out there at the ranch. It’s got a little pigtail on the outside of the building and you just plug in, so you’ve got lights and a little refrigerator in there and stuff.
And we’ve also got a generator for backup that can be loaded into the trailer so on a cloudy day when we might need a little extra boost, then we fire up the generator and it charges the batteries. And the truck alternator as you’re going down the road – it’s charging the batteries, too.
The workshop is bathed in light for my 65-year-old eyes to be able to do some tedious work.Jason says, you can throw another battery onto the set up, and another panel if you need to. So we could increase capacity by half again by adding another battery …and frankly, that’s probably what we’ll do.
It’s so fascinating because you go onto the power screen and realize, wow, there’s a lot of data on here that’s really not only interesting, but it’s useful. And on a partially cloudy day, what is it you’re doing? What is this system doing for us? And going into the evening, how much battery do I need in order to get the Starlink and the little refrigerator through the night?
I’ve come to realize that even a cloudy day, it will generate a surprising amount of power. I just thought if that sun wasn’t visible, we’re done …so that was a pleasant surprise for me.
Getting back to that whole thing, if you want a professional job in an important project, you hire a professional like Jason – all I learned in high school electronic class was how to electrocute my friend. Very happy with the decision to go with solar.
Now that he’s experienced the freedom of his new workstation, Cary is interested in taking his workshop to a job site (like a customer’s ranch property) or to drive south with his wife and catch a break from Idaho’s long winter months.
This year, when Cary’s daughter, who lives in Southern Idaho, had a baby, Cary and his wife drove the mobile saddle shop down to her property for 5 weeks, so his wife was able to help out with the baby while Cary finished work on a saddle.
Let’s meet the man and take a look around the mobile workshop:
Forty five years in and Cary is still fascinated by his craft …and finding new places to do it.
