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AMY SMITH LINTON

The Would-Be Farm: Tractor Dreams

8/16/2017

9 Comments

 
Tractor envy. The green-eyed monster has been whispering to us about the rumbling of a diesel, big ole knobby tires, a power take-off connection that would strike fear into a worried soul.

​I've had my eye on a pair of Jiminy Cricketty brother-tractors down the road. Not planning to purchase, as they lack any of the safety features of the past three or four decades, but still. 
Picture
Picture
The flames of feverish desire were fanned by the loan of the neighbor's brand-spanking new tractor to mow our fields last summer. 
Picture
Likewise also was desire inflamed by the week's rental of a small but feisty Bobcat excavator, which enabled us to move dirt and rocks in a most gratifying way. 

One of the really surprising parts of the Would-Be Farm is how things go from concept to reality. Mr. Linton perused the interwebs (on his tablet! haHA!) and chatted with his tractor-driving friends. We piled into the pickup and bounced down to the tractor store. 
Picture
We took a mechanically-inclined friend, Curt, along as the designated cooler head to prevail over our starry-eyed amateur purchasing impulses. Curt suggested that we might want to have a bulldozer, too. Not sure his head was cooler. 

Anyway, it was the matter of a morning's shopping, negotiation of some refurbishment on the 14-year-old beauty, several painfully slow days of waiting for delivery, and it's official. The Would-Be Farm has a tractor. With a back-hoe attachment. And a brush cutter.  
Tractor
9 Comments
rolling art
8/16/2017 11:05:52 am

Thank you for a great article, with pics and public service. Onetime asked the Missus if I could have a 'bout 1950 Ford 8N I'd discovered in its original paint, correct patina and wear with no abuse, and about 50 years covered in the barn, an' she flat gave me a 'no, you've already got too much stuff you can barely keep track of !' Course I whined, but also knew I was perfectly capable of pinning myself under it in a ditch with three feet of water. Pretty but dangereuse.

Reply
Amy
8/18/2017 08:34:16 am

Some people get horses they never ride, just to have a beautiful feature in their field...same with old tractors, maybe? They are so darned chirpy, these old tractors. All can-do attitude and let-me-at-em looks. Our world could use more of that.

Reply
yard art
8/19/2017 07:48:25 am

I vote for more great classic tractor photography!

george a
8/16/2017 11:39:25 am

Yep, time to stock up on vital reading material: https://www.amazon.com/Old-Tractors-Men-Love-Them/dp/0760301298

Reply
Amy
8/18/2017 08:35:09 am

Ha! Will keep an eye open for this.

Reply
ed
8/16/2017 10:08:03 pm

i'm jealous, haven't played with one of them in nearly 30 years. Next thing you'll be resurrecting poor old richard's almanac

good luck

Reply
Amy
8/18/2017 08:38:10 am

Aww. Hope you can get your tractor on soon.
We DO get the Farmer's Almanac each January.

Reply
Greg Duncan
8/16/2017 11:53:23 pm

Made a great Choice. I grew up on a Farmall Super A, had a Ford 8N for a while was geared too high for my taste. Newer small diesels are great tractors and for digging around a bucket and backhoe are hard to beat. I look forward to Tractor Adventures.

Reply
Amy
8/18/2017 08:38:56 am

Thank you -- we look forward to more tractor adventures too!

Reply



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