Have Tractor, Will Travel

So I've mastered the zero turn mower.  Now it's time to move on to bigger and better things.

I'm working the big rig now.

I mowed all of the back fields using the biggest tractor - that is currently running - on the farm - the John Deere, or JD as I'm calling him. Yup, we bonded. We came, we mowed, we conquered.

Let me set this up for you.  The back 4 acres haven't been mowed in a long time.  Roland doesn't have time and we concentrated our herbs to pots behind the house and barn last year.  This year we decided to put more in the ground and till up a big chunk to see what we can grow without the deer feasting all summer. But before we could do that, we had to get all the waist high grass down.  And that's a job for the tractor.

I talked Roland into letting me do it and promised to keep mowing every few weeks all summer to keep it down.  It didn't seem like a big deal.  Then I got out there.

Imagine driving through tall grass and weeds with no clue what is right in front of you.  There could be rocks, wood, CRITTERS, who knows what all - Roland is kind of a hoarder.  Not bad enough for the TV show but much more so than me.  He never wants to turn down anything for free - and who knows where out there he may decide to store it. 

First of all, the tractor was a little intimidating trying to figure out which levers work the scooper thing in front, the mower thing in back and just buttons to run the thing. And sometimes Roland doesn't always explain it well (remember the zero turn pull back to stop experience).  He got it going for me, gave me a few basic instructions and off I went.

I ever so slowly started on one side.  I was doing okay but didn't know how uneven it is from deep truck ruts (years ago it was home to a large landscaping company with huge trucks) and every time I hit one and the tractor started to lean, I felt like the ship in the Poseidon Adventure and was sure I was going to tip over upside down.  I got stuck one time and had to call Roland on my cell to come rescue me.  Then I learned about lifting the deck to back up, using the scooper thing to push myself out and all sorts of fun things. 

By the third night, I had finished it all and JD and I were quite pleased with ourselves.  No one got hurt, I didn't wreck the tractor and it looked great.

A couple nights later though Roland did notice lots of bruises on my legs from bouncing around on the tractor and slamming into the sides of the seat and all sorts of things on it. I'll have to check his Workers' Comp coverage for me . . .

But last time I posted about the zero turn, someone (yes you Gretchen E) refused to believe without full video proof.  Well prepare to be dazzled -and probably a little car sick. Yeah, I'm kind of digging this country big rig equipment thing.  Wait until we get our real Fangboner Farmall tractor running again!