My husband and I finally bit the bullet and bought a tractor. These are words I never thought I would say. I never expected to own farm machinery. I grew up in a rural area and spent a great deal of time on the farms owned by my family members. I’ve operated their equipment, but I never anticipated owning my own machinery.
We have hundreds of pecan trees planted on a several acres. The land needs mowed, brush needs removed, and we’ve been doing things the hard way. My mom cared for the place for many years with her tractor, but the trees have now reached a size that requires smaller machinery. For the past year, we’ve been using a push mower, trimmer mower, chainsaw, and muscle to work the farm. It’s been slow and agonizing.
We’ve been shopping and doing our homework for a couple of years. We wanted to be sure we bought an appropriate sized tractor that was small enough to fit between the rows yet still powerful enough to run a brush hog. We finally settled on a Mahindra 1626, which isn’t nearly as big as Mom’s Minneapolis Moline, but much bigger and more efficient than the trimmer mower we’ve been using.
My parents had the idea to plant these trees nearly 20 years ago. My sister and I helped with the planting process, but I don’t think either one of us gave a single thought to the care that would be ongoing for the rest of our lives. We were still pretty young and were focused on getting those trees in the ground and hoping they survived. Mission accomplished.
My husband and I have had many adventures together in the nearly 19 years we’ve been married. Today we sang the “Green Acres” theme song as we added a new chapter to the book of us.
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