The Tractor

One thing that all good farmers need, a tractor. Something that really does not fit into suburban lifestyle and definitely not into a suburban garage. Yet an absolute staple in country living. Ask any good hard working country folk and they will tell you about their tractor and most of those stories start with “well I got my very first tractor from my uncle (or cousin, or grandfather, or family friend)” and wouldn’t you know we get to start with that now too!

As we mentioned previously both of our families have been in this town since it was founded back in the 1800s. That has given us plenty of time to spread out and grow and when you need something someone is bound to have it nearby. Jaken’s family is quite large, as in his grandfather is one of 15(?) siblings. One of those siblings just recently decided his old tractor needed a new home which conveniently lined up with our need for a tractor to work on all of this barn business. So Jaken’s grandpa asked if they would be interested in Jaken taking it off his hands to which his brother complied. Thank you Uncle Jude!

The tractor is a 1968 Ford 4000. It is a gorgeous bright blue with the classic body style and adorable engine smoke pipe with the little cover that flaps as it chugs along. Its got a fun white roof and huge back wheels. Though it is older and has some rust spots in the sides its a beauty. And boy is it loud, it sounds like what a real tractor should and Brooklyn could hear it loud and clear when Jaken came driving down the road to the property after picking it up. In some towns you would take your truck and trailer over to pick the tractor up but not on our prairie. It is very common practice to just drive that puppy right down the road. So that’s what Jaken did.

From Jaken’s perspective:

We got over to the Dunn’s and talked for a little bit before I was told to “just hop on”, at which point I was given a very quick rundown of what each knob and lever were there for. “You got 1-5 in low and 5-9 in high. The key wont turn it off you gotta turn the key and pull the red knob. If the brush hog starts bouncing, this thing here will lower it. It wants to turn right so you should have no problem with rights, but you’ll have to work harder for a left turn - you’ll see what we mean. Throw it in gear and drive towards the gate to feel it out. Turn the throttle all the way up"“.

Okay, a quick test drive… I start rolling out and popped the clutch which made it feel like I was only on the back two tires (although I know it probably looked much more tame than that). I got a pretty good pace going down the driveway and the gate began to open. I turned around and saw my grandpa, dad, uncle, and aunt all just waving their hands signaling for me to just keep going. So I did.

At this point, I’m having some fun. I’m on a backroad in the prairie just cruising along at a pretty good pace. Nobody is behind me, I’ve got the road to myself. I wave to some cows as I pass them by, then the road comes to a T. Now, there are two ways to get to the ranch from here. I get concerned that I’m going to go a different way than my dad and grandpa will when they come trailing behind me. My phone is dead, so I can’t make a call, so I just made a decision - go left.

After I went left I let a few cars go by until I needed to get on CR 321, which is a pretty busy road. I sit at the stop sign for a while trying to come up with a game plan for getting to the other side while adjusting throttle, gear, and brush hog while dodging traffic. My dad and grandpa pull up behind me at the stop sign, as do three other cars, so I decide to get a little risky and just go for it (I can probably make it to the other side of the road before those cars reach this spot). I let off the clutch, but the tractor dies - I didn’t give it enough throttle. I put it back in neutral on the left stick and try to crank it back up (now in a panic because I’m holding folks up). No luck. Admittedly, I start kind of a panic here, so I wave to my dad to come take a look. I guess in the panic I just forgot to put both sticks in neutral. Okay, we’re cranked back up and rolling.

Cars were whizzing by me on 321 and the brush hog was bouncing me all over the road. It wasn’t the most pleasant ride in the world, but it didn’t take long for us to get where we needed to be, and I stopped on the road to tell my dad to get his phone out and give Brooklyn a call.

About this time Brooklyn was over at Kristen’s and got a call from Jaken’s dad, “Jake’s driving the tractor past you in just a minute, come outside”. And lo and behold this huge blue machine came flying down the road faster than I feel any farm equipment should ever be going with Jaken at the large metal wheel. All that was missing with a honk to say hello. He flew around the corner and to the hay field.

We are now the proud owners of our very own tractor! Jaken affectionately named it Forky the Ford 4k.