Update on our tractor

Some time ago, a reader commented, "It's been quite a few years since you purchased your tractor. I was wondering if it was still a brand you would recommend."

She's referring to the long-awaited brand-new tractor we took possession of in January 2015.

This machine is a 35 HP 4-cylinder Nortrac 35XT from Northern Tool & Supply. It's a Chinese-made (though American assembled) tractor which, as you'll see, has both strengths and weaknesses.

Right now the tractor has about 400 hours of use on it, so it's still in the "we don't expect any major problems" stage of its life. It's not an exaggeration to say this machine has been a game-changer as far as our homesteading efforts. I'll leave you to speculate how difficult it is to get heavy work done around a farm without a force multiplier.

But tractors are expensive. We muscled through the first 12 years in Idaho without one, until it became absolutely necessary to either get a force-multiplier or stop trying to homestead. The tractor was one of only two things we ever borrowed money for (the other was building the barn).

Here are its strengths:

• It was inexpensive, relative to similar horsepower tractors with similar features. We paid $15,000, and that was at least $10,000 less than comparable models.

• It has a straightforward 8-speed shift. It is NOT a hydrostatic tractor, which means it's better for tough work like dragging a plow. Because it's a shift tractor, it means the driver has to come to a complete stop before shifting gears, but it also means it stays in that gear.

• It has decent hydraulics. The machine came with two additional hydraulic hookups on the back we've never used (designed for implements we don't own).

• It has very good fuel economy (diesel).

• It's fairly straightforward to work on, mechanically.

• It uses a minimum of different kinds of fluids. Transmission fluid and hydraulic fluid is the same, for example, so we don't have to purchase different fluids for each component.

• We requested "ag" tires for the tractor, and they're still doing great.

Here are its weaknesses:

• While the tractor came with an awning/roll bar, Don wishes it had an enclosed cab for winter use. It's possible to rig something up, so he may do that in the future.

• The tractor is something of a conglomeration put together on order from Northern Tool. We hypothesize they gave specs to their Chinese suppliers, and as a result it's kind of a mishmash of various non-standard features: an engine from one company, hydraulics from another company, transmission from a third company, etc. This means finding parts for our specific tractor can be problematic. It's not impossible, but you need to do a little detective work.

• The electrical system has been kind of wonky. Our tractor no longer has a horn, for example (not that we care) because water got into it and it wouldn't turn off ("hoooooooooonnnnnkkkkk"). Don had to clip the wires to shut it up. On the other hand, the headlights, tail lights, and turn signals all function perfectly.

• The tractor cannot do more than it's rated for. All tractors come with information specifying how much weight it can lift, drag, etc., and we learned the hard way not to exceed that.  If the load limit is X, then it's X. It's not Y or Z. We bent the rod on one of the hydraulic cylinders by trying to lift a 1200-lb. hay bale on pins that are only rated for 1000 lbs., for example. (The good news is it was a fairly easy and inexpensive replacement installation.)

• It's not as easy to hook up three-point implements as some of non-Chinese tractors. The implement has to line up very accurately to get it on.

I asked Don if he could start over, would he get the same tractor or something different (brand, upgrade, etc.)?

Putting aside the obvious answer that he would upgrade to a 45 or 50 HP model (anyone who ever buys a tractor always thinks they should have bought the higher horsepower model; this is known as "tractor envy"), he's pretty satisfied with the Nortrac. What he would be interested in is better hydraulics capable of lifting a bit more.

That said, for a general purpose tractor – and as long as he stays within the weight and load limits for its class – this machine has certainly served us well and never given us any major problems.

Don also adds a caution: the Nortrac 35XT we bought in 2015 may NOT be exactly the same machine as today's 35XT. It's just the nature of the beast to tweak and change things.

Here are the attachments we've accumulated over the years. Some were purchased new, but most were purchased second-hand:

• Rototiller

 

• Seed spreader
 

• Post-hole auger

• Cultivator

• Rock rake

• Subsoiler/powerline feeder
 

• Brush hog

• Bucket forks

[Don added the following sorta-rant: "There will always be someone who claims they would never buy a tractor (or car or lawnmower or whatever) made in China. That's certainly your right (for the moment anyway). But the major thing to keep in mind is this: There are very few smaller general-purpose tractors made in the USA. For those tractors that claim they are, many of their parts are not. When (if) America can produce a dependable 35 or 45 horsepower tractor that isn't nearly twice the cost of its foreign competitors, I'll be glad to take a look. (And check the bottom of your household appliances. Bet you'll find a lot of "Made in China" stickers.) Sorta-rant done."]

Hopefully this will help others decide if a Nortrac tractor is for them.

Winter wonderland

Well, as predicted, we got a big snow dump yesterday.

We had about an inch of snow on the ground already, which caused no trouble at all. The snow started falling on Friday morning around 10 am, lightly. By 3:30 pm, when I took Darcy for his afternoon walk, we already had three inches or so, and the mountains were hidden behind curtains of snow.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

To Darcy, snow is nothing more than a huge chew toy.

It snowed all evening and most of the night. I got up early this morning -- around 3 am -- and the full moon behind the clouds lit the nighttime landscape so brightly that, from our bedroom window, I could easily watch two deer as they emerged from our woods. They jumped fences across the driveway and into the pasture. I was even able to watch them through binoculars, it was so bright. If I'd had my camera, I would have tried for photos.

This morning, our neck of the woods was converted into a winter wonderland.

I'm guessing we got about seven inches in the last 24 hours or so. We also had some drifting, which put the snow knee-deep in spots.

This morning Older Daughter and I took Darcy running in the woods. We went slowly, wading through the snow. We were pretty winded by the end of the walk, since we're still recuperating from this croupy cough.

Here are prints from one of the deer I saw early this morning.

The snow made the bushes look like cotton plants.

Pictures really can't do the scenery justice.

Darcy, of course, just romped and romped and romped.

Older Daughter made a tiny wee snowman.

Don, meanwhile, started pushing snow around before the next dump could put us in even deeper.

We have dribs and drabs of more snow predicted over the next few days, as well as colder temps. I guess winter is here at last.

Tons of manure

By happy coincidence, one of the things we need to clean up on our farm is something in high demand: Manure. You might say we're spreading a lot of it around.

For years, we took the science of composting fairly casually. Don would scoop out the underside of the awning each year (sometimes more often, depending on how much it needed it) in late summer or early fall. He piled the manure just outside the feedlot, where over the course of a couple of years it broke down into beautiful compost, which we then heaped on the garden tires when needed.

And since we have tons -- literally -- of this black gold, we're able to spread it around among neighbor who needed it for their gardens.

We have no problem leaving these fertile mounds for whomever buys our place (and hopefully they'll recognize the value of a good pile of poop), but nor do we have any problem handing out compost to anyone who wants some.

So when a neighbor fired up his ancient 1950s dump truck and brought it over for a load, Don happily filled it up. Twice.

He started by scooping out under the awning until he couldn't scoop anymore (the rest will have to be hand-raked out).

Then he turned his attention to the compost pile that is the favorite hangout for the chickens.

God bless tractors. Can you imagine moving this much stuff with a shovel or pitchfork?

The only problem is every time Don scooped up some compost, the chickens would descend en masse to gobble up worms.

They're fearless in the face of a tractor and refuse to move. No one ever said chickens were bright. (On the other hand, I'm convinced the compost pile and its inhabitants is what helps keep our birds as healthy as they are.)

This neighbor was able to help us clean out probably an entire ton of compost. Benefits for both sides!

My Mother's Day gift: A great big pile of...

I've been working like a mad thing in the garden. Unlike a lot of years past, this May has been warm and dry rather than chilly and rainy. There were years I couldn't get seeds in the ground until early June; but this year's weather has been so cooperative, I've been frantically getting stuff in early.

One of the necessities was a fresh layer of compost on every garden bed. Trouble was, the compost pile was down in the woods and the garden was not.

This pile of former barn waste has been quietly sitting here for the last three years, decomposing. It's the perfect state to put on the garden. The logical thing was to move it from here to there via the tractor, but Don's also been working like a mad thing on tankard orders, so here to there wasn't happening.

This represents a partial production run of an order we're trying to finish by the end of June.

And then Don gave me my Mother's Day gift: a lesson in tractor-driving, resulting in a great big pile of manure moved from there to here.

This was not without its occupational hazards. Every time I took a fresh scoop, the chickens would descend on the pile en masse. I had to be careful not to run them over.

Soon I had a satisfactorily large pile of compost much closer to the garden.

After that came the tedious wheelbarrow work as I moved compost to the individual beds.

But you can see the difference.

Don also took some time away from his busy schedule to help me do something that we've needed to do for a long, long time: chicken-proof the garden. Last year the birds did a lot of damage. They scratched up the corn seed, ate the grapes and blueberries, and in general were a pain in the patookus. But we installed chicken wire in strategic locations along the fencing where they were slipping through, and it seems to be working.

So far I've planted potatoes, carrots, onions, peas, seed poppies, and tomatoes. I'm hardening off basil, broccoli, and cayenne peppers.

Today I hope to get the watermelon and cantaloupe planted, and by the end of the week the corn will be in the ground. Meanwhile the other crops (either perennials or planted last fall) are growing great guns: grapes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, garlic, potato onions, and herbs. The pears (below) have blossomed, and the orchard (peaches, plums, apples, and hazelnuts) are blooming out.

I'm also trying an experiment this year, thanks to a reader suggestion: peanuts. Apparently it's possible to grow peanuts in northern climates as long as they're started indoors. Right now the peanut plants are hardening off.

If this works, I'll always grow peanuts.

So anyway, as you can imagine the farm work is taking up an enormous chunk of each day. It starts around 6 am when I release the calves from their pen so Amy can feed them, then I put Amy in the pasture with the rest of the cows.

Then it's into the house for some computer work (usually writing), then Don and I take Mr. Darcy out for his morning walk, then it's into the garden until noon when I fetch Amy from the field and let her feed the calves again; then it's back into the garden until about 4 pm when I take Darcy out for his afternoon walk.

Then it's barn chores, then it's time to fetch Amy up from the field for the night and have her feed the calves again. And that doesn't count helping Don with the tankard work.

Which is why I found the following article so grimly amusing about the so-called "indoor generation": "A quarter of Americans spend all day inside, survey finds."

I don't seem to have that problem, especially this time of year.

A good day

Have you ever had one of those good days where you get lots done and nothing goes wrong? Yesterday was one such day.

We've had about a week of unrelenting rain, often for 36 hours at a stretch. Obviously this limited any outdoor work. So when yesterday turned out to be dry, Don and I exploded outside and got stuff done. (I'll have more on each task in future blog posts.)

Don cut a great number of firewood rounds.

Later in the afternoon, I split the wood into an enormous stack.

Don fired up the tractor and did something he'd wanted to do for several weeks: clean out the manure that had piled up under the barn awning. It was a task that we didn't get done before the snow got deep, and it had piled up even more through the winter, so it was long overdue. We shooed the livestock down into the pasture for the day and he spent many hours scooping poop.

This is primo material to enrich a lucky pasture or garden once it's composted.

I made two chicken pot pies for our neighborhood potluck (it's our turn to host).

Then I released Matilda and Sean into the driveway area to let them stretch their legs...

...while I planted two thin twigs which are actually bare-root sweet cherry bushes we got in from a nursery this week.

The day even ended on a pretty note: Deer against a setting sun...

...and swans flying overhead.

Perhaps our accomplishments yesterday seem modest, but in comparison to days and weeks of not being able to get anything done outdoors, we were left tired but smiling by evening. Yep, a good day.