The Tractor Work Begins
When we visited the land for the first time, my eyes and mind wandered over the landscape and the derelict structures. I said to myself, “What a daunting and delicious task this will be, we need a tractor!” I wasn’t wrong.
A little less than a year later I found myself standing in the middle of a country road, (the word traffic doesn’t apply here) waiting with much anticipation. And there she was, a truck pulled up with a large trailer in tow, upon which sat a pretty Kioti tractor. “Here we go”, I thought, “let the adventure begin.”
And an adventure it has been. I had some experience with compact tractors, and lots of experience with all sorts of cars, trucks and trailers, so I felt relatively prepared to pilot this little workhorse. So far it has been a blast! I highly recommend to anyone, if the opportunity ever arises, do work with a small tractor. It will change your perspective on what you can accomplish, and in a reasonable time frame.
This isn’t a review of the Kioti CK3520, so I won’t bore you with specs of the front loader or the backhoe or extoll the virtues and drawbacks of the 3-point hitch and the regen system. What I do want to share is how interesting and rewarding managing a tractor can be.
Like most vehicles, tractors require maintenance. And, like most new vehicles, it’s easy to get lulled into a comfortable space where you think this beautiful and expensive machine is indestructible. So, I jumped on, started her up and pretty much charged headlong into the lopsided, but still standing, ancient barn. After a bit of lead up, I poked one corner of the barn repeatedly with the leading edge of the front loader until I had compromised enough of the vertical and horizontal support beams that it started to drastically lean. Slowly and gratifyingly gravity took over and the barn pancaked onto its ground floor. It was kind of like poking a large sleepy monster. I would rush forward, spearing the side, then quickly retreating in case the structure decided to come down in an unpredictable and expedient manner. So satisfying!
The dilapidated house presented a larger task. With 3 separate fireplaces/chimneys and several interior walls, the house has been a challenge to disassemble. A rewarding challenge, however. I started systematically tearing and pushing the structure apart. Turns out walls and the roof have nails and tractor tires are not impenetrable. I am now well versed at removing and re-installing the smaller front tires. There’s a shop about 45 minutes away that services tractor tires and I’ve visited them, unfortunately, a bunch of times over the past few months.
Now, I carefully approach the vaguely house like pile of old wood, brick and metal, scraping the ground with the front loader to remove potential nail laden pieces of wood. Then we move pieces by hand into a dumpster, or into a keep pile. We will re-use the larger pieces of floor joists and support beams for future projects.
Daily my mind dances merrily over how we will utilize the footprint that the house and barn occupy. Visions of a converted school bus welcome center, solar covered parking area and large, well-appointed workshop delight my mind on the regular. I cannot wait to share this amazing space with inquisitive minds and adventurous souls looking to discover or re-discover artistic expression, embrace nature and explore science.
