When I was a boy my Uncle Lester Lewis let me sit on the seat in front of him on his Ford 8N tractor and drive it. I was a real farmer (in my mind).

I have the pleasure of being the steward of some rural property in Western NY. I get to sing “Green Acres” as I putter there on the occasional weekends away from NYC and New Jersey.

My primary tractor is a Ford 1720 with front end loader, finish mower, bush hog, rototiller and disks. I’ve put about 350 hours on it, and the property is looking much better for the effort. I mow the area around the house and pond regularly, and mow 1/3 of the fields each Autumn. By waiting to mow until the Autumn, the fields provide good cover for nesting songbirds. By leaving 2/3 unmowed, there is plenty of cover and grasshopers for the wild turkeys. Since any given area is mowed every third year, the wild rose and brush don’t get a foothold. The deer love it.

In 2004 I picked up a used Kubota L35TLB. It is a compact commercial backhoe, and I use it for clearing out stumps, taking out rock walls and digging ditches. My first job with it was to help a neighbor excavate for some foundation work at his house.