I felt every bit of your panic here! Give me a horse, I was fine. Give me a piece of machinery, I was terrified and clearly in danger. Where is the logic in that??
Know the feeling. I learned to plow snow out of my driveway with a Farmall B, tricycle tyoe front end equipped with a homemade front plow and hydraulic system. Fun times!
Lots of tight work, the famous International Harvester Farmall clutch (1/4" of engagement with lockup like solid gears), open seating (-20 F wind chill; maybe thats why Dad taught me to plow), all controls reversed (left side only). Taught me to run machinery like a pro in my teenage years!
Wish I had that rig back this year for nostalgia sake.....
Oh shit, just reading that had me shiver. Fortunately neighbouring farmers followed the law here and did not allow me to ride machinery until hit 13 yr
My Daddy would put the two of us, my sister and me, on the Massey Ferguson tractor, put the gear in low, tell us to drive in a circle, put the bush hog down and jump off. He’d go to the chicken houses and check on the flock, walking through the house, making sure the water troughs weren’t clogged with shavings and pick up the dead ones. When he was finished, he’d trot out into the field, leap up onto the running board and pull the choke. We’d climb off the tractor, get into the back of the truck and head off to our next adventure, sitting on the tailgate, dragging a stick behind us on the dirt road.
Well, considering my degree and professional life was in agriculture and we farmed for over 40 years in Central Illinois, I may have some true experience.
That was actually my husband's first response when he read it. Also a 3-generation farmer with an ag degree from another land grant college.
We have seen too many farm deaths of children and neighbors, including one just this month.
It breaks our hearts each and every time and we are sorry for the trauma that follows.
We had a lot of adventures. Daddy put me on the tractor when I was six and I drove it into the brand new chicken house. That wasn’t fun, but he didn’t get mad. He never wanted us to be farmers and we didn’t go that route. He had friends who lost everything and one committed suicide in the 80’s. He sent us to college. We moved away and we sold the farm. Split the check three ways and called it good. His best friend’s son bought the farm and died in his recliner at 65. His kids run it now. Life is never a straight line. To understand farming, you have to accept that reality. You are doing a good job navigating through it. Take care.
I felt every bit of your panic here! Give me a horse, I was fine. Give me a piece of machinery, I was terrified and clearly in danger. Where is the logic in that??
Know the feeling. I learned to plow snow out of my driveway with a Farmall B, tricycle tyoe front end equipped with a homemade front plow and hydraulic system. Fun times!
Lots of tight work, the famous International Harvester Farmall clutch (1/4" of engagement with lockup like solid gears), open seating (-20 F wind chill; maybe thats why Dad taught me to plow), all controls reversed (left side only). Taught me to run machinery like a pro in my teenage years!
Wish I had that rig back this year for nostalgia sake.....
Oh shit, just reading that had me shiver. Fortunately neighbouring farmers followed the law here and did not allow me to ride machinery until hit 13 yr
This is a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing. How could a 4 yr old hit the clutch to begin with.
Hire his sister, apparently. 😂
Ernie and Bert. That's it for me. You good, Adam? Just asking.
Dana… I’m great. Thanks for asking.
My Daddy would put the two of us, my sister and me, on the Massey Ferguson tractor, put the gear in low, tell us to drive in a circle, put the bush hog down and jump off. He’d go to the chicken houses and check on the flock, walking through the house, making sure the water troughs weren’t clogged with shavings and pick up the dead ones. When he was finished, he’d trot out into the field, leap up onto the running board and pull the choke. We’d climb off the tractor, get into the back of the truck and head off to our next adventure, sitting on the tailgate, dragging a stick behind us on the dirt road.
This is the good stuff. Bush hog down, drive in circles, dad trots back out to pull the choke. Dragging a stick off the tailgate.
That’s not trauma. That’s a childhood.
Smiled the whole two years it took me to write this piece.
Smiled reading yours too. Thank you for sharing.
That is child abuse and typical poor farmer decisions.
4!!!
We have seen this all too much.
I slowly learned to drive an Oliver 77 at 13. My parents and grandparents knew better.
We never had our children alone in a tractor until they were 14.
I'm sorry for your trauma.
“Typical poor farmer decisions” is an incredibly condescending phrase. Typical privileged metropolitan bias.
Well, considering my degree and professional life was in agriculture and we farmed for over 40 years in Central Illinois, I may have some true experience.
That was actually my husband's first response when he read it. Also a 3-generation farmer with an ag degree from another land grant college.
We have seen too many farm deaths of children and neighbors, including one just this month.
It breaks our hearts each and every time and we are sorry for the trauma that follows.
We have lived with that grief.
Your response just proved my point.
We had a lot of adventures. Daddy put me on the tractor when I was six and I drove it into the brand new chicken house. That wasn’t fun, but he didn’t get mad. He never wanted us to be farmers and we didn’t go that route. He had friends who lost everything and one committed suicide in the 80’s. He sent us to college. We moved away and we sold the farm. Split the check three ways and called it good. His best friend’s son bought the farm and died in his recliner at 65. His kids run it now. Life is never a straight line. To understand farming, you have to accept that reality. You are doing a good job navigating through it. Take care.
This is very well done!
A pleasure to read you. You really bring us into your world.
It's amazing what we survive as kids, isn't it? A damned miracle any of us make it out alive!