Thank God for Tractors and People Who Know How to Fix Them

Today was hot. Triple digits in town, high nineties here in our little valley. Not good for much more than hanging out clothes on the beautiful clothesline that Wheeler and Ross built me. So we took care of other essential tasks, like picking up butcher paper and going to the pharmacy and Goodwill and Thomas's appointment. Then we came home to see Larry working over the tractor and bush hog.

It is hard to imagine the man hours given to me toward fixing the tractor. Will at Blue Ridge Diesel has taken a machine that probably deserved to be hauled to the dump and turned it back into a good tool. Larry has tweaked this and that and did who knows what to the bush hog to make it work. I don't even know who all has worked toward helping us have a tool that is terribly necessary on the farm. Even our dear 4th of July friends worked to move very heavy cabinetry out of the tractor shed before our party so we could store the tractor out of the elements.

This evening I came in, finished cooking the supper that the girls began and then headed out to check on Larry and the tractor. I made the mistake (?) of hopping on and taking a loop around the field to make sure I remembered all the right things to do with all the gadgets and levers and gears and clutches.

It was such satifying work that I sort of got addicted and went round and round the bottom field, bush hogging down the high grasses.

For a moment I felt sad that we weren't able to make hay this go around. Then I realized that more importantly was the work we are trying to do to improve the soil of our fields and figured that one way or another we would find hay for this winter. Getting the grass and weeds cut down now is important for soil health. We will spread manure on the fields later on and hope for rains to fall to give us a good harvest next year.

The smell of the cut field was sweet. I kept going round as the fireflies turned on and the dusk fell. When it grew too dark I parked the tractor and headed in, satisfied to have accomplished at least a fraction of our mowing chores in the nice cool of the evening.

Thankful for all the hands that are helping me accomplish my tasks, step by step.

May the Lord repay each and every one of those generous friends a thousandfold. Even dear Rachel Banks who helped finish other chores, washed the dishes and said goodnight to the girls.