The Tractor 2.0
Well after we finished getting all those seeds started we needed a place to put them. We had a spot picked out that we thought would work but needed to till the ground so it would be garden-able. Dear old Forky though doesn’t have a tiller on him and no front end loader attachments. Something we have been seriously debating on is the need for a newer tractor with the necessary attachments (there is a more appropriate word for that but I cannot remember it…Jaken will tell me later I’m sure). So with the extra funds we got from selling the house we went ahead and bought us a beautiful 3035E John Deere tractor! Hope absolutely approves.
We made sure to get it with a front end love, bucket, forklift, and trailer to bring it home on. Also an adorable corn on the cob toy for Hope because she deserves all the things. Jaken went and picked the new toy, er tractor, over to his dad’s before he even got it home so they could all look at and play with it, er test it out. While there they loaded up an old tiller and box blade that they had over there that their tractor wasn’t quite strong enough to run and tested the tiller out on an area Jeremy is hoping to extend their garden to. It worked quite well and only took Jaken a couple bumps to get the hang of handling the forks.
Once we got ole John home we decided to go ahead and till up the pumpkin patch. We selected an area over near the pond that acts essentially as the property line with our uncle’s portion. Its a spot that gets a good amount of sun and will be super cute for pumpkin patch pictures once the wildflowers bloom behind it. It was getting late so we had to cut our work short of tilling the garden though. That project was saved for another day.
A few days later we checked on our seeds we started and realized they were getting a wee too big for their britches (pots) and decided the next morning we would get the garden tilled and rowed as soon as the sun rose. Somehow we managed to actually stick to that plan and woke up early! (A feat for us because we are horrible early risers). We quickly got to work and Jaken tilled up the garden area while Hope and I started making mounds for the pumpkins. Hope thoroughly enjoyed playing in the dirt while I worked the ho and we were able to fit 8 mounds into our patch area.
Once Jaken got the garden tilled up we started forming some rows. At the time of this tilling the corn and pumpkins were really the main concerns to quickly get in the ground so we focused our efforts there and made three long 30 foot rows about 2.5 feet apart. Each row was assigned one type of corn and we planted them about 6 inches or so apart. Remember we are totally new to this large gardening business so if we did this differently then you would expect it done then just pretend we are okay LOL. Anyways we got the corn in the ground and got the pumpkins over into the pumpkin patch with two plants per mound.
After an early morning of hard work and lots of dirt on Hope’s hands, face, and diaper we headed in to get ready for work. A couple days later we drove ole John down to our cousins’ house to pick up a extra fridge they had at their house to add to our porch since we have been using a mini fridge and are quickly needing some more space. Steven and Jaken loaded the fridge onto the pallet forks and strapped her down before heading back home and installing it snuggly between the chest freezer and washer/dryer. Now we have extra cooling room and are quickly finding a ton of uses for the new tractor. A necessary purchase and money well spent.
