My two sons (Jake and Mike) and I made a lightning run to the property a couple of weekends ago. While there I did something that I believe will bring me great joy in the coming years.
The property has about six acres of field. Maybe it’s pasture since I’m not sure what the distinction is. Is a pasture a field that on which an animal grazes? In that case, I have a field. Actually I have two fields. There is an upper pasture which you can see from the cabin, and a lower pasture that is hidden by the brow of a hill. The upper pasture is about four acres, and the lower pasture is maybe two acres.
Last fall, I bought a tractor--a nice orange Kubota. My oldest son, Jake, now proudly displays a Kubota license plate on the front of his truck. I think he is living vicariously through me, which is a switch on the usual way these things work. I say that I bought the tractor, but really Meredith and the kids bought the tractor when they went to the property while I was stuck here doing work. I told Meredith to buy a tractor because I thought the kids would have a blast with it, and they did. Perhaps foolishly, I think owning a tractor gives me street cred in north Georgia.
It’s not exactly a tractor suitable for agri-business, but it is far more than a garden tractor. You have to step up to get into it. It has a front loader, a three point hitch, and a PTO--all the stuff that the big boys have. I also bought a bushhog mowing deck.
Anyway, the reason the boys and I went to Georgia a couple of weekends ago was to permanently move the 1969 Dodge Charger that the kids are restoring. The car is the same make, model and year as the General Lee of Dukes of Hazzard fame and, in fact, was painted as the General Lee, complete with the Confederate battle flag on top, when I bought it. That’s the way it will look if it ever gets restored. You bet your ass that will give me mega street cred in north Georgia.
On Saturday afternoon I got the bright idea to mow the upper field because the grass was getting high. I had never done that before, but the kids had. They helped me mount the mowing deck and away I went. I discovered there is something very pleasurable about mowing a large field on a tractor on a nice day. The upper field has terrain and is irregularly shaped, and there are some large trees growing in it, so it is not simple matter of going back and forth in straight lines. You have to be creative and try to figure out the best way to mow the field with the most economy of movement.
As you mow you begin to notice subtle differences between different sections of the field. In some places the soil is a slightly more dry and rocky. The grass is lusher and there are less brambles in the lower sections of the field. I saw two small ovals of matted down grass where a fawn had lain.
But the best thing was when Mike ran out to me with a cold beer. Mowing a field is thirsty work, and the beer was welcome. As I drove around with that beer in my hand, a big, shit-eating grin came over my face. It came to me that there was something deeply satisfying about mowing a field on a tractor with a cold brew in my hand. I can’t place my finger on why that is. It may be that driving a tractor while drinking beer is one of the ultimate guy things to do. Hell, for most guys, doing anything while drinking a beer is a guy thing to do. But I think there is more to it than that. Maybe I was overcome with a sense of stewardship over my own property, or maybe I had the feeling that I was walking (or more properly, riding) in the footsteps of our honest, hard-working, touched-by-the-soil agrarian forefathers (no romanticism here). Regardless, I had a hell of a good time mowing that field and getting a little buzzed in the process.
So now I’m trying to figure out how I can mount a small cooler on the tractor, and I wouldn’t mind getting a shade cover with little fringes for over my head. For some reason, the little fringes are important because that’s how I picture it in my mind. I also think I need to get a good set of earphones so I can listen to music while I mow. It would be really nice to listen to some reggae, bluegrass, or Texas country music while mowing the field.
So there you have it. I have discovered a new pleasure in life. It’s something that I will be able to do at my leisure after I move to Georgia, and that’s a good thing. I may have the best mowed fields in the county before I’m done.
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