Continuing my addiction to big green mechanical toys, this John Deere 655 rotary tiller was delivered to the farm by my friend and Deere salesman Mike Zeman from Anderson Lawn & Garden on Route 220 South in Rocky Mount, VA. It’s a 55″ heavy duty tiller with the capability of tilling to a 7″ depth, quite suitable for lawn and pasture. I’ll be breaking it in next week on the first of eight pastures I’ll be reseeding over the next three to four years.  I’ll also be tilling, ammending and reseeding my lawns a section at a time over the same time period.

We’re in the middle of preparing a foundation for a 12′x32′ run-in shed to be delivered in January by the fine Amish folks at Pine Creek Structures. While dropping off our tiller Mike also dropped off a JD 17ZTS mini-excavator for a two day demo. While I was zipping over to the storage barn to get some t-posts we’d use as corner markers, my father in-law decided that the best way to convince Nancy that we needed to buy one was to hand her the keys. I doubt his strategy worked but she had fun taking it for a spin!

My in-laws, Paul and Frances, and my brother in-law Matthew and his wife Sarah and their children Emily and Michael are visiting for the Holidays. Paul drove down from Vermont, and Matthew drove up from Florida and we’re enjoying the time together. Above, Paul and Matthew are demonstrating the load (in)capacity of the 12hp 17ZTS. In all fairness, the front blade was up and they had to rock it a few times to get it to tip onto its nose, but you get the idea.

Still, I was able to dig out and grade a 18′ x 38′ rectangle in under an hour with no previous excavator experience. The 17ZTS is very stable and versatile, with the ability to accept a variety of attachments on the arm. The ZTS stands for zero tail swing. In other words, you can work along the side of a structure and not risk tagging it with your rear end as you rotate the cab. Ultimately, I’m too heavily invested in Cat 1 attachments for my tractors to justify the 17ZTS. I’ll be looking instead at trading in my 37hp 3520 for a used 43hp 110 TLB they’ve got in inventory. But I’ll remember my hour with the 17ZTS with great fondness!

The Pecor family wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Our annual tree hunt took place on December 11th at Clark’s Nursery in Floyd, VA. Clark Griswold would have scoffed at our modest tree, though this one arrived in our home absent a horrified squirrel so I considered the trip a success.

There is Fire. Here we have a certain farmer relation of mine, location unknown (*cough* *cough* Vermont *cough*), doing end of year cleanup in a most effective and entertaining way. This particular pile of wood and wood debris grows throughout the year until one day, in dramatic fashion, said large pile is reduced to a very small pile of ash. I remember one particular year when a certain brother in-law who shall remain nameless, donned a rain coat and soaked the 10′ tall pile with gasoline before tossing a torch on it from 30′ away. Most of us were standing 60′ away at the time, which as it happened was about 90′ closer than we should have been had we enjoyed the benefit of hindsight. The torch just lay there for about 10 seconds, and while we stood there puzzled by the lack of combustion, the fumes – now in generous supply - well, combusted. Fire lit up the sky and very nearly the brother in-law and chief instigator of the explosion. The irony of the moment was not to materialize until years later, when the same brother in-law would hang up his farming boots in Vermont to become a Firefighter for the county of Saint Johns, Florida.

Thanksgiving was joyously spent at Nancy’s parents’ farm in Vermont. Pictured above is our Chloe and her cousin Nathan – both four – taking advantage of mild weather and enjoying a Gator trip from one homestead to another. Nathan’s daddy Peter, Nancy’s brother, is a driving force behind the farm and the last of Paul and Frances’ children still living on the farm. It won’t be much longer before Nathan is driving real green machines; he was quite capable with this model! We really enjoyed our visit and are grateful to have spent time with family, some of whom we hadn’t seen in years. But it’s been good to be back home in Virginia, and once home I had two weeks worth of catching up to do in front of the computer and out on the farm.

I never really left, however I did take a month off from blogging about farm and family. I’ve alot of catching up to do over the next several days. This weekend is so full of errands, shopping and evening get togethers that bloggin will have to wait until Monday. I hope everyone is doing well this holiday season!