What was once a simple idea to write a fun and informational article about the importance of good wheelbarrow design now seems to have taken on a new life. At the direction of the incredibly handsome Opinions editor here at The Brandeis Hoot I seem to have taken on a new project: a sort of column where I go over and talk about different farm equipment that I use. This week I have decided to talk about one of the most common and talked about pieces of farm equipment: the tractor. As with most of my opinion pieces I will swiftly offer a disclaimer to this article being that I do not know where this article is going. It will be a journey for both me and you as the reader to discover where I am going with this. So let us begin shall we?
One of the few things in my life that has been a constant through and through is my family’s Ford 3000 blue tractor named “Semper Fi.” My grandfather in his younger days was a Marine during the Korean War and from that incredible act of service has come to value things in life which are dependable. When my family purchased the Ford tractor from another farmer my grandfather was immediately asked what he would name her. Brushing off his old “Semper Fi” sticker from his time in the Marines he told us that her name would be Semper Fi.
He was convinced that this tractor would never let us down because the tractor we had previously (of which I only have one memory) could only be considered consistent when measuring its inconsistency. Our previous tractor was an Economy single cylinder tractor. To start it there was no key, simply a pull cord you had to wind up and then yank as hard as possible to hopefully kick start the engine. You would rarely have a day where the old Economy would get started without a hitch. It was tough to manage and as time went on became less and less useful as it became more and more of a relic.
Therefore, my family sold it to a traveling antiques show in order to upgrade to the tractor I was raised on. Our old Economy tractor now travels the United States as a piece of farming history and on our farm in Canada we have used our Ford ever since. For any of our readers who have taken a U.S. history course you may be wondering how dependable the Ford is, since you may have heard either one or two acronyms to describe Fords: “Fix Or Repair Daily” and “Found On Road Dead” are both how people have described Ford’s inability to build an engine which is truly dependable and long-lasting.
But our Ford has proven those old stereotypes to be long outdated and in need of changing. I began driving that Ford at a young age of only eight years old. Now I will include the caveat that I was sitting on my grandfather’s lap at the time so all I was truly controlling was the steering wheel. However, my love for that piece of metal began with a single cruise around our south blueberry field. I was so enamored by the tractor that my parents even purchased a big wheel-ish bike that was shaped like a tractor to hold me over until I was a little taller and could really start driving the tractor around.
So with some time came some height and before I knew it I was driving the tractor all by myself. For those thinking that it must be fairly easy to drive a tractor, that it cannot be that different from a car, you would be wrong. It is closer to driving a stick shift or manual car, but even then there are some differences. For one there is no gas pedal, simply a throttle which always provides the same dopamine kick every time you pull it down. Now I could go on and on about the differences between a car and a tractor but that is not where I am feeling this piece going.
My entire life, Semper Fi waits for me to return to our farm in the summers and nothing comes close to the feeling of firing her up for the first time each season. Now, you may think of tractors as silly conversational pieces in highly generalized country songs. “Big Green Tractor” by Jason Aldean immediately comes to my mind. In this song Jason attempts to woo a lady by offering her a ride on his “big green tractor” (take notes Brandeis men, this is somehow a better attempt at picking up women then the shit you try to pull). His ride includes the fun action-packed moments of going both fast and slow and taking her out to the other end of the pasture. What a gentleman!
But tractors are not just something used to pick up country women, they are an extension of you. If you take good care of your tractor it will take care of you in the fields and down the logging roads. It is something you wake up to every day and know will be there for you. Now, did I expect this piece to be fairly emotional? Absolutely not! Did I think I was even this attached to my tractor? Gosh no! But here we are; talking about a tractor like it is a family member. Its dependability is unrivaled and has thus earned the name Semper Fi. It is a good lesson to learn in being a good person to others—be like a tractor. Be dependable, sturdy and hard working! That is what mine has taught me.
