Little Red Tractor and Teamwork

Our new addition arrived just over a week ago, to much excitement from us all, well nearly all, let me be honest, tractors aren’t really my thing! I’m not here to ruin Phil’s fun though, I truly understand his desire for our new red friend, I just don’t have any strong desires to get behind the wheel.

It’s a 1970s International 574. Now that means nothing to me, but apparently it might appeal to those who like really old tractors. I like to think of our new addition as vintage, it adds a certain amount of romanticism to my dream of farm life. For now Little Red is sitting in our courtyard waiting for a front loader to be fitted.

There are so many words that I use nowadays that never occurred in our pre smallholding vocabulary. Front loader, silage, portable milker, heat pump and plant room (for the ground source heating) are all up there on new terminology I have learnt this year.

It really has been an extraordinarily steep learning curve, and it keeps going! We certainly haven’t reached the top, as we have much more to undertake over the next year. We have lots of building work due to commence in June, a new bathroom to be fitted next week, loads more veg to plant out this year and try to keep alive and tonight Christopher asked me when we were planning on getting some lambs. Life round here is certainly never dull!

When my head stops spinning for a moment, and I reflect on what we are doing, I just stand amazed and thank God for all he has done. Phil had never milked a cow before last year, or driven a tractor, he’d never helped out an egg bound chicken or tried to work out when a pig was ready to be put with a boar for some ‘action’ (we’re hoping for piglets this year). I’d never planted much veg or taken care of chickens, or worked out what to do with parts of a pig I’d never seen in the supermarket!

We are loving the challenge and we are all learning as we go along. We are very thankful that God is by our side helping us at every turn. Nothing here is done without prayer and faith because without those two ingredients we would have a recipe for disaster. With God we can do all that he calls us to, if we call on him. And we really need his help, often hourly, as there is always a new challenge to face, and so we go to the One with all the answers and he grants us the wisdom to move forward.

Phil and I are also a team. We are completely different to one another. We have the same life goals, but totally different skills to bring those goals about. Without that team we couldn’t begin to do what we do here. We’ve learnt a lot about each other over the last couple of years, but most of all we’ve learnt to appreciate our differences. Marriage is Oneness and moving here has helped us to understand that more than ever.

This was supposed to be about tractors, but due to my lack of tractor knowledge it wafted into what I know best, God, marriage and teamwork. I guess we write about that which we understand. If you are really into tractors and want to know more about them, do leave a comment and I’ll get Phil to respond.

Blessings to you all