So if you are into a bit of permaculture then you might know the difference between bacterial and fungal soils. The method of growing we are pursuing relies heavily on mycellium in the soil to make nutrients more readily available to our plants. Soil fungus though is degraded by heat and light and also soil compaction. We really can’t do without a tractor but we were at a bit of a loss as to what we could use that would meet our needs, be very light on the soil and not break our very small bank.
By pure chance we found a lovely man who had been forced to sell the family farm after his parents passed and the benefactors couldn’t agree on an arrangement to keep the farm. So happens he had a 40 year old four wheel drive Kubota B7000 in near perfect condition. We agreed on a price and we adopted Ken! He’s very cute, like you washed your tractor in water that was too hot! Even so, he is very practical – lightweight, relatively narrow track, a 3 speed PTO and a standard 3 point linkage, he has everything we needed. Plus he came with a genuine Kubota rotary hoe.
He will need a roll bar though. We hope Ken will give us many years of use.