(I am in no way sponsoring these products, I just happen to LOVE using these things..)

 

This past weekend, I’ve been updating my homesteading binder, and was happy at all the new things I’ve added this year to the property.  Three things in particular, that have made all the difference this year with yard work, were added to the homestead this year:

 

1. My new tractor mower.

Boy did this take a lot of work to get!  Our old tractor mower broke down at the beginning of this year (March), and we had to call the repair man to come out and fix it.  Now, seeing as we live out in the country (and I’m sure a lot of other homesteaders get this too), they said it would take two weeks for them to come and repair it.

Two weeks pass, and the guy comes out to look at our tractor.  After about a half an hour of looking at it and tinkering, he tells us that we need a new deck for the mower, but it’ll take two weeks to bring it out.  (For anyone counting, that’s a month we would be waiting, a month of push mowing for a huge property..)

Two weeks pass, and the new deck arrives, but the ‘appointment’ has been rescheduled for another two weeks from now..  (Month without a mower..)

Two weeks pass and the man comes back yet again (by now we are on a first name bases with him).  But we were told that the deck that was sent to us was to big..  He took another look at the mower, turned it on, and found out that the main problem with it was that it needed new blades (which we happen to have bought for the new deck we were supposed to have).  So on went the new blades, a temporary fix while waiting on a new deck to arrive.  But I was happy I could ditch the push mowers that continuously broke down or stopped working on me.  (Month and a half now without a proper mower and the yard was starting to get the better of me..)

Two weeks pass, the second deck arrives, guy comes back, deck’s to small, back in two weeks..  (Two months)

Let me speed things up for you..  Three months later (total of five months of anyone is counting), four decks sitting in our yard (not including the original deck that was taken off the mower), and a lot of angry phone calls later, and they finally allowed us a new tractor.

A month later, we graciously welcomed Husky our new tractor mower into our lives and gave her a nice new home in our barn.  We were happy to see the old one go, but we would miss that tough old tractor mower that could mow over anything and everything.

We love our new tractor mower, which by the way, can now backwards!  It has helped out so much this year and I can’t wait to use it all next year!

 

 

 

2. My new rototiller.

I got this as a late birthday present this year.  It was so helpful for rototilling my veggie garden and creating my new cut flower garden that I added this year.  Perks of having a spring birthday, you get free gardening stuff!  This little thing is hard to start, and sometimes makes me question my sanity.  But once it’s started, you can sure go to town on those gardens!

 

 

3. My new leaf blower.

This one was actually a random surprise gift from my grandmother.  And boy was I surprised!  Anything that can take a two hour raking job and turn it into half an hour, is alright in my book.  This thing is so fun to use and makes the war on leaves worth the fight!  As the leaves continue to fall, me and my leaf blower will be ready to blow them away. 😉

 

I had never actually used a riding lawn mower of any kind before last year, nor had I so much as held a leaf blower until this year.  I didn’t even know what a rototiller did/was until this year!  I am slowly learning, as everyone does when they start out, but I am thankful everyday for the opportunity to learn and grow with this way of life.  I love learning new things, and finding out answers to questions I never even thought to ask!  I am proud and happy to be a future (and present) homesteader.  I’m taking it one step at a time up the staircase to self sufficiency.

See more everyday homesteading stuff like quotes, lifestyle, pictures, stories, etc, at my official Facebook page here.