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A spin around the garden with Big Beasty

Every time Farmer Brown is in the field for planting, harvesting, or any other task that needs to be done for crops, it is inevitable that I will have to learn something new.  Today it was running the big tiller, or as I like to call it “Big Beasty.”  If unfamiliar with a roto-tiller, it is a piece of gardening equipment that has blades that break up the earth to help with planting and weed control.  Big Beasty is big, and heavy, we are talking most of my weight and almost as tall as I am! 

I have done my best to avoid learning how to start and run this tiller, but today was the day to learn.  F.B. had tilled the garden earlier in the Spring but due to heavy rains, the soil had crusted over.  I needed to take care of some weeds, replant a couple plants, and finally finish planting the rest of the garden since it is the middle of May already.  I tried our small tiller but realized it was not big enough to break through the thick crust of soil in the garden.  I made a decision to get big beasty, I thought how hard could this be to start right?  How heavy and hard to move could this thing really be? 

Big Beasty in the lair, also known as the shed.
Well, harder than I thought!  I literally pulled the tiller out of our shed, and attempted to push it out towards the garden across the yard. Quickly realizing that I needed to start the tiller here, then drive it over to the garden.  OK this shouldn’t be too hard to start, a simple engine right? I turned the START switch on√, a couple other switches which honestly I have no idea what they are for but they appear to be important√, and pull the cord! And pull, and pull, and pull-then start!!  Yay! Happy Dance!  And then the engine dies!

So I check everything I can think of on the engine, even opening the gas tank and peeking in. Everything looked right so try again, and it starts!  And it dies again!  OK I know when I have been had, I was done. Time to call F.B, and his suggestion? Put gas in it, well of course why didn’t I think of this.  So I figured out how to fill the tiller with gas, and try again- nothing!  At this time I decided I needed a snack, I was getting a little hangry! Yes hangry; hungry and angry.

So after the tiller and I take a break, I try again. And it fires up right away, and stays running!!!  I have won!  So I SLOWLY drive the tiller around the house to the garden, and till up the ground I needed to and happily place the tiller back where I found it. I think the oldest Brown boy was just as surprised as I was that I was able to get big beasty  going.  I told F.B. that my next goal was learning to drive our small tractor, another day maybe.   

Now, I know that I didn’t have to learn how to use the big tiller, but I wanted to.  Not because I think I can do better than F.B., or some need to prove myself to others. But because I know I have the ability if I give myself the opportunity to learn.  I am not going to let myself be limited.  I believe we all have a moment that we did something that we did not think we could do.  My moment was driving a 5 ton truck through the 2nd largest city in Iraq in 2003.  For some reason the Army thought I could drive a 5 ton truck, so I had a license for a 5 ton truck.  I was required that day to drive the truck in a convoy through Mosul Iraq. And let us just say that driving in Iraq is different than driving in America.  The thought of doing this task was scary, no other way to say it.  But I did it, and I did it well.  No man or machine was hurt, and the task was completed. And this is the moment I realized I could do anything I put my mind to.


So, I do these things because I want the Brown boys to see their Mom learning things that challenge her, and see that she doesn’t stop and give up, even if I have set backs.  Because that’s life isn’t it?  There will always be set backs but if we keep moving forward and learning we can accomplish anything.

The garden all tilled, and newly planted! 

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