tractor

Time to Change the Oil. (New Tractor)

/ webbermd / Leave a comment

After two hundred hours, it was recommended to change the oil in my new Kioti Tractor. I decided to purchase the filter from the dealer and replace the oil for the first time. I have changed the oil on my vehicles for years and figured the tractor would be just as easy; besides some crowding of space, it was.

I couldn’t plan a better day to change the oil.  The weather was perfect.  The yellow jackets and insect population was at a low, so I wasn’t constantly bombarded.  It was overall a nice serene day on the property.


For the video, I used 2 cameras for the shot, a lapel mic, and our Zoom H4.  I realized the lapel mic was not of very good quality, which explains the sound in the beginning.  I also used the Zoom’s auto levels and that proved to be a terrible idea.  The Zoom couldn’t adjust sound level fast enough to keep it level, so the best sound came from the video on my camera phone and the camcorder I had with me.

I am still using Blender to edit the video.  It is nice to sync the two cameras together

Get in line… Even the cat loves the tractor.

and switch the view back and forth, something you can’t do in Movie Maker.  If you create YouTube videos by yourself, this is extremely helpful because you can roll both cameras and not have to stop and change angles for every specific shot.  I did the same thing on my  “electric  v. gas powered chainsaw” video, except with a few more change ups and added complexity.   This video also predates the firewood and frustration with YouTube  video I created a couple weeks ago.

I am still debating on whether to drop YouTube or not, and just rewind the clock and continue with blogging. I have noticed traffic on our website has increased on search engine results, possible Facebook friends who have no other way to find me since I left the platform.  It is interesting all Facebook visitors to this website are now gone as that platform works through the final deletion of my profile and living a sustainable page as it rapidly approaches the final 90 days.  I admit I do miss contacting friends on Facebook that chose not to follow me to this platform, but it also puts FB into more perspective as well.

As I check my WordPress reader, I noticed many of the channels I follow on WP are also not posting as often.  My wife is seeing the same trend on her Instagram and is almost done using that platform as well.  It seems that our society is waking up to the corporate manipulation of social media.  As we transition into fall, I wonder if social media is going through the same transition.  What was once seen as vibrant and alive is slowing losing energy and preparing for hibernation and a long winter, until it is re-birthed; hopefully, into something new and less manipulative with the expected arrival of spring.

Kioti Tractor Box Blade Implement Setup (when I can get to it)

/ webbermd / Leave a comment

My first sunny day of Spring Break and I wanted to be prepped for summer projects.  I had to disconnect the Winco generator from the Kioti tractor and reattach the box blade.  However, due to winter still hanging on, I had to work a day to clear a path to even get to the box blade attachment.  I stored the box blade under the roof of the old derelict cabin, the cabin we hope to bring down when we can afford to build a barn shop.  After this sunny day, we entered over two weeks of steady rain.  I came down with a terrible cold and was immobilized from working outside in the rain and eventually I had to unhook the box blade and place the generator back on to recharge the battery bank.  I had never needed to use a generator in April before since we moved here 7 years ago, but the skies were so dark and gray.


Currently, I am fighting another chest cold and doing my best to stay on top of my busy schedule at work, but today I am resting a for a bit.  I think I have been burning the candle a both ends.  Yes, pun intended, see our candle special below.

In this video I toy with a new technique, split screens, I am learning while using the free open source Blender software.  I use a combination of Movie Maker and Blender.  Blender to do overlays and split screens.  Movie Maker for captions and syncing sound.  Hope you enjoy the video.

Yes, I made more work for myself storing the box blade where I did, but I wanted it stored in a place that was not exposed to the elements and this was the only place I had.  Once I have a new shop, things will be less chaotic.

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The Tractor has Arrived

/ webbermd / 2 Comments

Our new tractor has arrived and we’ve already made some use of it by moving several dead rooted up stumps and a large burned up log left by the previous owner.  What would have taken days and several weeks of back and knee recovery was done in a matter of a few minutes.  Just yesterday morning, it was time to swap out the snow tires. I put our large Suburban tires onto a pallet, moved them to our Suburban, and fork lift them to a height easy enough to slide the tires into the back. On a different day last week, I took the tractor to the west side of our home and smoothed out the weeded rough area to extend the yard.  What would take me days, is taking me minutes, and my back doesn’t hurt at the end of each day.

The video I created has nothing to do with the work I did.  Instead, I created a short 2 minute film celebrating that we finally purchased a tractor for our homestead.  I keyed it up to some inspirational music that I liked and filmed a typical “sunny” morning, waking up to a new homestead tractor.  I enjoyed doing all the cuts and film editing while placing “orange” everyday items throughout the film to lead up to the reveal at the end.   It was our only full sunny day this week.  It truly was a beautiful morning and was lots of fun to shoot.


I am so far very happy with our decision, I just wish the weather this week cooperated more, so I could begin gathering firewood.  It looks like the last few months of the school year I will be working two jobs full-time before summer break, one as a teacher and the other as a forest manager on the property.  During my sleep or shower time, I will have to plan the pole barn we are building.

So far, our name suggestions are: Surely, Klyde, and Wiley. There is still time to chime in and my wife and I are now split of 2 different names, our son may have to be the tie-breaker.

A Tractor: To be, or not to be, That is the Question:

/ Krista Webber / 6 Comments


We have been talking with each other over the past few months about purchasing a tractor and the pros and cons of doing so.  Here are some of our thoughts:

  • We are not getting any younger.
  • Cutting, stacking, gathering and loading fire wood every year is not going away.
  • The body cannot do what it used to.
  • Going into debt again. Do we want to do this?
  • Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards
  • There are so many exciting projects we want to do, Barn/Shop being one.
  • Work smarter not harder.
  • Let’s take our property to the next level!
Tractor 1 MK end first talk

Rain, rain, go away… It is totally raining and we are just about to step out in the rain to look at the Yanmar tractors

We decided to take a serious look at the tractors that are sold locally.  We scheduled a “kid-sitter” for our son and took a little trip around our area and visited two different dealers that had the type of tractor Mark was looking for.

We looked at three different tractors: the Yanmar, Kioti, and TYM.  They are all very similar and pretty close in price.  We now have to take a look at the pros and cons of making a purchase that will put us back into debt, which we have not had in almost 8 years, but one that will help us out on our homestead immensely.

Join us in our discussion.  We would love hearing from you.  What do you like about Tractors?