THE PERFECT GIFT!

This week on my Thankful Thursday post, we're talking about gifts. Giving and receiving Anniversary Gifts, to be exact.

Have you ever struggled to come up with the perfect anniversary gift idea for your spouse? Trying to figure out what that perfect item or gift might be-- something that symbolizes your love for one another, highlights a past memory, or looks toward a promising future? It can be very challenging to come up with THE PERFECT GIFT. Our five year anniversary is coming up on Saturday. The gift giving/receiving suspense should be mounting, but...

Jeff and I aren't huge gift givers. It's just not our love language, I guess.  I'm told the five year traditional anniversary gift is something wooden. We haven't been following the traditional gift giving schedule any year, and likely won't again this year. Typically, we're more the type to just spend time together. You know, enjoy a nice dinner, or plan a date night of some sort. 

Well, this year is a little bit different. 

This year, we bought a tractor! That's what you get for your five year anniversary on the farm, I guess! har har!

In all seriousness, this isn't actually our anniversary gift to one another. It was time to trade up on a tractor, and it just happened to take place around the time of our anniversary. 

Let's take a quick look at the old tractor, the one we traded away.

It was a good tractor. We used it for several years, had no problems with it. Primarily, this tractor has been used to pull the air drill during seeding, and also sometimes to pull a plow or other implements used to break up ground. 

Harvey posed with tractor, you know, for scale. ;)

But, just like trading in a vehicle that you drive, the time had come to trade the older tractor in for a newer model. There's always an optimum time to make a trade- when the one you've been using is still in good condition and you've researched and found a good deal on an upgrade. Jeff and Tom had done the research, and found the tractor they wanted through a dealer in Havre. Tuesday, the new tractor arrived...



They pulled it in on a flatbed, pulled by a semi. There were flag vehicles ahead and behind the big rig to alert traffic as the tractor came from Havre, about 70 miles away. It didn't take for the crew to unload the new tractor and load up our old one and take it off. Then, it was time to investigate and take a few photos, of course!

One of the first things you may notice about this tractor is that it has A LOT OF WHEELS! There are twelve big tires on this tractor. It's definitely bigger and has more power than the previous tractor.

Tractors are essentially big engines. They don't actually do much on their own, but they are attached to other implements that actually do the work. The tractor's engine powers the implement it is pulling. With a tractor of this size, we can pull some pretty heavy machinery and improve the overall efficiency of our work in the field at seeding, especially, and other tasks like plowing or cultivating.

Right away, our plow was hooked up to the new tractor. We'll be using it to work the fallow (unplanted) ground of our organic fields to control weeds. Jeff tells me this is a task I can look forward to helping with in the very near future. See, it was a gift to me! How thoughtful?!? 

I think the people who created the list of traditional anniversary gifts should probably revise and do a separate list for those of us who live on a farm. Here are a few ideas to get through the first five years:

First Anniversary- .22 firearm. A gun can be a valuable tool on the farm for shooting pests like gophers or the occasional coyote that gets too close to the corral. He'll say, "Date night in the field shooting gophers!" So romantic, right?!

Actually, no joke, one of the first wedding gifts we opened when we got married was a .22, given to me. The bullets were wrapped separately and given to Jeff! It was actually a very kind and sentimental gift. It was the first gun Jeff ever shot, given back to us by a dear family friend. 

Second Anniversary-  Fencing tools- stretcher, pliers, etc. He'll say, "Now when we go to fix fence, you can have your own set of tools!"

Third Anniversary- Carhartt Jacket. You need to have a heavy duty work coat on the farm. Every girl looks great in that classic Carhartt brown! He'll say, "Now you can help with cow chores and you won't get cold!"

Fourth Anniversary- Riding lawn mower. As a city girl who moved to the country, faced with an acreage to keep on top of mowing, the riding lawn mower has been a Godsend! Once I learned how to drive it, that is... ;) He'll say, "Now it will take you less time to mow the farm yard!"

Fifth Anniversary- Tractor, obviously!

**Please note that the above list of "gifts" is meant as a joke! Jeff hasn't actually given me those items as sincere Anniversary gifts- they're just suggestions to be funny. But, there is something to having the right tool, clothing, or implement on the farm and it is a lifestyle that is completely different from city living! 

What will the next several years of anniversary gifts on the farm bring?! If year five is a tractor, what will we get in year 10?!

What is the best anniversary gift you've given or received?

What would you add to the list of Anniversary Gifts For Farmers?

We are thankful that we have been able to make this tractor trade work and are very much looking forward to improved efficiency as we work through some of our major operations, like seeding our crop. Similarly, I am thankful to be happily married to a wonderful husband, and for the lifestyle we lead on the farm. I'm thankful that we are able to commemorate five years of happy marriage. Perhaps we should celebrate on Saturday by having a picnic lunch in our new tractor! I hear it even has a buddy seat...  ;)