I am not sure if I took this to show the old barn or because of the John Deere....every time I see a John Deere tractor it reminds me of working at the orchard. I can't say that I put in a lot of hours on it, though I did my share. But it was my constant companion during apple picking season. The John Deere I started with was older than this...but not ancient.
A new one was bought sometime after 2001, but I don't remember the exact year. In the orchard, the tractor has to have so many horsepower to pull the sprayer. I can't remember how big, but the tractor also has to be small enough to through the orchard without knocking off apples.
When I first started working at the orchard, I picked into crates on a wagon. Then in the last half or so of the time I worked there, I picked into bins that were on this sled type of thing. They called it a mudboat. I have missed those days this fall...it was a lot of fun even if it was hard work. I usually picked from a cherry picker...but I absolutely loved to pick with a pack from the ground because I could just fly.
