The Old Foreman

John Deere Print by Owen Garratt

This John Deere tractor drawing is the fifth in a series of mini prints

Most of the interesting stuff is in out of the way places, so as often as I can, I take secondary highways and goat paths. It drives my wife bananas because it takes so much longer to get anywhere, and I always end up pulling over to take pictures or to talk to people.”

Driving by Deloraine MB one summer, I saw dozens of vintage tractors lined up along the edge of the road. I pulled in to a small shop to get permission to have a closer look, and met this old timer whose passion was restoring farm machinery.

Well, you can’t just ask someone with a passion if you can snap a picture or two and bolt off. And you can’t hurry a ninety-something year old along with the storytelling. For the next 7 1/2 hours, I learned more than I probably needed to know about each and every tractor, plow, discer, seeder, combine, and swather he’d restored over the past 21 years. Then I was told about all of the things he wanted to restore.

It was very kind of him to share his life’s work with me, but it was also sad, because he obviously didn’t have anyone left to talk to, and I guess he figured ‘any port in a storm’, and that I was a good enough substitute.

It was a vivid example of how following your constructive passions are like a tonic. This gent was on the far side of 90, but couldn’t wait to get out of bed every morning.

The only thing missing was a way to share his life’s work.