Nearly two years ago, we planted 2,100
tiny trees which are protected by plastic tree shelters held in place
with wooden stakes. Even though some of the trees are now more than
six feet tall, we need to keep the shelters in place until they're
quite a bit bigger. Unfortunately, the deer and damp weather combine
forces to make sure the shelters fall over regularly, which means we
have to reinstall them. We've been doing this on foot while carrying
all of the equipment we need to get the job done. Juggling the
shelters and the stakes while carrying a shovel and a small sledge
hammer wasn't a lot of fun. Neither was walking back and forth to the
barn when we discovered we needed a cable tie and walking back and
forth again when we discovered we needed a length of twine and
walking back and forth again . . . . . You get the idea. This is what they looked like in April 2013:
We started looking for a reasonably
priced John Deere Gator (or something similar) to carry our “stuff”
and to spare us the endless walks to and from the barn, when we found
this little guy on craigslist.
The engine, drive train, wheels, and
body belonged to a 4x4 John Deer Gator, and the clever guy who sold
it to us turned it into what you see in the photos. It runs like a
champ. It has headlights and a blindingly bright spot light. There's
a windshield wiper and a fan. The prior owner did some nice wood
work under the removable dump bed.
The snow plow is stainless steel.
The
wooden cabin comes off with a few screws.
It cost less
than 20% of what we would have paid for a Gator without a cabin or a
snow plow and we are 100% happy.
