Tractor in the Pasture: Rusting Icons of Rural America

To the tractor lover, there is something magical about the tractor in the pasture. It represents wisdom, strength, and former glory as the plower of soil, tender of crops, and the backbone of the nation. Much like the aging racehorse or the prize bull, after its working days are done, old tractors find resting spots on the edges of fields, alongside barns, or in the hedgerows. Today, these rusting piles of iron not only represent the memories of nostalgic farmers (past or present), they represent possibilities of restoration, rejuvenation, and new life as sparkling representations of an age gone by. This book captures scenes of old, retired tractors and couples them with the very sentiments that makes restoration an increasingly popular at tractor hobby. Editor/Author/Photographer Lee Klancher coordinates farmers, tractor collectors, and restorers to compile 20 essays and colorful anecdotes ranging from tractor rescues to their feelings on what their tractors mean to them. A group of artistically photographed depictions of old, resigned or isolated, battered iron, each waiting its turn to be restored to a new life add to the extraordinary quality of this book.