As some of you know, November 2012 we were in an car accident.  It was not our fault, but my faithful 1997 C230 was totaled.  I went back and forth on what to get…but eventually decided that the F250 was my vehicle.

Well, I just got a new vehicle with that insurance money.  A John Deere x304 Lawn Tractor!

If you read any of the posts back in 2010/2011 you will see that we planted the vineyard with very tight spacing…5′ x 40″ with only 12′ from the rows to the fence line.  I didn’t test it well enough, so it has been very tight to drive around and also to use the current riding tractor.

So, why did I upgrade?  Well, the current model was over 20 years old and I purchased it used from my neighbor at a garage sale when we moved to Sebastopol.  Over the last 6 years I had to put in a lot of money to keep it going, so it was time.  Why did I pick the John Deere?  The biggest selling point is that is has 4 wheel steering!  I hope you can tell in the picture that the back wheels turn also, so I can literally turn around a 20″ circle.  On top of that is has a somewhat quieter engine, cruise control, hose clean out for the mulching bed, 4 year warranty, just to name a few of the options.  Oh…and it is made in Wisconsin!!!

I’m hoping it will give me 20 years of good service at Turtle Vines.