Find…

Tractor Tire Mule Haul

Published December 7, 2019

I, Bernie Harberts, did not use generative AI to write or illustrate this article. Spell check and grammar check, yes. AI, no.

Mowing the mountain top apple orchard I heard a “wobble, wobble, wobble” and the steering of the tractor went all wonky and I looked down and saw the front tractor tire had come off the rim.

Damn. A half mile of mountain trail separated me from the barn. We don’t own a four wheeler, spare tractor or four wheel drive truck.

Flat tractor tire on the mountain top orchard — Bummer: a flat tire a long way from home.

Down and Up

By chance, our forester Andrew Casey was visiting the orchard with his truck the next day. I say “orchard” and you’re thinking 50 apple trees with branches bent low under a bumper apple crop. You’re right about the 50 apples. You’re wrong to think we’re getting a crop. Our apples are only 3 years old.

I planted them as bare root stock. Each 12″ baby tree set me back six bucks. Three years later, many are over 8′ tall. Some, like the Calloway crab apples, have started bearing.

Bernie Harberts' young orchard with tree protectors and Brushy Mountains in background — Our young orchard. The narrow tubes are tree protectors that shield the young apple trees from wind and deer but not bears. In the background, the Brushy Mountains of North Carolina, home to some fine old apple orchards.

Jonathan apple tree at Bernie Harberts' homestead orchard — We planted a variety of old southern apples: among them Johnathan, Limbertwig and Arkansas Black. Most are semi-dwarf. Some are standard size.

Bernie Harberts pruning apple trees in the mist with dog Snookie supervising — Apples in the mist: I like to plant apple trees in fall or late winter. Here, Snookie supervising the pruning. I’ll only prune these trees once, just to remove suckers and get a good tree form. After that, the trees will be on their own. The apples are primarily for wildlife. I don’t want to become a slave to their care.

The thing about apples is you can’t stop at five or fifty. Apple enthusiasm knows no bounds so when half a hundred didn’t seem enough, I called Andrew to investigate clearing a little more grown over land so I could add, well, just a few more six-dollar trees.

And so while Andrew was scouting the site, he and Julia took the wheel with the flat tire off the tractor and loaded it in to his pick up truck.

Which is how we got the 50 pound wheel off the mountain.

I had it repaired. Now it had to go back up the mountain. Andrew wasn’t there to help us. If that wheel was going back up the mountain, it was going to be muscle power.

Polly: Beast of Burden

Julia and I have made the conscious decision to limit how much equipment we own. Sure, it would be nice to own a four-wheeler or second tractor. But even nicer is to use our bodies.

We heat with wood. We split it by hand. Stack it in our wood shed. Haul it to the house one load at a time all winter long. Yes we use a tractor to haul the trees from the forest. Sometimes we use a mule.

Bernie Harberts' wood stove covered in winter homestead items — Our beloved stove. It’s a magnet for things winter: a cast iron skillet, pile of dried cayenne pepper we grew, a broom sage broom, mittens, boot grease, coffee and beans.

Pony Pickle and dog Snookie waiting outside the house while Bernie Harberts rides mule Brick — Sometimes it’s hard to draw the line where our lives and that of our animals’ intersect. Here, Pickle and Snookie waiting for Julia to come out of the house. I’m riding Brick whose ear you see at 5 o’clock.

Every now and then, not having a machine to haul a 50 pound tire up a mountain is a pain in the butt. The last time I had a flat on the tractor, I hauled the wheel up and down the mountain on my back.

This time, I used mule Polly (the same mule from the Lost Sea Expedition series, free to stream on YouTube).

Here are some pics of how that went.

Empty pack saddle ready to carry the repaired tractor tire — The pack saddle.

Repaired tractor tire lashed to mule Polly's pack saddle — Repaired tire lashed in place. The biggest challenge is keeping this top heavy load in place. You have to make sure the load is balanced. If it’s not it doesn’t matter how tight your cinches are. Your load will drag the pack saddle off to the side, a good recipe for a run-away.

Half-hitch knots securing the tire load on mule Polly — A bunch of half-hitches keeps the load in place.

Bernie Harberts riding Haflinger Pickle up the forest road leading mule Polly — Up the forest road we go. I’m riding Julia’s Haflinger Pickle.

Mule Polly with the repaired tractor tire at the top of the hill — Mission accomplished: Polly and the tire at the top of the hill.

Tractor waiting for its repaired tire to be reinstalled — Where the wheel has to go.

I mounted the wheel on the tractor. Julia lead Polly home. I fired up the bush hog and finished my mowing. Then, of course, I planted one more apple tree.

Julia Carpenter heading home with pony Pickle and mule Polly after delivering the tire — Heading home. Julia heading home with Pickle and Polly after delivering the tire.

More adventures by horse and mule: Travel by Horse and Mule.

More about horse and mule life on the homestead.

Let's Keep in Touch

Sign up for The River, the RiverEarth newsletter, for occasional doses of rambling and homestead life. Plus you'll get a free copy of my 155-page illustrated ebook 19 Million Mule Steps.

Just enter your email below and hit Subscribe.

Explore More of RiverEarth

5 Responses to Tractor Tire Mule Haul

Pingback: Hawk Hucks, Woman Watches Movie - RiverEarth.com
Patty on December 13, 2019 at 1:57 am

Wow! Thank you for sharing your amazing lives with others. Love this blog and your show which I stumbled upon late at night when my dog woke me up from being sick. His name in Hawk and we are watching Bernie and Polly. I think it’s making him feel better.

Reply
- Bernie on December 13, 2019 at 10:07 am
  
  Hi Patty. Boy your comment made Julia and me smile! It inspired a doodle sketch of Hawk at peak misery. Hopefully he feels better now (and you got some sleep!). Bernie
  
  Reply
Julia on December 7, 2019 at 9:48 pm

You forgot to say that I walked up behind everyone with the camera so was happy to hitch a ride down while you planted another tree and put the wheel back on.

Reply
- Bernie on December 7, 2019 at 9:52 pm
  
  Yes! You deserve the first apple! Bernie
  
  Reply