When Ted Emerson showed up to say hello a couple of weeks ago, I thought he had been run over by a truck. I was close; he had been run over by a tractor, and every part of him was bruised or bandaged. “I’ll be off for a week or so,” he said, and “then I’ll get your pastures brushogged.” Ted has been brush-housing the farm since we moved in and is country-tough. This is a critical thing for animals who grace. With all of the rain this summer, the weeds were two feet high.
Ted was as good as his word. I told Maria I couldn’t imagine him recovering in a week or so from those injuries, but when I thought about it, I knew he would be back when he said he would.
Ted is one of the great country people I have met; he is made of something other than human flesh and bones. And he loves what he does and does a great job. He is the last of his kind – independent, honest, living his vocation, not a job. You can bet your life on it when he says he will do something.
He said he owed his life to a protection necklace a friend gave him. I know Ted and love him, so I bought a protection bracelet for myself. And I knew Ted would be back. When he comes, he goes about his work. He opens and closes the gates by himself and takes his t factor up and down the three pastures, which means the grass will be low and green next Spring.
When he’s finished, he closes up and closes the gates and rides off in his tractor to the next job. I get a bill two or three weeks later, which is always so shockingly low that I double the payment. He never says a thing about it and never talks about money.
I was thrilled to see Ted moving through the pastures this morning when we returned from breakfast at Jean’s Place and a trek to the Farmer’s Market. Ted is the real deal; I thank him for spurring me to get a protection necklace, and I am happy to have the pastures brush-hogged. If you have a farm, you have to take care of it. Two years without brushogging, and there would be nothing but inedible plants and weeds.
Ted is the best – character, integrity, courage, and skill.