When Jean Milne’s father purchased his Massy Harris tractor, life on the farm was transformed. That tractor helped her parents work the land more efficiently giving them more time to raise a family. Fifty years later that same tractor has transformed the life of Jean’s husband.

Donnie Milne promised his father-in-law he would restore the old tractor but when he made that promise he had no idea the extent of the challenge he would take on and no idea that he would fall in love with the process. The tractor had been vandalized; a total disaster is how Donnie describes it. He says he had to do a lot of thinking, a lot of looking and a lot of reading before he got started. But in the two and a half years it took to fulfill that promise he discovered a passion that he shares with a growing number of rural people.

Fixing up an old tractor may seem a little eccentric but among the enthusiasts that share this passion, there is a constant and committed exchange of information, parts and good-natured rivalry. In the process, an important part of our history is preserved.

Donnie Milne was a car dealer for most of his life but now spends his happiest hours in his shop
restoring tractors. He thought his father-in-law’s would be a one of project, but he now has over 30 tractors at his place near Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia. The satisfaction that comes from taking a broken down, rusted old piece of machinery and bringing it back to its former glory seems beyond words for those who get bitten by the bug.

Visit any rural fair and you may meet some of these enthusiasts and see the result of hundreds of hours of loving work. They’ll tell you how their passion connects them to the past and to memories of fathers and grandfathers. You may be surprised to find a fervent rivalry between those who support the makers of red or green tractors.

If you can’t make it to a country fair to meet these enthusiasts, then tune into Land and Sea to get a taste of a world very few get exposed to.