Our philosophy at Fat Moon is to integrate the best of tried and true methods with technologies that are modern, clean, and efficient, with the goal of producing healthy food for our local community. As we expanded our farm, we quickly realized that it wasn't practical to do everything by hand so we began exploring tractor options.
We acquired this 1949 Allis Chalmers G in 2012 with funding from Noel's employer, Merkle Inc. They offer a quarterly dream grant to a group of employees wanting to try something new, unusual and fun. After more than a year of tearing it apart, rebuilding the tractor, and a lot of grinding and painting, the tractor was restored to its original beauty. In place of the original gas motor we installed an electric motor and drive-train, which is powered by 4 batteries mounted at the back. The tractor can be charged from the grid or from our solar panel array, and is a lot of fun to ride.
After being re-furbished, the tractor has been outfitted with a new belly-mounted cultivator, which is placed under the center of the tractor instead of being pulled behind. This allows the operator to see the plants and weeds pass under the tractor instead of watching a cultivator being dragged behind the tractor.
We installed this small solar array (at left) with a battery bank, which puts out enough power to run a blower fan in our high-tunnel as well as provide power for other incidental needs such as a pump to brew worm tea or a little lighting in the fall and winter.