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An alternative to a new and relatively expensive tractor is a well-running antique. They''re not quite as capable or dependable as a contemporary tractor, but they''re considerably less expensive. Small, still-working antique tractors such as a late-''40s or ''50s Farmall Cub or a low-riding, auto-style Ford 9N currently sell for about $2,500, a bit more if they''re outfitted with new rear tires or hydraulics. If at all possible, buy one with a newly rebuilt engine, an onboard hydraulic system, a rear-mount three-point hitch and one or two mechanical power takeoffs (PTOs) rather than a drawbar. Invest in a modern underframe (Woods), rotary brush hog or field mower and other post-1950s attachments. Look carefully, because museum-quality antiques from the 1930s and earlier often lack hydraulics and PTOs (Polk''s, the Antique Tractor Magazine, published by Dennis Polk Equipment of New Paris Indiana (subscriptions 219-831-3555) and Farm Collector from the folks at Odgen Publications in Topeka, KS (subscriptions 800-678-4883) are two great sources of info on older models better suited for displaying on the front yard than grinding in the cornrows). If you intend to do any really heavy work such as logging, trenching for soil-drainage pipe, digging in a septic tank or cutting a logging road through heavy woods, consider a full-size industrial tractor with a log grapple or excavating bucket on the front and a backhoe on the stem. New, they cost five or six figures. Good used ones cost about $15,000.

DR POWERWAGON: Next size down in size and capacity are the DR Powerwagons--a unique line of powered garden carts made by Country Home Products, Meigs Road, P.O. Box 25, Vergennes, VT 05491; (800 711-7276. All sizes are tank-tough and capable of hauling 800 pounds of bricks, firewood, garden compost or rocks. They are maneuvered by hand with stout handles and castoring wheels at the back, thus avoiding the steering mechanism that would boost their cost. GARDEN WAY CARTS: And finally, if a powered hauler is more than you can justify, get yourself a shiny, metal frame and brown stained, plywood box-bodied Garden Way-style milwaukeeimpactwrenchparts garden cart like you see in many rural and sub-urban gardens. These carts were milwaukeeimpactwrenchparts designed by Garden Way founders Eddie milwaukeeimpactwrenchparts Robinson and Lyman Wood back in the 1940s; they took their inspiration from the amazingly well-balanced, high-wheeled railway station baggage cans of the day. You may remember Garden Way carts from the magazine ads that compared their lightweight and easy-dumping gardening convenience with a tippy, back-straining wheelbarrow. Perfectly balanced on easy-turning, rustproof, chrome-plated spoked wheels, a box cart will let you haul bulky or heavy loads of all kinds over an acre or so of flatland. A word of caution: Don''t overload them. I once boldly filled a small model #16 (so-named for its 16-inch wheels) with 200 pounds of flatrock and pulled it down a foot-high patio ledge. The load (twice the cart''s rated capacity), collapsed the spokes in both wheels.

The most universally capable modern homesteading machine we know of is a commercial-grade compact diesel tractor. We like Kubota tractors, John Deere''s 20- to 48-hp 2000 class and New Holland''s Boomer line. Even the smallest models--which look like sturdily built lawn tractor mowers--are equipped with powerful diesel engines and industrial quality transmissions and running gear. They also sport a three-point rear hitch that will mount commercial farm land plows, harrows and rakes and provide attachment points for a hay or field corn cutter bar or silage chopper, a sprayer or buzz saw. These tractors include a hydraulic system that will power remote motors on the chopper''s flails, the sprayer''s pump or the saw''s blade. They''ll also mount hydraulic cylinders to pull the plow up or dig it in and hold it down and will run any number of other hydraulic attachments such as a front-end snow thrower or plow blade, a bucket loader to carry soil, gravel or building bricks, a rear-mount backhoe to dig trenches, a forklift to raise bay bales into your barn loft, an electric generator to power the house and barn if the power lines go down in a storm, or a pump to fill a pond or empty the cellar after a flood. A modern, small diesel tractor is a major investment for a ranch or truck-farming operation--but one that will expand your homesteading capabilities beyond muscle-power, and will pay off every day for a lifetime or two of strenuous use.

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