Every farm has its stories – the kind that become family legends, told and retold until they’re woven into the place itself. At Oubos, in the Riversonderend area, there’s one story everyone remembers: the tractor in the oak tree.
Legend has it that Oupa Koos was a man with a sharp sense of humour. One day he decided – for no reason other than a good laugh – to pull a tractor up into the branches of an oak. From then on, when the Groenewald children were small, Mr Japie would keep the story alive. With a smile, he’d tell them the tractor had stood unused for so long that the oak simply grew around it until it was stuck there for good.
The truth of how it got there hardly matters anymore. What remains is a story passed down through the family – a reminder that even in the hard work of farming, humour and imagination have always had their place.
Farm stories tend to be practical: fix what’s broken, keep going. But every farm also collects a few legends – markers that hold memories in place. The tractor in the oak became Oubos’ conversation starter. Children asked questions, newcomers paused to look, and stories were shared under its branches. Over time, the machine lost its sharp edges. Rust softened the metal. All the while, the farm carried on.
People often ask why it was never cut down or hauled out. The short answer: respect for the tree, for the story, and for the work of seasons. The oak is healthy, the metal has become part of its silhouette and removing the tractor now would mean cutting into living wood. And for what? To erase a curiosity that everyone loves?
There’s also something about letting time do its quiet work. Farming teaches you that. You plant, prune, wait, and trust the slow processes you can’t rush – winter dormancy, sap rising in spring, colour and firmness building before dispatch. The tractor reminds us of that patience, standing quietly in the yard, carrying a story with it into every season.