On a spring day nearly 20 years ago, Jon and Jane Severance drove along River Road, which connects Sunderland with the Cheapside area near the Greenfield-Deerfield line. They passed a 1945 Model D John Deere tractor with a sign: “It runs.” Jon Severance told his wife: “I want a tractor like that.” The couple decided to buy it, and “that’s how it all started,” he said.

During the transaction, Jane Severance said to the seller, “I guess this is our 25th anniversary present!” When the couple returned to pick up the tractor, the fellow presented them with two placemats, two wine glasses, and a bottle of wine. In subsequent years, the Severances often traveled to Pittsfield around their anniversary to obtain tractor parts and supplies — this was before Greenfield had a Tractor Supply.

Today, the Severances have about two dozen tractors. They each grew up around farmers — Jon in Shelburne and Jane in Northampton — and make a distinction between what they call “real farming” and the hobbyist farming they’ve chosen as a lifestyle. “It’s not how we’ve made money,” said Jane Severance. “Actually, it’s how we spend money.”

Given their penchant for horses, the Severances need access to hay fields. It’s possible to make hay with just a few tractors, or even one, if you don’t mind changing attachments. But beyond an appreciation for functionality, the couple has enjoyed adding to their tractor collection, especially older types. “Jon and I look at each other and say, ok, we’re not buying another tractor,” said Jane. “But then another one comes home.”

Following the acquisition of that first rusty antique tractor, Jon said, “I still didn’t really have the bug. I had fun cleaning it up, painting it, and fixing a few things, but I thought that was that.” If only he’d known!

For 40 years, Jon Severance delivered food around New England four days a week, most often to Maine; he retired from trucking four years ago. As a kid, he had an affinity for working with animals and the land. “I had a friend who lived on a dairy farm, and I worked with an older farmer. Our family homestead was a former farm and we raised chickens and had lots of dogs and cats, but no large animals.”

From his father, Jon Severance inherited an ability to fix things. “My dad worked for Starrett and Millers Falls (tool companies), and his motto was, ‘If it’s broke, fix it!’ He was a real do-it-yourself guy.” As a young man, Severance’s father worked for a tree company, climbing with ropes; his job involved helping to clean up after the 1938 hurricane. Years later, father and son did a brake job on a ‘52 Plymouth, which helped the younger Severance gain valuable skills. The family also harvested firewood from their 15-acre woodlot: “My dad cut firewood until he was 82,” said Jon. “When the boiler broke down, he kept four wood stoves going in the 15-room house.”

Jane Severance grew up in Northampton, near the fairgrounds; her family cultivated acres of asparagus, kept horses, and raised their own hay. “Our neighbors were dairy farmers,” said Jane, “but for us, it was a hobby.” Her father worked full-time for American Bosch, a Springfield manufacturing company. During the asparagus season, though, “about six weeks, eight, tops,” Jane’s family sent 20 crates of asparagus daily to the Boston market. “Each crate had 24 bunches,” said Jane. “It was a lot of asparagus.”

The Severances lived for eight years on four acres in the middle of Hadley cornfields. “But the cornfields turned into housing developments,” said Jon. “We needed to get out.” They moved to Shelburne with their two daughters and several horses, having purchased Jon’s family home, and cared for his parents until their deaths. Jane left her office job in Hadley to care for her in-laws, and discovered that she loves being involved with elder care. She’s currently a program director for LifePath, an agency helping the elderly and people with disabilities maintain quality of life in their own homes.

After 12 years, the Severances found that Shelburne also became too developed for their taste. “We felt squeezed in again,” said Jon. “We also were haying all over town to feed our nine horses, dragging equipment back and forth.” They got to keep most of the hay they harvested from other people’s land, but Jon learned why “most farmers don’t want to deal with haying small, multiple parcels.” The couple’s descriptions of haying echoed experiences I had on my family’s farm in St. Germain-de-Grantham, Québec; the topic deserves a separate column.

The Severances yearned to find a place with hay fields right out the back door. For five years, they looked in many towns, including Ashfield, Charlemont, Plainfield, Rowe and Colrain. “We were concerned with finding land, and not so focused on structures,” said Jon. “We wanted flatter land, between 50 to 100 acres.”

Years earlier, the couple had looked at a place in Heath, and their search led them back to Heath in 2000. The location satisfied Jane’s desire to keep their daughters in the district where they attended school. But Jane was concerned that winter driving conditions might be too difficult, given Heath’s comparative remoteness. Ultimately, however, they decided on their current 50-acre haven, with about half open for haying. “The price was a bit high,” said Jon, “but after it was on the market for a while, we made an offer.”

On a warm October day, the couple went to a Greenfield bank for the closing. “Then we came up to Heath, and it was cold and windy!” said Jon. “The air up here really changes in October: it has an edge. But the wind keeps mosquitoes away. We love it here.”

The house had been restored in 1980, but the barn had deteriorated. Over the next couple of years, Jon rebuilt the barn and later built a larger outbuilding they refer to as the shop. For two years, the Severances rented out the house while Jon worked to get the place ready to welcome animals; that work happened only when he wasn’t on the road for the trucking company.

The Severances’ large workshop contains mostly John Deeres — one of their oldest is a 1928 — but there are other types, too, including Farmall, International and Massey-Ferguson. Most of their antiques live indoors, while other tractors stay outdoors year-round.

“Prior to the mid-’40s, tractors were started by hand,” said Jon. “There was no electric start.” He added, “Our haying tractors are newer than antiques, but nowhere near new. Certain tractors do certain jobs really well. Jane’s favorite to tedder and bale hay with is the International we brought here with us.” Jon’s frank admiration of tractors relates to simple, yet durable technology: “You’ll find an old tractor sitting in the woods, maybe down an old logging road. It’s been there God knows how long, yet you bring it home and can get it running in an hour. I’m talking about something from the 1930s that hasn’t run in 50 years. To have gone from horses to tractors shows real ingenuity.”

Speaking of ingenuity, there’s a beautiful sight: an old hitch wagon that Jon built using running gear — wheels, axle, and pole — from a WWI-era cart that was used to move armaments. “I bought the running gear in Rindge, New Hampshire, back when we had draft horses,” he said. The Severances’ abilities to figure things out and their love of hard work made it into the next generation. Older daughter, Sara, 41, is a florist with two stores in New Hampshire. With obvious pride, Jon Severance said, “She got into the business after moving to Ashland with no job; she just walked into a florist and got hired. She later bought the place and then opened a second shop.”

Their younger daughter, Kate, 37, lives in Jacksonville, Vermont, and is Associate Director of IT and Operations at LifePath in Greenfield. “Kate has wonderful tech smarts,” said her dad. “When Jane and I need something programmed or figured out in the tech realm, that’s who we call.”

The Severances’ tractor collection offers passersby on Route 8A a sense of time travel, and their three grandchildren — ages 8, 11 and 13 — enjoy riding on the beautiful machines during visits. While it’s possible that the Severances are done with acquiring tractors, Jane Severance noted: “Once you get hooked, it’s hard to stop.” Her husband added, “We’ve always enjoyed auctions. How many times have we gone to an auction looking for haying equipment… and then we see a sweet little antique tractor?”

Eveline MacDougall is the author of “Fiery Hope” and a musician, teacher, artist and mom. Readers may contact her at eveline@amandlachorus.org.