Jerry Nelson: Just a few acres

Even though I’ve never met Pete Larson, it feels as if I know him.Pete and his wife, Hilarie, and their three children live on a 45-acre farm located near Ithaca, New York. More than 1,300 miles separate the Larson farm and ours.I became acquainted with Pete and his family during a beastly cold snap last winter. It was too chilly to exercise outdoors, so I took a spin on our elliptical machine. Walking on the elliptical is boring, so I surfed YouTube.At one point I stumbled across some guy who was overhauling a Farmall “M” diesel. I can recall when such tractors were still being used, so I was instantly fascinated. There were numerous cliffhanger moments. Would Pete successfully extract that frozen bolt? Would he be able to locate obsolete replacement parts? How long would Pete’s local machine shop hold the engine block hostage?Pete’s “Just a Few Acres Farm” YouTube channel has garnered an astonishing 13.8 million views. I learned a lot about the Larson operation via the videos, but I...