'Hobby' Farming In Woodbury

The goal of any hobby is personal fulfillment, whether you’re into scrapbooking, golf, or collecting. But if you’re lucky—like Woodbury resident Mike Horn—your hobby is also to preserve a piece of history. In this case, by spinning a flywheel.  

Horn grew up on a farm in Colfax, Wis., where he did a lot of farming on his grandfather’s 1944 John Deere A. Those experiences sparked a passion that has followed him across the river into the Twin Cities suburbs.

Horn is a collector of John Deere machinery (hence the flywheel, which is used to start some antique models instead of a key). He currently owns four early lawn and garden tractors with various attachments for (think: decks, tillers, blades, snow blowers). Horn also owns two larger John Deer tractors: a 1944 A and, his current favorite, a 1940 BNH, which he purchased in 2010. 

“In its model designation, the B stands for model, the N stands for narrow, which means single front wheel, and the H stands for high,” Horn said. “This tractor is four inches higher in front due to the yoke used on the front wheel, and comes with 40-inch wheels and a different draw bar setup that raises the tractor two inches in the rear.”

Adding to the machine’s distinctive qualities is the fact that it is also fairly rare.

“John Deere only made 446 of these tractors over the production run and most were shipped to California for vegetable crop usage,” Horn said. “Mine was shipped to San Jose.”

With his love for the hobby palpable, it’s not surprising to discover that Horn has also co-founded a website for collectors of John Deere lawn and garden equipment call Weekend Freedom Machines. The website lists more than 11,000 tractors registered by 5,174 owners, and hosts forums for collectors to connect over maintenance, upcoming events and general news.

Though Horn is also a devoted family man and active in , he also attends and shows at national events, like the Eastern National John Deere Expo in Ohio—though not with any regularity, excepting the Little Log House Antique Power Show in Hastings.

The fun of a hobby like this has three components: meeting like-minded people; visiting expos and seeing other people’s collections; and finally, the thrill of the hunt. 

Currently, Horn is looking for a restored John Deere 520—but, as he admits, he’s not sure if he really has a dream piece: “It seems once I get something I want, I develop a new goal.”

How does your hobby bring you fulfillment?