Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Where has the year gone?! 2009 has surely been a memorable one. For me it has been the year that would determine the future of Heritage Iron and thanks to all of you, the future looks great. For the farmers in this area, it will be their most memorable harvest. Just days before Christmas there were still combines in the field trying to gather the 2009 crop before 2010 arrived.

We have quite a few irons in the fire here at Heritage Iron. One of our projects that we're very excited about is a series of Heritage Iron "muscle tractor" toys. We'll have more info available at a later date but at this time, it appears the first toy will be available in September. We're also working on a muscle tractor calendar for 2011 featuring the great photography of Super T. In addition, we've been working on some good stories over the winter months. Just recently I had the great fortune to spend a few days with Jon Kinzenbaw. Look for a Kinze story in the near future.

If you happen to be driving south on I-65, 3 miles before crossing the KY line into Louisville, KY, be sure to take a look at our new billboard advertising Heritage Iron. You don't see a billboard very often with a 5020 or a 1568 tractor on it. We thought it would be a great attention getter for those going to the National Farm Machinery Show in February.

A new year will be here in a few days and we hope that "your" new year is filled with health, wealth, happiness and an earlier harvest than 2009.

Harvest Time

Things have been busy here at 3-Point Ink headquarters as usual. I finally caved in and hired an assistant to help at the Nokomis office 3 days a week. Erika comes from a farm background and in a short time has already whipped this office into shape. She has permission to give me orders because someone needs to.

Both Oliver Heritage and Heritage Iron are in the mail for the month so we're feeling a little bit of relief but it won't last long. The deadlines creep up quick. Heritage Iron was a fun issue to write this time because it finally has a Meadow Green model on it. It's our 6th issue, which means we have survived the first year. Yeeha! Time for a celebration!

It's harvest time but in the area, it's going to be a very late one. Farmers are chomping at the bit but the late spring and heavy rains in this area have them in the hold mode.

I have to share a little humor. Since I moved the office to the main street in downtown Nokomis, I put up a nice sign out from with a colorful "Brutus" picture and our 3-Point Ink logo. For whatever reason, the locals now thing I'm running a tattoo parlor! Oh the things you can hear sitting close to the coffee drinkers table in a small town.

Heritage Iron is really taking off and after one year, it has passed Oliver Heritage in subscriptions and that magazine is now 6 years old. And much to my surprise, Oliver Heritage still continues to grow. Guess we must be doing something right. I love this job!

Time Flies!

Where in the world is the summer going?! It's been a busy one and I've been running back and forth between tractor pulls, shows and the office. I haven't even bothered to unhook the camper because I'm in it more than I am my house.

I hope you're all making your plans to head to the Half Century of Progress show in Rantoul, IL later this month. It's going to be a big one and Heritage Iron will have a "muscle tractor corral" as part of our display. He sure to stop by and say HI. We'll have several "cover" tractors in our corral and a few others you haven't seen yet.

Issue No. 5 is in the mail so you can expect it at any time now. Our next issue is going to feature the Oliver 2255, the last tractor to bare the Oliver nameplate.

Have a safe rest of the season!

Coming soon to a mailbox near you.....

It's about time for another issue of Heritage Iron to arrive in your mailbox. It is printed and will drop into the deep hole of the USPS by the 1st. If you're not a subscriber to Heritage Iron, it will now be available in Tractor Supply Stores and should arrive there about the middle of the month.

I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever stop raining here. While the farmers are sitting around watching it rain would be a great time to get the magazine, however, it will probably arrive the day it's dry enough to get back in the field. I've seen wet springs before but I've never seen it last quite this long.

Even though you haven't received issue #4 yet, we're at work on issue #5. The cover/centerfold of that issue will be a MM G-1000. The continuing story of M&W will feature the Little Red Wagon. We have a lot planned for future issues and I can't hardly wait to get started on the next one. If you have suggestions for articles or equipment you would like to see us cover, please let us know. We'll be doing quite a bit of traveling this summer and maybe we'll make it to your neighborhood. Have a safe planting season!

Mile High!

Mile High represents my previous location and also how high my feet have been off the ground the last 2 days. On Sunday I flew out to Denver to attend the Niche Magazine Conference. It was quite a trip and involved unloading from the original plane a couple times due to bad weather, making an emergency landing due to an electrical fire, watching fireman walk up and down the aisles while we had to stay on the plane, waiting for a new plane, missing a connecting flight and on and on. I really wondered if I would ever get there. I tried to cancel the whole trip but they wouldn't give me my luggage back. I rarely make an uneventful trip.

However, the trials and tribulations of the trip all paid off. There are half a dozen awards given out at this conference to niche publishers. One of those is the "Best New Niche Launch" and went to a new publication. In order to qualify, you had to send several copies of your publication along with your business plan, promotional material, etc. We had done that earlier this year just to see how we might fare against the competition.

This conference is attended by over 150 niche magazine publishers and editors. Many of those publications are bridal magazines, lifestyle, business and computing mags and many other high end magazines. Tractor magazines weren't quite "understood" out there. Most comments were "Who collects tractors? How much can you possibly write about a tractor?" They really didn't get it. But in the grand scheme of things, the judges understood.

On the last evening of the conference, the awards are handed out to the lucky recipients. It is the highlight of the event. I had learned earlier that we were a finalist but that's all I knew. I stood in the back of the room not expecting to hear my name and then the words "Heritage Iron" were ringing in my ears. I gasped, jumped in the air and don't have a clue what happened next. The next 5 minutes is a total blur. I don't even know how the trophy got in my hand. I was in complete shock!

Last year I attended this conference with Oliver Heritage. I had someone from the panel judge my magazine and he told me it was HORRIBLE! I went home with my tail between my legs, convinced I didn't have any business in the publishing business. But I took what I learned from that conference, applied it to Heritage Iron and now we're the BEST NEW MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR!!! Woohoo!!!

It has been an unbelievable 48 hours and I'm not sure my feet are on the ground yet. I have talked so much that I've lost my voice. Thank goodness you can still hear me on the keyboard.

I met some great people in the publishing world and although they weren't quite sure about a "tractor girl", I showed them that Heritage iron means business. And we won!!!! Now I have to get busy on the next project because I learned even more this conference. Besides, there are a few more awards that I'd like to set on the shelf next year.

Moving day!

A lot has happened since my last post. I spent a week in Washington working on a great 71-series GM story for Oliver Heritage and then spent a few days with the retired service manager for Wagner Tractor Co. out of Portland, Oregon. And the big news is that 3-Point Ink bought an office building!

With the second magazine, the walls of my house/office are being pushed to the limits. I'm slowly being pushed out while piles of papers, sales literature and filing cabinets take over. The first day of spring I walked outside wondering where I could build an office building ASAP. Reality sunk in and I realized there was no way I had time to build another building. I had just barely completed the addition to my house and didn't have time for that. When an opportunity presented itself in the form of a new office building just perfect for my needs, I seized it.

The day after I returned from Washington, I closed on a 2,000 square foot office building located in downtown Nokomis, just a block away from the post office, banks, fire & police department and other businesses. It is perfect for what I'm doing and was ready to move into.

As quickly as I made the decision to do this, I also packed up and moved the magazine headquarters. Over the weekend, my Mom, Dad, sisters, niece and nephew all showed up to help pack up 16 years of accumulated paper. I bought some more file cabinets to help organize everything and now I'm rolling around on the floor amongst boxes of literature and magazines and having a blast. The only problem is, as I'm putting things away, I'm finding items of interest so I have to stop and read a story and I don't seem to be making much headway. But I've got plenty of time to get it put away.

If you're sitting at home wondering when the next issue of Heritage Iron will arrive, wonder no more. It was mailed on April 1 and people are just starting to receive them. So you should have it any day. We will also do a 2nd mailing of this issue on May 1. If you subscribed a little too late, there's a chance you can still get that issue with the next mailing. And if you want to start at the beginning, you can always order the back issues which are available from the subscription office. 1-866-552-6085. We'll continue to offer back issues until we run out.

I have to get back to work now. Literature is waiting!

Spring Forward

The changing of the clock always brings a shred of hope that Spring is just around the corner. I received my first sunburn for the year while standing at an auction last weekend so Spring has to be close.

This was no ordinary auction. "Come and listen to my story 'bout a man named Wayne, a poor farmin' man barely kept his family fed and then one day he was shootin' at some food and up from the ground came a bubblin' crude. Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea..." If this isn't a Jed Clampett story, I don't know what is. You'll have to read the next issue of Heritage Iron to get all of the details but long story short, Wayne Crooks was a poor farmer trying to make ends meet when oil was found on his property. The oil company bought Wayne a fleet of new farm equipment. That was in 1982 and Wayne barely used any of the equipment. In fact, one of his 4440s had only 47 actual hours on it. It still had the plastic on the seat! It was always taken care of and looked like new.

The other highlight of the auction was the 7720 combine with less than 500 hours on it. He also had a White 5100 12-row planter that had never even been unfolded! And the list could go on and on. It was an unbelieveable auction and a huge crowd came to witness this one-of-a-kind auction.

The auction was held at the Sullivan Auctioneers facility in Hamilton, Illinois. I had never attended a Sullivan auction before but it didn't take long to see that these guys had their act together. The sale was handled professionally and they didn't waste any time. They would get my recommendation to anyone wanting to have a sale.

If you didn't notice, we've updated the website to give it a new look. If you don't like something about it, please let us know. I've had quite a few irons in the fire lately and sometimes I overlook things that are right in front of me. For now I have to get busy and get another issue of Heritage Iron off to the printers.

National Farm Show

If you've never been to the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, KY, you don't know what you are missing. I believe it is the largest farm show under roof in the US. Around 300,000 people go through this show every year. I've attended the show every year since 1976 and 2009 was no different. http://www.farmmachineryshow.org

Heritage Iron made its debut in the Oliver Heritage booth and the response was wonderful! It looks like this is the type of magazine that people have been waiting for. It was great to visit with all of you that stopped by and of course my e-mail box runneth over once I returned home. This magazine is going to be a lot of fun and I can't wait for warmer weather so I can start hitting some of the shows.

Two of the writers for Heritage Iron stopped by the booth so a few people had the opportunity to meet Larry Gay and Philip Shaw. Of course I was in the booth 90% of the time as well as my sisters; Debbie (who pulls at Louisville and got 5th this year) and Julie (she's the one with all the energy). My niece, Candice, who I refer to as mini-me was there helping along with her brother, Cody. Of course Dad, Ollie, spent a lot of time there too. Louisville is always a family event and if truth be told, is more important than everyone getting together at Christmas. The only regular missing was my brother and he's pretty busy since he became the manager of the Gateway International Drag Strip in St. Louis.

The booth was VERY busy and attracted a lot of attention. I haven't decided if it was the magazine or our bright yellow uniforms. (Did you like the yellow shoes?!) Regardless, we were thrilled to see everyone that stopped by and said a kind word or two.

For those of you that signed up and haven't yet received your Issue #2 yet, we're getting ready for the second mailing of that issue. This is not something we normally do in the magazine business, but response has been so good that we don't want you to have to wait 2 months to get a magazine. If you were at Louisville, you already picked up issue #2 so you won't get another one. However, for the rest of you, that issue will drop in the mail on March 2. Then on April 1, issue #3 will drop in the mail.

Now that I'm back in the office, there is plenty to do. Unfortunately some of the work will have to wait because I'm heading to the Mark Twain Toy Show this weekend. Maybe I'll see some of you there.

Ready for Spring!

It's been a busy month here at 3-Point Ink headquarters. Last week I was in Texas running around and getting a few stories. I spent one day on a rice farm with a family that farms with 5 John Deere Wagner tractors. It was quite an operation and I may just have to go back in the fall to take part in the rice harvest operation.

You will be pleased to learn that the next issue of Heritage Iron dropped in the mail yesterday, a week ahead of schedule. By the time the USPS delivers it to you, I'll be half done with the next issue.

If you make it to the Gateway Toy Show this weekend, stop by the booth and take a sneak peak at the new issue. If you don't make it there, we'll have a booth set up at the Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, KY. The booth is under the name Oliver Heritage but we're located in the West Hall in booth 661. Please stop by and say Hi.

If you are concerned that you missed an issue, we have only printed 2. Issue #1 has two 1206s on the cover. Issue#2 has a JD 8020 on it. Any pictures of other covers are simply mock-ups of future issues. I've had quite a few people call trying to order the issue with the AC 220 on it. It doesn't exist yet but hang in there and it will.

We missed most of the ice here in Nokomis but we did get a dusting of snow. Between that and the cold temperatures, I'm ready for spring. Even the truck didn't want to start this morning and go out in the cold. One Interstate battery later, all is well again. I am so ready for spring but I fear I have a long wait yet. Until then, I'll just sit here in front of the fire.