Ben Canonica of Canonica Landworks in Vermont blends old-world craftsmanship with trendy era, transitioning from draft horse logging to heavy equipment. His cutting edge use of Mecalac machines transforms river recovery tasks, showcasing a stability of custom and era.
Picture courtesy of Canonica Landworks
Canonica operates a fleet of Mecalac machines, together with the MCR (Mecalac’s mini-excavator hybrid) and MWR (Mecalac’s compact wheeled excavator) fashions.
Within the rolling hills of Chelsea, Vt., Ben Canonica has constructed greater than only a building corporate. He has cultivated a lifestyles tale rooted in laborious paintings, ingenuity and a deep recognize for nature and custom. Canonica Landworks, the trade he based, is a mirrored image of this adventure — a mix of contemporary equipment and old-world values.
Picture courtesy of Canonica Landworks
Ahead of he was once a trade proprietor, Canonica was once a farmhand, immersed within the gritty truth of agricultural lifestyles.
“After faculty, I labored on a host of farms and were given into running with draft horses,” he stated. “There is something extremely rewarding about running with those animals. You teach them, and so they teach you.”
It wasn’t only a process; it was once a lifestyle that formed his personality. Draft horse logging — an age-old apply of the use of horses to haul trees — was once each a novelty and a need for Canonica. It introduced a minimal impact choice to fashionable logging apparatus and created a bond between guy and animal that no device may mirror.
Transition to Landworks
Existence took a flip when Canonica and his spouse bought a uncooked piece of land in Vermont.
“We purchased the valuables and had to do numerous web site paintings,” Canonica stated.
Fairly than hiring out, he made up our minds to take care of the duties himself, renting small apparatus and studying as he went. What started as a non-public challenge temporarily grew right into a fledgling trade.
Picture courtesy of Canonica Landworks
Since age 12, Canonica had a landscaping trade that he ran thru highschool, doing more than a few tasks with a farm tractor that had a backhoe attachment, ahead of purchasing his first piece of apparatus, a Case 480 backhoe. All the way through this time, he additionally labored for different landscapers and contractors studying important talents to construct on.
All the way through faculty, he spent a summer time running for Fashionable Continental at the Large Dig in Boston, a really perfect revel in in figuring out that town was once no longer the place he sought after to spend my time, he stated.
“I spent any other summer time running for the USFWS in northern New York rebuilding rainy lands in outdated agriculture fields, and that is the place I started to comprehend I may mix my training with my enjoyment for operating apparatus.”
Instantly after faculty, he was once offered to running with draft horses on a farm in Colorado, the place he did all sides of farming with the horses.
“With faculty loans quickly coming due, I spotted I wished some stable source of revenue to settle my money owed whilst I made a plan for my long run endeavors,” he stated. “My highschool was once getting renovated and so they had been in search of heavy apparatus operators. I had little or no revel in however did have the important hoisting license to run apparatus in Massachusetts. I discovered so much doing all of the sides of web site paintings on a large number of college renovations, after which labored for a couple of contractors doing residential web site paintings, ahead of transferring to Vermont.”
“I loved operating apparatus and located it was once a cheap strategy to make a residing,” Canonica stated.
Slowly however frequently, he expanded his choices, from path paintings to excavation tasks, carving out a distinct segment in the area people.
Picture courtesy of Canonica Landworks
Regardless of the shift from draft horses to heavy equipment, Canonica’s roots had been by no means a long way from his thoughts. His corporate brand prominently includes a horseshoe, a nod to the early days when his horses had been his companions in hard work.
“My spouse requested if I sought after to stay the horseshoe within the brand since I wasn’t the use of horses as a lot anymore,” he stated. “However for me, it is a image of the place I began and a strategy to honor that bankruptcy of my lifestyles.
“A few yr in the past, I needed to put my workforce down,” he added. “I had one mare for 19 years. She wasn’t simply an animal; she was once a spouse. We constructed our farm in combination.”
These days, Canonica Landworks prospers as a contemporary building corporate, however its center stays deeply tied to the land. Within the winters, Canonica nonetheless turns to minimal impact logging, a quiet homage to his beginnings. As for draft horses, he hasn’t dominated them out for the longer term.
“Perhaps at a distinct time in my lifestyles, I will have horses once more,” he stated.
Construction Machines, Construction Desires
Tropical Typhoon Irene in 2011 created a turning level for Canonica. The hurricane’s devastation left rivers altered and banks eroded, calling for pressing and cutting edge recovery efforts. For Canonica, this wasn’t only a name to motion — it was once a possibility to merge his engineering experience together with his love for operating heavy apparatus.
Canonica supplied his first two excavators with Engcon era; his option to apparatus is rooted in practicality and imaginative and prescient.
“After I learned how a lot time I may save with Engcon’s EC oil machine, it simply clicked,” he stated.
The facility to modify between attachments seamlessly revolutionized his workflow, particularly on advanced tasks like dam removals.
Repairing Rivers, Restoring Hope
Canonica’s paintings with river recovery is the place his technical talents actually shine. After the instant chaos of Irene, he started tasks that ranged from repairing eroded banks to reconstructing complete miles of river. The usage of cutting edge ways like root wads — massive sections of bushes embedded in riverbanks — Canonica discovered to stability herbal and engineered answers.
Picture courtesy of Canonica Landworks
“Root wads no longer simplest stabilize the banks but in addition create habitats and cut back downstream power affects,” he stated.
His manner extends past instant upkeep. In floodplain recovery, Canonica advocates for giving rivers room to transport. Putting off old-fashioned berms and dams has change into a vital a part of his paintings, permitting rivers to drift naturally and mitigate long run flood dangers.
The demanding situations of environmental paintings evolve, and so does Canonica’s experience. From ash borer outbreaks to the upkeep of small-town waterways, his paintings is as a lot about getting ready for the next day to come as it’s about solving lately. For Canonica, each and every challenge is a step towards team spirit between human wishes and the surroundings.
Transitioning to Mecalac Machines
Canonica’s first come across with Mecalac machines came to visit 2016-2017, a time when its presence in the USA was once nearly nonexistent. On the time, Canonica was once juggling a couple of machines — an excavator, a small forwarder, and infrequently renting skid steers or mini-excavators to fill within the gaps.
Picture courtesy of Canonica Landworks
When Canonica stumbled upon Mecalac’s 10MCR style, an excavator skid steer hybrid, his interest was once piqued. It wasn’t only a device; it was once a possible method to his downside.
“I spotted I don’t have to hire a skid steer or a mini-excavator anymore,” Canonica stated. “And I questioned if I may even use it as a forwarder for logging.”
This realization spark off a cascade of analysis and conversations, together with one with a person in the United Kingdom who shared insights about the use of the 8MCR style with a forestry trailer.
Armed with newfound self belief and a transparent imaginative and prescient, Canonica bought his forwarder and invested within the first 10MCR bought in the USA thru his apparatus broker: Lorusso Heavy Apparatus in Walpole, Mass.
Redefining Price in Heavy Equipment
For Canonica, the Mecalac wasn’t only a acquire; it was once an funding in versatility and potency.
“Within the northern states, excavators are continuously parked for months because of climate,” he stated. “However I spotted that with the Mecalac, I may run it year-round.”
This year-round application temporarily offset the device’s top class price, offering returns a long way past what conventional apparatus may be offering.
The Mecalac’s talent to conform to quite a lot of duties has been a game-changer for Canonica Landworks. With its compact design, robust achieve and talent to modify seamlessly between roles as a skid steer, excavator and forwarder, the device proved beneficial for difficult tasks. Canonica recounted moments the place the Mecalac’s distinctive features shone, similar to grading over a fence or loading a tri-axle truck with out transferring its tracks.
“It is even higher than simply an excavator or skid steer,” he stated. “You might be no longer trapped in a field, and the visibility is implausible.”
Innovation Meets Practicality
Canonica’s ingenuity did not prevent with the Mecalac itself. He evolved customized answers, like move chains for rubber tracks, to navigate frozen flooring and snow — a need in Vermont winters. This pliability prolonged to his include of tilt rotators, units that additional give a boost to the flexibility of excavators. Now, each and every of his 3 excavators boasts its personal tilt rotator, a testomony to his dedication to staying forward of the curve.
The adventure with Mecalac wasn’t with out its demanding situations. The machines had been reasonably new to the U.S. marketplace, however the collaborative courting with Lorusso and fortify from Mecalac’s workforce, together with a manufacturing facility consultant from France, ensured that those hurdles had been conquer.
Picture courtesy of Canonica Landworks
“We labored thru numerous demanding situations in combination,” Canonica stated. “It is been a forged courting.”
These days, Canonica operates a fleet of Mecalac machines, together with the MCR (Mecalac’s mini-excavator hybrid and MWR (Mecalac’s compact wheeled excavator) fashions, which he describes as indispensable companions in his tasks.
“The MCR’s tracks make it best for Vermont’s steep and slippery terrain,” he stated, “however the MWR’s wheels be offering pace and luxury once I wish to quilt lengthy distances. Each and every device performs a selected position, and in combination, they are beneficial.”
One in all his present tasks — a stone arch bridge spanning a picturesque ravine — showcases the application of this equipment. Whilst the MCR stays stationed on the building web site, stabilizing and navigating the comfortable flooring, the MWR is used to move fabrics like concrete blocks and metal beams from a garage backyard half of one mile away.
“The wheeled device’s potency is unequalled for this sort of activity,” Canonica stated. “It is set as much as do the whole thing I want and extra.”
Stability of Custom, Generation
For Canonica, Landworks is greater than a role; it is a craft. His tasks continuously mix trendy engineering with undying ways. The stone arch bridge, for instance, is being built in levels, beginning with a short lived metal bridge for get entry to. As soon as whole, it’s going to stand as a testomony to each his imaginative and prescient and the area’s storied traditions.
“We are mixing old-world craftsmanship with trendy gear,” Canonica stated. “It is about respecting the land whilst improving it.”
Taking a look Forward
Canonica mirrored at the seasonal rhythm of his paintings. Autumn in Vermont calls for preparation, when he’s thinking about making sure his apparatus and tasks are in a position for wintry weather. Regardless of the demanding situations, it is transparent that Canonica prospers at the complexity of his paintings.
“I really like what I do,” he stated. “Each challenge is a brand new puzzle, and I am lucky to have the gear and fortify to unravel them.” CEG
