by Pa Rock
Farmer in Spring
(While it is now too late to use the gift advice which follows for this Father's Day - it already being Sunday and all - clever and thoughtful children might want to set this posting aside for next year.)
Several weeks ago I stumbled into the area of the farm that I have set aside for a garden and was overwhelmed by a weed issue. Last spring I had geese, and they ravaged what little garden I managed to set out, and I just gave up on the whole endeavor - allowing the weeds to conquer the entire plot. This year was going to be different, but first I had to deal with all of those danged weeds.
Not being a fan of herbicides, I took the second most practical approach and donned a pair of work gloves and began pulling. Normally when I pull weeds at the farm, I throw them out onto the lawn where they are munched with the next mowing. This time, because they were so plentiful, I didn't feel that was an option - so I began pulling and piling the uprooted weeks into an oblong pile at one end of the garden space. It soon grew to about six feet in length, two feet in width, and about three feet high - resembling a coffin made of plant matter - which is what, in essence, it was.
Finally it dawned on me that my unique pile of weeds was forming the basis of what could be a really great compost. That discovery led me to the next necessary farm chore of cleaning out the chicken coop and mixing the litter (poop) into the compost. I knew enough about composting to realize that my creation needed to be stirred and aired- the perfect time to stir in the chicken litter.
But when I went to the shed in search of a pitchfork, I came up empty. I have probably owned a half-dozen over the years, but they had apparently all decided to go on vacation at the same time. I did find a hoe-shaped implement with four tines, but stirring the pile with that tool proved to be very difficult. (Later I saw the same implement in the local farm supply store. There it was labeled a "four-tine cultivator speedy" and was priced at $29.99.)
I needed a good, old-fashioned pitchfork - and I knew exactly what I was looking for. I wanted one with four or five tines (wide enough to get a good purchase on the compost, but with enough tines to prevent dropping more than I managed to move - and I wanted one with a long handle, something four feet or more in length.
My first stop in the quest to find a suitable pitchfork was at the aforementioned farm supply store. There, in addition to "cultivator speedys," they had a three-tine "hay fork" with a fifty-inch handle - something very similar to the one pictured in Grant Wood's painting "American Gothic." But three tines wouldn't do it for me. It looked like something that a sloppy farmer would be drawn to. The three-tine hay fork was a pricey $39.29.
The farm supply store also had a four-tine "spading fork," which, with it's three-foot handle looked like a miniature pitchfork with small wide tines. But I am cursed with a bad back, a condition that would be sure to be aggravated by bending over to operate a digging tool of insufficient length. (The only reasons that I can think of to put short handles on digging and raking tools are to save money in the costs of producing and shipping the items, and to intentionally cause injuries to people.)
Unbelievably, the next pitchfork-related item that I came across was even shorter. The "ensilage fork" had ten tines and a handle that was not over thirty inches long! It probably had an important agricultural purpose, and I am sure that Snow White's Seven Dwarfs owned at least one, but I had to pass.
The final item on that aisle was a "Level Rake," which looked like a large dirt rake but with straight tines. It would have probably served my purpose, but, even with its long handle, the level rake would have involved more effort than I was prepared to give.
So I came home and took my business to Amazon. There, almost the very first item that I same across was a five-tined steel "compost fork" with a hardwood handle. Five tines and it even had the word "compost" in the title. I was halfway to checkout when I noticed in the fine print that the solid hardwood handle was only 36 inches long. Curses, foiled again!
Amazon also had an ensilage fork, various scoop forks, digging forks, barley-straw forks, a potato and refuse hook, and a variety of manure forks. (Curiously however, neither the farm supply store nor Amazon carried anything called a "pitchfork."). I finally wound up ordering a five-time, "pro-manure" fork with a 50-inch fiberglass handle. I am assuming that a pro-manure fork will move more compost than an amateur-manure fork, and I am certain that a fiberglass handle will be lighter and easier to use than a hardwood handle - and likely to never break, as many hardwood handles eventually do.
($43.57 including tax and free shipping.)
It will arrive on Tuesday, and after that you can most likely find me out in the garden pitchforkin'!
Happy Father's Day!
Farmer in Spring
(While it is now too late to use the gift advice which follows for this Father's Day - it already being Sunday and all - clever and thoughtful children might want to set this posting aside for next year.)
Several weeks ago I stumbled into the area of the farm that I have set aside for a garden and was overwhelmed by a weed issue. Last spring I had geese, and they ravaged what little garden I managed to set out, and I just gave up on the whole endeavor - allowing the weeds to conquer the entire plot. This year was going to be different, but first I had to deal with all of those danged weeds.
Not being a fan of herbicides, I took the second most practical approach and donned a pair of work gloves and began pulling. Normally when I pull weeds at the farm, I throw them out onto the lawn where they are munched with the next mowing. This time, because they were so plentiful, I didn't feel that was an option - so I began pulling and piling the uprooted weeks into an oblong pile at one end of the garden space. It soon grew to about six feet in length, two feet in width, and about three feet high - resembling a coffin made of plant matter - which is what, in essence, it was.
Finally it dawned on me that my unique pile of weeds was forming the basis of what could be a really great compost. That discovery led me to the next necessary farm chore of cleaning out the chicken coop and mixing the litter (poop) into the compost. I knew enough about composting to realize that my creation needed to be stirred and aired- the perfect time to stir in the chicken litter.
But when I went to the shed in search of a pitchfork, I came up empty. I have probably owned a half-dozen over the years, but they had apparently all decided to go on vacation at the same time. I did find a hoe-shaped implement with four tines, but stirring the pile with that tool proved to be very difficult. (Later I saw the same implement in the local farm supply store. There it was labeled a "four-tine cultivator speedy" and was priced at $29.99.)
I needed a good, old-fashioned pitchfork - and I knew exactly what I was looking for. I wanted one with four or five tines (wide enough to get a good purchase on the compost, but with enough tines to prevent dropping more than I managed to move - and I wanted one with a long handle, something four feet or more in length.
My first stop in the quest to find a suitable pitchfork was at the aforementioned farm supply store. There, in addition to "cultivator speedys," they had a three-tine "hay fork" with a fifty-inch handle - something very similar to the one pictured in Grant Wood's painting "American Gothic." But three tines wouldn't do it for me. It looked like something that a sloppy farmer would be drawn to. The three-tine hay fork was a pricey $39.29.
The farm supply store also had a four-tine "spading fork," which, with it's three-foot handle looked like a miniature pitchfork with small wide tines. But I am cursed with a bad back, a condition that would be sure to be aggravated by bending over to operate a digging tool of insufficient length. (The only reasons that I can think of to put short handles on digging and raking tools are to save money in the costs of producing and shipping the items, and to intentionally cause injuries to people.)
Unbelievably, the next pitchfork-related item that I came across was even shorter. The "ensilage fork" had ten tines and a handle that was not over thirty inches long! It probably had an important agricultural purpose, and I am sure that Snow White's Seven Dwarfs owned at least one, but I had to pass.
The final item on that aisle was a "Level Rake," which looked like a large dirt rake but with straight tines. It would have probably served my purpose, but, even with its long handle, the level rake would have involved more effort than I was prepared to give.
So I came home and took my business to Amazon. There, almost the very first item that I same across was a five-tined steel "compost fork" with a hardwood handle. Five tines and it even had the word "compost" in the title. I was halfway to checkout when I noticed in the fine print that the solid hardwood handle was only 36 inches long. Curses, foiled again!
Amazon also had an ensilage fork, various scoop forks, digging forks, barley-straw forks, a potato and refuse hook, and a variety of manure forks. (Curiously however, neither the farm supply store nor Amazon carried anything called a "pitchfork."). I finally wound up ordering a five-time, "pro-manure" fork with a 50-inch fiberglass handle. I am assuming that a pro-manure fork will move more compost than an amateur-manure fork, and I am certain that a fiberglass handle will be lighter and easier to use than a hardwood handle - and likely to never break, as many hardwood handles eventually do.
($43.57 including tax and free shipping.)
It will arrive on Tuesday, and after that you can most likely find me out in the garden pitchforkin'!
Happy Father's Day!
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