How to shovel barefoot

The trick I found is to alter the shovel, not your feet! (Or at least, not alter your feet more than for normal barefooting.)

I made this little wooden step, carved so that the top edge of the blade sets into it (this custom fitting is the time-consuming part). The step is slightly wider than the shovel so you can't slide off the edge and hurt yourself on the corner, and is perhaps 2" to 2 1/2" front to back. A couple of screws and a clamp block coming in from below the sleeve hold it on.

I have found this fairly comfortable for doing a full morning or afternoon of sod shoveling, entirely barefoot. Even if you wear boots, you might find it more ergonomic for long tasks.

The downside is it adds weight, and prevents digging a flat surface deeper than the blade depth.

Ooh, that's clever! I also ran into this problem, and ended up sort of avoiding it by not jumping on the shovel and instead just hacking away using my arm muscles. It works, but it is a bit tiring. I might need to build something like this.

Yeah, that's more clever than my solution too! I just use a heavy steel shovel (with integrated steel handle) and make sure it's sharp as hell, and then, like Eino, overuse my arms.

I have a shovel designed with great big wide foot landings...