Most valued homestead tool...

John,

If I were splitting wood on the ground, this would be a different story.  Actually, the little 16" ax is not an especially good splitter ax.  The head is too narrow.  And most of my usage has been roughly at waist or torso level.  Your pre-chainsaw ax example makes a lot more sense to me now.

Eric

I used a Maddox/madd-ax all my life, it is not a shovel, not a hoe or an ax, but it can do the job they do in skilled hands.
It is best for breaking up that first layer of red clay, under the four foot of sand you have already removed.
When an large animal died on the farm, we dug a 6' X 6' X 6' deep hole so the wild animals & plow would not unearth the animal.
I never knew why 6 foot cube was the right formula, I was just glad it was not an eight foot cube.

Lucky you, I am guessing if I dug down 3 feet I might hit solid rock.

A garden plan

sun= sunflowers, green = green vacant bed, and Night = nightshades.

3 foot wide beds ~24 feet long

next I am buying a saw & chipper to harvest the under brush for perennial beds.

Use an axe to cut off 1" + vines going up trees at the base, then turned into a monkey trying to get vines out of trees, only managed to not get them completely out, long vines are hanging out on back 'lawn'.  I have poison ivy trying to climb too, but just with favorite cut off at base with pick-axe.

I got a few vines out of trees but not all, was swinging on the vines (two of them left) pulled down a few. :) slowly clearing weeds (10 ft to a couple inches) to create a 'lawn' under these trees.  Digging up any multi-flora rose, and other things.  These vines are all over, so time I hope to get rid of them.

I'm trying to be careful with the poison ivy, just generally cutting with pick axe low to ground.  Then making sure I don't touch axe, plunge into soil a couple times.

Marc Dube wrote:The pallet collars are an awesome find that I'm glad I found. I use the 1x8 wood for all sorts of projects, the hinges are unbelievable handy instead of paying money for store bought ones. Then the actual times I use them for a box.

I totally recommend picking these up if your looking for pallets and see them.

Pallet Collars are very undervalued. The difference between buying a few pallet collars and buying a raised bed saved me about $100.

Never used pallet collars, I would think the wood would rot away in a few years.

Joe Grand wrote:Never used pallet collars, I would think the wood would rot away in a few years.

In my case they are free anyways so it doesn't matter if they do rot away, and I'm sure it depends A lot on climate as I have had some with ground contact for 6 years now and only the very bottom is soft.  

I will have to say a garden spade. It is the only tool I used last year and so far this year.

I have just about destroyed mine this year going after thistle.

We heated the house with a wood stove until I was 14 years old & we used a long handle ax,steel head weight 7.5 ax, 5.0 ax & a 2.5 head.
I used the 5 pound head to limb the tree while Father cut the trunk up, my brothers drag the cut limbs out of my way as I moved up the tree.
I was in  inmiddle school when we moved into the new house, never had an cut/brake from an ax blade.
I do remember falling to sleep as soon as the bath & the bedwas ready, but no injuries, not even with the chain saw.

My newest favorite tool is a  tomerry Japanese garden triangle hoe.  I love this thing, it digs and is great for weeds.  I have a softer plastic bucket that is bigger than 5 gallon and flexible, with handles on each side.  I use it for lots of stuff, it's especially useful when the space is to small for my wheelbarrow.  Wheelbarrow, hand truck, gloves, hoses,  hoses and more hoses. I use, but need a better water sprayer.  I have a great shower end one for seedlings etc. But I need a better multiple head one.  My father in law made me a post setter?  Maybe that is the name. It's a heavy pipe. The top has a heavy piece of metal welded on. It has pipe handles on the side. It is heavy, but I can put a T post any place I want to, even in the summer when the ground is like concrete. My paper shredder I use to shred cardboard. Toilet brush to keep the chicken coop clean.  My son has a bobcat that has saved me hours of back breaking work. Can't leave out a good shovel, garden rake, and garden fork.

grin my grandkids i mean they can mix dirt, dig beds, trim trees, and a hug and pizza is all they want for it.

Jen Fulkerson
Not to hijack this tread, but what shredder do you use for cardboard & would you buy it again, if not what one would you buy?

Joe it's a Bonsaii 15 sheet cross cut. I got it on Amazon for 89.99 September 30, 2020.  It works great.  I have had no problem with it. Yes I would buy it again.  It doesn't say it's for cardboard, but I figured if it would cut 15 pieces of paper at once it could handle cardboard.  

I second the grandkids.  
They love to help around the gardens.
 When they are not around..
A garden spade.   I love to use it and seem to need it every day. With my clay and hardpan it breaks clumps, mixes compost in, removes that terrible grass, digs small drainage channels and even kills cottonmouths. We have a lot of them here, see photo.

My favorite tool is probably the reel of heavy duty fishing line I picked up. It has so many uses - affixing things together, tying light weights to branches to shape trees, planning out areas by putting some sticks in the ground and running line between them, spearing halved peppers and other produce to hang dry, etc.

Hi Logan,

Good point.  I have a spool of light wire that I picked up at a junk shop many years ago. It sees similar use.

My best tool is my hands. They check the soil, can dig and plant or sow seeds. My go to multi tool. I have also made an asparagus knife but that is for another post.

And Your Brain, backbone.

Joe Grand wrote:And Your Brain, backbone.

Not always have the brain 🧠 in gear ⚙️

Ralph Sluder wrote:I second the grandkids.  
They love to help around the gardens.
 When they are not around..
A garden spade.   I love to use it and seem to need it every day. With my clay and hardpan it breaks clumps, mixes compost in, removes that terrible grass, digs small drainage channels and even kills cottonmouths. We have a lot of them here, see photo.

Oh my, Ralph. Bless his heart! A copperhead bit my cousin when she was about that age. That was years ago and I vividly remember every detail.
Yes, I would say grandkids would be the best tool to have around if only my grown kids would get it together and give me some!

It's got to be the humble funnel for me.  

Plastic (ideally made from recycled stuff), wooden, stainless steel - they are all put to good use on a daily basis. For preserving food and making home medicinals funnels are just essential.  I also use them when grating natural castille/olive oil soap and making it into big batches of liquid soap which I decant as needed. They are great for making  compost teas, preserving lemons, etc etc.  

One of the projects I have penciled in for later this year is to grow some gourds and dry them and turn them into funnels. How fun would that be..


 

Hi Gerald,

On your suggestion, I went and purchased pallet forks for my tractor.

Starletta Schipp wrote:This post on tools has bern helpful and I see so many  tools to start saving for. The hand sickle would really help  because I just cannot stay ahead of weeds as I work to get established. My off homestead job is stressful and long hours and the pressure from weeds is causing me to feel defeated.
I will keep trying and will look at tools that truly do. What they are supposed to do to make me more efficient.

The trick with your weeds is to only cultivate what you can actually manage.  It is amazing how much you can grow in a small garden bed and how quick it is to weed with a Korean Homi or cultivator.  It is one of my go to small tools for all gardening, planting and furrowing

John F Dean wrote:... I went and purchased pallet forks for my tractor.

Indispensable -- you won't regret it. They are not only good for moving stuff, they are great for digging in rooty/rocky soil. A real back saver. I built a platform on a pallet for moving firewood and using as an elevated work platform.

One of my most useful tools is my broad fork.  I have a smaller one that fits perfectly in my raised beds. I used to dig my beds with a long handled shovel, but find the broad fork to be way more ergonomic and helps to loosen the soil, without destroying all the micoryseal network.  Does the job in half the time and better for the soil profile.
The second most useful, is the hoop hoe. At 75 yrs bending isn't what it  was cracked up to be. For me, the hoop hoe beats the standard hoe hands down. It is light, sharp, and maneuverable. I don't destroy the plants I want to keep, as I plant more intensively than most row Gardeners.