This August will be about 6 years since we moved to the farm; four years of actively homesteading. We still have a long way to go before a lot of the big projects around here are checked off, but it's good to look back and see what we have learned so far and take a bit of reassurance that we're not always flying by the seat of our pants, and we actually do know a little something about something.
In the next couple of posts, I'd like to talk about the tools/equipment/supplies that we turn to repeatedly to get projects done. We've gone through a lot of trial and error for many different things, but some types of tools and some materials we reach for on a regular basis. This might not be the same for everyone---your homesteading needs are really dependent on the scale of your projects and your climate, but hopefully there is some overlap in the information I can put out today, and maybe it will be helpful. I'm starting with the garden since currently that's the focus of the farm, and where I spend the bulk of my time.
Clothing
I could actually spend an entire post just on this, but we'll start here and see how far we get. I'm an overall woman, personally. I spent a great majority of my youth in coveralls of all sorts and was deeply disappointed when it fell out of fashion and was impossible to find as a teenager and young adult. My husband gifted me with some sturdy ones a couple years ago, and I live in them when I'm working outside. They're equipped with lots of pockets and the extendable clasps help them fit over my pregnant belly. The denim protects me from overgrown grass and insect bites and other things that irritate my skin. I'm not the kind of person that wears shorts a great deal, even in the summer because of the aforementioned issues, and wearing leggings in the garden will ensure I spend several minutes picking burrs out of my clothes, so I stick with a thicker material from the waist down.
Light-weight, long sleeve shirts -- for the same reason I wear thicker pants even in the summer. Pruning, weeding, clearing through different types of plants, wearing longer sleeves protects me from the sun and any reactions to plants that I would normally brush up against.
Wide-brimmed hat - a must to shade from the summer heat. I think mine is UPF 50+ or something along those lines.
Tall boots - sometimes I'm in a rush and just run out into the garden to pick something or water really quick in flip flops, and I always regret it. I get bit by something in that small two minute window or end up with some many prickly bits in the softer material of the sandals. Usually though, I live in my farm boots. Mine are tall to guard against snake bites and they kick off and slip on super easily. I love them so.
Gardening gloves -- I should use these more often, but usually I just dig into the dirt with my hands and forever have dirt under my nails. If I know I'm going to spend an extensive day weeding, I do wear them, although usually just my right hand, which is bad because I'm always losing that one and I've got a bunch of lonely left-handed gloves.
Hand Tools
Ho-Mi -- the name for a Korean gardening hand tool, a type of hand plow. It's got a triangle shaped head, so you can use the wider top as a spade, and the sharper end for really cutting into soil/weeds/roots. I use this almost exclusively in lieu of other tools just because it kind of does everything. It's super sturdy and forgiving (as I am often leaving it out in the rain). If you don't have a ho-mi, a good sharp trowel also does the trick.
Sickle -- for clearing overgrown weeds/grasses in areas where the weed eater can't quite reach (or would shred my drip system), I use this to cut out a lot of growth. It looks pretty wicked, and you can get a pretty sharp blade on it with a hand sharpener.
Pruners -- for most of my fruit tree pruning, I use a good strong pair of hand pruners (I can't think of the brand off the top of my head... I know some people have very favorite brand preferences, but if it lasts me a couple seasons with minimal sharpening, I'm happy. I do have a bigger one for thicker limbs, but I think I can do about 85% of the pruning with the smaller ones, as long as I'm on top of the task. If I let a growing season go by without cutting back growth, then I'll be more reliant on the loppers.
Scissors -- I usually have a pair tucked into a pocket somewhere. I use them to cut baling twine, cut through drip tape, 1/4" drip tubing, and some minor pruning and produce harvesting.
Wire cutters -- For cutting wire... obviously. But in a pinch, I use them in place of scissors. I recycle the old bits of electric fencing wire for tying up trellis materials and making gopher baskets and trimming up chicken wire. Also good for cutting through the thicker drip tubing that scissors can't handle.
Mini-torch -- this is kind of an usual one, and probably only specific to our gardening situation. I have these in my pocket because we use plastic mulch to choke out the-bane-of-my-gardening-existence aka bermuda grass. (I know that there is the more nature friendly cardboard smothering alternative, but I have tried it. It does not work. The grass eats through it and thrives with cardboard. So far, the plastic mulch has been our only effective solution.) If I want to pop a plant into a garden space that is not a bed, I have to use my torch to burn a hole through the plastic (or if I have scissors handy, cut something out)
Bigger Tools
Broadfork -- if you're lucky enough to have an Uncle Jamie, then you also probably have a good broadfork in your arsenal. This was a dream tool to have but way out of our budget, so it was a wonderful surprise present. It's super heavy, but so effective at breaking through hardpan and loosening up the roots of stubborn weeds while still preserving the microbiome of your soil and minimizing exposure. It gets some hard use late winter/early spring as we prepare soil beds and rows and takes a vacation through the summer, but it's made garden prep that much easier, and I love it. Plus, added bonus that the kids use it as a kind of see-saw with the added excitement of potentially losing a toe if they mishandle it (no one's lost a toe, yet)
Collins Axe/Hoe -- A Collins Axe is a pick-axe. It's more heavy duty than a hoe is, so sometimes when the dirt is really hard, or I want to go a bit deeper into the soil (for instance if I'm putting in a border of some kind and really want to differentiate the spaces, I'll reach for this one in place of the hoe (it also inspires me to hum "Hi-Ho" a la Snow White or "I've Been Working on the Railroad" as I dig away). It does have the shorter handle so requires a lot of time being bent over, and also it's much heavier so there's that factor. The hoe has the longer handle, is lighter, good for surface weeding and the gentle break-up of the soil surface. I primarily use it for shaping rows and cleaning up those edges.
Shovel/Pitch-Fork -- for digging and scooping. I like the pitchfork because the majority of the compost pile is collected with a lot of brush-y organic material that is too cumbersome for a shovel, like wood chips or hay/straw. I use the shovel for compost after it's well broken down and more like soil. Good for collecting cow pies, too. We keep a flat-head shovel around for dispatching rattle snakes and a big snow shovel (not for snow) for large scoops of manure (essentially like a giant dustpan)
Rake - For leaves, small brush, and non-cow animal manure. I prefer the straight metal tine one instead of the fan plastic/aluminum ones because to be honest, we mostly use them for manure, and need that sturdier frame.
Weed-eater - We use this everywhere, not just in the garden area but around electric fencing, around the house, every where. It's loud and it flings debris everywhere but when you can't take a mower on a hillside or there are too many shrubby trees, or just wild growth... it's so necessary. (We've been experimenting with scythes as a non-gas alternative, but that's got a learning curve we're still trying to figure out)
Auger -- this is more of a luxury rather than a necessity, as you can dig holes with a shovel/post-hole digger and digging bar... but if you have to plant 50 trees at once like I made my husband do, this one makes the job much faster.
Chain-saw -- when the hand pruners and loppers don't cut it, we do the heavy stuff with a chain saw. And when I say we, I mean my husband because I can't be trusted with it. Dead trees, large limbs, etc. get cut down like butter.
[Sidebar: the gas-powered tools also come with their own set of supplies--gas, oil, string, and of course the safety equipment: eye protection, ear protection, and safety chaps as a minimum]
Wheelbarrow/Garden Cart -- for hauling dirt, manure, compost, brush, and whatever large loads needed. It's narrow enough to push into animal pens and through walk ways and gates, and with the big, chunky tires, able to go over terrain of all sorts.
Irrigation
Funnily enough, you can't really grow a successful garden without water. So... there's a bit of material that goes into making sure a successful garden is well hydrated. If you have a small garden plot, you don't need quite as much material as we do (a good hose will suffice). If you live in an area that gets regular precipitation throughout the year, then you don't have to do the daily checks that we in the high desert need to keep things alive, but here's what we need to keep things green:
Sturdy hose + sprayer nozzle: first things first, a good long hose that doesn't kink up on itself or split in the sun or if someone leaves it across the driveway and it gets driven over a couple (many, many) times. I prefer the longer nozzles because those seem to last longer for me, but if it has adjustable spray heads, that's a plus since we also use the pressure jet setting for animal processing clean up and I use the gentler shower/mist settings for baby plants.
Drip Tape/Drip Tubing - We're transitioning our watering systems from the solid tubing with sprayer head attachments to drip tubing with the pre-made holes in them, just because there's less maintenance with spray heads that break or crack or get plugged up with our hard well water, and they're more durable and easier to replace if something goes wrong. Because they do a consistent saturation over time, it has also made for a happier garden in the long run, and I can plant anywhere along the garden row where the drip tape/tubing is without having to worry about putting in a sprayer/mister attachment. The drip tape is literally like tape. It lays flat and inflates as water passes through it. Drip tube is more substantial and thicker, like the traditional irrigation tubing, but with the holes already spaced in. They require an end piece to close off the tube, a starting piece to put into the water source, and if you have to cut out a bad section, there's midway splits as well. The drip tape requires a pressurizing step down from the hose or else the water pressure can blow out the thinner tape material.
Drip irrigation sprayers -- I do have to keep a few of these around for my garden beds and big pots because it's not really practical to run drip tape over them. We have one or two sprayers per pot and they get that smaller space sufficiently saturated.
Drip Timers -- we have a lot of garden space. Two sections of crop rows, one garden for deep beds, raised beds, and a space for strawberries and medicinal plants. Additionally, we have two small orchard locations. If I had to hand water all of that, it would take me literal hours, so we have the majority of these spaces on automatic timers (with the exception of the strawberry/medicinal plants because they're right in front of the house---but eventually, these too, will be automatic, or at least that's the dream). We use a 4-station timer at each garden and orchard space that can be pre-programmed to run for different durations, day spacings, etc. We do still have to check these regularly to make sure that the computer bits aren't malfunctioning and the empty to filters for the tubes and replace batteries.
Miscellaneous Supplies
Plant clips/baling twine/trellis - If you grow indeterminate plants or vining plants, they'll need some kind of support system if you don't want to have things sprawling along the ground. This frees up a lot of space, plus a vertical garden is so beautiful. I got my plant clips through a bulk order from the dollar store (after recently discovering you could make bulk orders from the dollar store) and they're actually surprisingly sturdy. In a pinch though, I tie up vines with bits of wire or baling twine, or do a combination of twine and clip for a secure vertical support. We've experimented with different types of trellis systems, and our favorite has definitely been using cattle panel. They come in 16-feet sections and can easily be turned into arbors/archways. They're very secure and don't get broken or tangled up with anything, plus you can leave them up throughout the year if you like.
Hardware cloth -- because even though we have a lot of barn cats, sometimes the rodents still get through, and to save the roots of your plants, we make gopher cages, especially for the fruit trees and bigger perennials. The last thing you want is to wait five years for a tree to start producing, and then find out it got killed at the roots by a burrowing gopher. Chicken wire doesn't cut it in this situation as you need smaller than 0.5 holes to stop them.
Plastic mulch - as I mentioned above, we use it for our in-ground rows now. We've used the cheaper thinner ones (good for temporary use like walkways and in between rows) but use the sturdier, thicker variety for permanent rows. We hold these down with garden stakes--we use these stakes also to keep drip tubing in place.
Bucket/Basket -- for collecting all that garden goodness! Unless you want to stuff everything in your pockets or shirt like me. Also, when the pumpkins and melons start forming, I put a bucket over each fruit so that the birds don't peck through them before they're ready.
Shade cloth -- for use in the summer. We get intense overhead sun. Even the tomatoes and peppers, which are heat-loving plants, this is too much and their growth gets stunted. Throwing some shade cloth over the high tunnels gives everything a break.
Frost cloth/greenhouse plastic -- for extending the growing season, either before spring or into winter--- again, we throw it over the high tunnels to turn them into green-houses and clip them around more delicate fruit trees to keep them safe from the cold.
Netting - because we have cats and sometimes chickens that like to scratch in the beds at various times of the season.
The Actual Plant Stuff - Yay!! the fun part!
Seeds/Starts - You can't have a garden without plants. I am obsessive about seeds. Tell me about an interesting plant and I will instantly have it in my cart online. I organize them using a big plastic scrap book material case, and separate by growing season and type. My goal would be to be able to start everything from seed, but until I've acquired those skills, I get some plant types from my favorite local nursery/farms. I've learned the hard way that buying the bargain plants from the big box stores more often than not, ends up with weak plants, or no growth at all. I lean towards getting heirloom seeds/open-pollinated varieties which means that they'll grow true to type when harvested for seeds. I have some places that are my favorites and I return to again and again to repurchase, but there are so many great resources online for supplies.
Soil - You can't have a good garden without good soil. This is a lesson I'm still having to remind myself. And it's not as simple as picking up a bag of the expensive, organic potting soil at the store. We can't afford that at the scale we grow. We mix in amendments by hand, make sure we add compost to our growing material to bulk everything up with organic matter. We mulch over with wood chips and straw and add fertilizer (preferably naturally sourced kinds) as needed. I do splurge on the bagged stuff for baby starts, but in my big beds and rows, that's a labor of love.
Pots of Various Sizes/Solo Cups/Bottom Watering Trays -- my father-in-law jokes that I have a garden store here. I do keep a big, healthy stack of pots of all sizes ranging from a few inches across to large multi-gallon things to grow dwarf trees. This is mainly because I can't get everything in the ground at onces, and I need places where the lovely things can grow happily until their forever homes are ready. I start my seeds in big trays that I splurged a bit on (but glad I did because they've lasted me several years and still going strong). I do have a lot of the little potting cups, which are good for gifting starts to friends when I have excess, or potting up the starts before they go into the ground. I do think that those red Solo cups are just as good if not better than the small nursery cups because they're more rigid and hold more volume, you just have to put drainage holes into them before use (also you can get like 500 of them from Costco for about 5 bucks). And I absolutely depend on the bottom watering trays. You put your seed trays or your nursery pots into a bottom watering pan and fill that pan with water. Then you don't have to worry about drowning/washing away delicate surface seeds or damaging baby cotyledons because the soil takes up as much water as it needs, and you can go several days without adding more water.
Seed start labels--I'm bad at labeling things. I just assume I'll remember. I never remember. The common garden plants, I know, like tomatoes, peppers, cucurbits and things like that, but sometimes I'm experimenting with different types of perennials that are totally new to me, or plants that require long germinations and I've completely forgotten what they are.... and so I have like a 1000-pack of those little white slips you stick into seed trays, so I can label them as I plant them in the garden. I've tried using popsicle sticks, but they end up fading and also my kids steal them for crafts. It's just easier having my own greenhouse stash
Greenhouse/Heat Lamp -- you don't need a greenhouse to have a garden. That being said, I use mine to start the majority of my seeds because I'm bad at hardening plants off, and there's just not enough room in the sun-receiving windows of our house to put everything. Mine is about 6' x 8' (I immediately wished I had gotten the bigger size after we had finished setting it up, but the bigger ones were so out of our budget at the time) and has an automatic venting window which helps when the weather is blisteringly hot. With a heat lamp I stole from the chicken brooder, I can start plants in our little greenhouse a month or two before our frost date. I also use it to house our potted citrus trees until I convince my husband to build me an official big citrus house.
Whew, and that's our gardening supply list. I'm probably forgetting something... or a lot of somethings, but I think I covered most of the basics. It's a bit longer than I had initially intended it to be, but sometimes big projects need big lists.
What tools do you use in the garden?
Next trade tools topic will be food/dairy processing! Stay tuned!
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