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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Digging/spading forks

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  • From: Allan Balliett <aballiett AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: cs13 AT cornell.edu, Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Digging/spading forks
  • Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:04:03 -0500

Good advice, Carla. Where's your farm? What's its name? Where do you advertise for interns?

I had a WWOOFER bust the handle off from one of my Smith and Hawken forks a couple of months ago. He did it shortly after I explained how you had to be careful with these tools. They were great with soil but you can't move buried rocks with them. Be careful: anyone can break these tools if they are careless. He actually thought it was funny that he broke the fork. Not too funny, though, because, in effect, he hid the fork from me and brought another from the shed. He 'hid' it in an open place, a place I certainly didn't see, but in such a way that he could claim "I set it out where you could see and I thought I should get a new fork and keep working.' Others working with him reported that he seemed to be proud about breaking the fork. No, there were no prior issues between he and I...that I knew about.

Anyway, it turns out that Smith and Hawken are loath to back their lifetime guarantee on their lifetime guaranteed tools. It also turns out that, supposedly, their tools sold in the future will not have such a guarantee.

Also, they seem pretty comfortable with the idea that a lifetime guarantee doesn't mean what it says, that I should be happy if I got 5 trouble free years, etc. On the other hand, when a person pays $65 for a shovel, I think they rationalize that they won't be buying another 'shovel' ever again...

Anyway, then came the handle replacement part of the program. Not a lot of fun removing a well seated handle shard from a tool used in the soil for many hours, if you have never done it. Lots of time lost finding the right handle from a 3rd party mail order (in defence of SOC, they have offered to send me original replacement handle(s) now) and so on.

One of the other had concepts I have to teach the new people is that some tools are mine alone to use, most certainly not for a beginner. (BUT THEY ALL SEEM TO BE ABLE TO BUST WOODEN HAY RAKES IN A FEW MINUTES) I try to use the trout fishing analogy "Specialty tools are a light as possible. They will last forever if used for the task they were designed for but will bust, bend or dull if used for the wrong task (like chiseling with a screwdriver). It's like using a bamboo fly rod to catch carp. For the next long while, you're going to be catching carp here...."

I hear Prince Charles now sells the absolute best 'border ' tools.

-Allan in WV




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