permaculture

[Steve Diver <steved@ncat.org>]

Market farming friends -

A couple of years ago Thomas and Shelly MacDonald
visited NCAT-ATTRA to share details and pictures of
the multiple use toolbar Thomas had invented.  

I refer to this farm-made equipment as the
The MacDonald Multiple Use Toolbar.

They'd farmed organic vegetables in NY and CA
for 25 years.  The MUT can be built from scratch from
steel pieces you purchase and build yourself.

Their web page has a description of the MUT, how to use,
and it even has a parts sheet for the steel pieces.

A 45-50 hp tractor can be matched to the multiple use
toolbar to work two 40-inch beds, for example.

It can be used for secondary tillage, bed shaping, laying
irrigation furrows, planting, transplant aid, harvest aid,
and row crop cultivation.

Thomas and Shelly have interests in watersheds and
for vacations they travel along rivers and waterways.
They'd traveled to see the Arkansas River, so they made
a side trip up the Ozark hills to visit NCAT-ATTRA in
Fayetteville, to share details on this multiple use toolbar.

See:

Agriculture and Evolution
http://www.agevolution.com/


Thomas Enfield MacDonald


The MacDonald Multiple Use Toolbar
http://www.agevolution.com/mut.htm


Photos of the MUT and some jobs the MUT can perform
http://www.agevolution.com/mutphoto.htm


List of Steel Pieces Needed for a Two-Row MUT
http://www.agevolution.com/steelist.htm


Best wishes,

Steve Diver
http://www.attra.ncat.org


P.S.  A second multiple use toolbar I've seen in
action in broadscale vegetable production was the
MUT built by Eric Kindberg to mount the
Keyline Chisel Plow.