Triggers Trowel...

The other day the handle on my long trowel broke. 

Now I have to admit that this had probably been left outside too often, but it had done about 8 years of service as my main trowel! 

I was gutted, but I decided it was far too good of a trowel to throw away, so time to quickly make a new handle. 

Pikel?

Growing up the tool below was used a lot on the farm.

It was used for chucking the silage to the sheep, as well as wads of hay and straw. With it's long handle it meant that they could be chucked quite far and dad would soon put what he needed in each pen with a quick swing of his arms.

He called it a pikel and until the other day I've never questioned that name! But apparently that is a really regional word to Shropshire, the county both he and I grew up in. 

So my question to you all is what would you call this tool?

And is there regional names for tools that you use that no one else has heard of?

Garden Tool Organisation

The weather has been amazing this week so I've been spending as much time outside as possible. 

I've even managed to dry some washing on the line!

My workshop and carpentry tools are pretty well organised. I know where everything is in my workshop, other than a pencil or tape measure which I can never find when I put them down! Everything has it's place and has somewhere to go where it's protected from damage. In this way I can also see if something is missing.

Cut to the garden and it's a different story. My garden tools haven't exactly been looked after over the years. When the weeds are running wild its hard to even find where I've left them at times! Although it pains me to admit that...

What Equipment Do You Duplicate?

I'm building some doors for the extension this week. 

It's a fairly enjoyable job and good to make something nice for us for a change, I'll do a post on the doors once they're all made and hung. I'm just making a batch of six 4 panel 1950's style doors at the moment and maybe some more when I start work on the downstairs. 

Routers and Squares

But one of the reasons it enjoyable is that I have the right kit for the job, I've been doing this sort of thing for 15 years now and have a fair selection of tools. 

I also have some duplicates of some important things as well and this can come in real handy. 

Like in the picture above, two big routers set up with the bits I need to make a door. Otherwise I'd have to change bits and reset each one for each door! This way is much quicker and not so frustrating! 

This got me thinking. Now I know the rule of prepping "three is two, two is one, one is none". 

What do you have multiples of that make your life easier? for example I have three wheelbarrows here, one is never enough!

What do you have to keep a spare just so you could carry on with your day to day life with? 

What do you keep a spare of for emergencies?

Tools You Can't Do Without

A Facebook page I follow posts a weekly question for it's members to answer.  The page is called celebrating smallholdings uk if you search for it.

This weeks question was what equipment, tools or machinery can you not do without? What are your must haves to run a smallholding?

Tough question to answer I feel - depends on what you do and how you do it and even the time of year! 

Here on my smallholding there are many things that are essential to me to keep things running smoothly so I thought I'd list five things that I think are pretty important to me. I'll leave hand tools off this as otherwise we'd be here all day! 

Wheelbarrow

The wheelbarrow is pretty essential to me. I've got three kicking around here. I think all except one have had their tyres replaced with solid rubber ones.

I use them in the garden to move muck and compost onto the beds and weeds back to the compost pile. Every building project has used them in some way, fire wood gets moved by them and children get a ride if they're lucky.  

Chainsaw

Now where would I be without one of these? I can go for months without touching it but when I need it the machine saves me hours of back breaking work. 

It can be used for rough construction and fencing work, firewood and tree maintenance, as well as clearing any trees or branches that fall after a storm. 

Bike

Couldn't round up the sheep without the "bike". It's not because its fun or anything....

Honest...

Gates
Since getting the sheep there has been a few things that have made my life easier and one of them was some good gates. Last year I brought 10 hurdles and they've made a huge difference, they lock together and make it easy to make a pen or a funnel. At lambing time they made it easier to catch and lamb ewes.

It's a purchase I haven't regretted for a second!


Weed Membrane
Not to over sell it but this has changed my life. I reuse it year on year, it cuts my weed pressure by a stupid amount and without it I wouldn't grow anywhere near the amount of veg that I do!

There are many more things I could include but what would be in your list?

Pocket Ripper Handle

My mum is an avid carbooter, as was I until I got so there wasn't enough hours in the day! So instead I give my mum a list of things to look out for. 

One of the things was a graft, at least that's what I've been brought up to call them, they have other names like trenching spade, or drain spade. 

My mum picked this one up for a few quid and it works really well, the blade isn't on too much of an angle like many of the new ones they sell and there is some serious weight behind it making digging deep a little easier and breaking through roots. I used it a lot last week and it performed really well digging holes for some rose arches I was installing (not for me unfortunately). 

It does have one feature that my dad affectionately calls a "pocket ripper". I think you either love or hate this style of handle, it's not seen that much on new spades or shovels any more, but it's on lots of older tools. The name comes from when you're using it and you accidentally catch your trouser pocket on it and rip it off with your own momentum! Very funny when it happens to someone else! This type of handle doesn't upset me and I'm quite happy to use it.
What does everyone else call this type of spade? Does anyone else hate this type of handle like my dad?

Azada Or Stocker?

My mother bought me a azada for my birthday the other week. I'd been on about getting one for ages so I suggested it when she was struggling to know what to buy me. A few people had mentioned that they use one, Northsider Dave for one, and they're still used all around third world countries and places that use mainly hand tools.

My three year old took this photo - I think it came out pretty well! The Stocker comes in handy for carrying a tub full of gear as well.

 I've used it a bit since getting it and it seems a really handy tool, but I'm not getting rid of my spade just yet. It makes breaking new ground really easy, with plenty of power for small amounts of effort and I've started to dig a trench down my new garden patch for the rabbit wire and it seems as if it was designed for the job. It also has the added bonus of being able to carry a tub with lots gear on your back, making planting away from the garden much easier. 

I'll let you know how I get on with this tool over the summer and if it becomes a regular in my gardening arsenal. 

The funny thing was when the tool turned up my dad called it a "stocker" and said his dad used to use it to earth up his potatoes and it was used in the past to pull muck off carts in the fields before muck spreaders. 

Does anyone else have any other names for this tool? Do you use one?