Top 20 Homesteading Tools

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New models (beginning at $125) are available by mail from former Garden Way research staffer Terry Wilson at Terry Wilson's Carts Vermont, 1890 Airport Parkway, South Burlington, VT 05403; (802) 862-6304; fax (802) 862-2304; http://www.vermontcarts.com .

GARDENING TOOLS

2. A HEAVY-DUTY GARDEN FORK

Until you have been on your place long enough to improve the garden soil with rich, crumbly compost and loose, friable sand, your best investment in a hand tool is a heavy, British-made, three- or four-tined garden or landscaper's fork. It should have a stout, 40- to 44- inch ash or hickory handle shaft, a split-shaft wooden "D" grip and a green, flat tined business hand-forged from a single blank of carbon-manganese steel. Don't confuse this with the long-handled pitchfork designed for slip-pitching hay or straw. Granted, at about $50 plus shipping and handling, the garden fork is a bit of an investment, but it's well worth it - no other tool can do so much. The garden fork will dig through anything short of granite ledge; quarry well-striated, soft sandstone or limestone; lever up and remove field stones; turn and aerate wet compost and grub out the most stubborn tree roots. The multiple tines can penetrate soil that would repel any full-bladed tool-from the toughest sod or packed clay soil to (moistened) Southwestern hardpan, a good garden fork will break it loose with a stern tug on the handle.

3. A HEAVY-DUTY CUTTING SPADE

A companion to the fork is the spade. This thick, flat, rectangular-blade shovel was used in northern Europe to cut pears for fuel, and was later adopted by American frontiersmen for cutting prairie sods to build walls for homes and farm buildings. A sturdy spade will chop up the sod or clay clods dislodged by the fork. Together, spade and fork can be alternated to pry large rocks out of the soil and lever them up on a stoneboat or into loops of logging chain to be skidded out by a tractor or team. Get a spade with the top edge of one or both sides of the blade bent back at 90° or fitted with a welded-on inch-wide strip of steel. This will support your boot when you step (or stomp) the blade into stubborn soil.

These traditional British gardener's tools may appear crude compared with their more polished, mass-produced counterparts, but they are beautiful in a rugged, utilitarian way. With respect and dutiful maintenance, they'll last a lifetime and be passed on to a grateful gardening son or daughter. The first of several lines to be promoted in North America was the Bulldog brand, developed 200 years ago by Cistercian monks and imported a generation ago by the West Coast gardener's supply mail-order catalog, Smith & Hawken. S&H now has its own brand name on imported tools, but the Bulldog brand is still available from heirloom seed sellers, Seeds of Change: (888) 762-7333.

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