I hear your pleas for an update on Tonka, and I promise that it’s coming. But first I want to wax pragmatic about manure forks. Yes, manure forks. When Tonka first came to Farcical Farm we bought two standard-issue Duraforks with wooden handles, and both are still going strong. Today we bought a *third* manure fork with an aluminum handle, because I have taken to leaving a wheelbarrow in the paddock full-time and the wooden handles get slimy in the rain.
I digress. What I really wanted to say is that I pity people who don’t know about manure forks because they are one of the most versatile garden tools on the market. Raking leaves? Check. Scooping up leaves and dumping them into a wheelbarrow/paper bag? Raking grass? Ditto. Shovelling dirt? That too. Sifting rocks out of dirt? The list goes on. For what non-manure activities do you use your manure fork?
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8 comments:
How about gently folding ceiling insulation into place (using the back side).
Rock sifting, for sure!
Because I bed on pellets, I've gone to the deeper basket, that holds way more poop. A few years ago, I also invested in one of the ergonomically shaped aluminum handles, which is much easier on my back and (now-a-days) my sore rotator cuff, and loved it so much I got a second one, this time with a clever little foam hand hold, to prevent the shaft "rolling" in my hands and dumping the load. Love it!
They're excellent for sifting junk out of sand, but that's just a variation of the intended use. Oh, and they're good pokers if the damn goat won't get out of your way as you're pushing a wheelbarrow around the paddock!
Funder stole mine: I use my manure fork as a goat-whacker. Frequently. With very little effect.
Sigh.
When I had the farm in Mission, I discovered a manure fork is the almost perfect snow shovel. It is light weight,and the prongs dig right in there. The snow slips off easily instead of clumping in the bowl of a shovel. I thought powerdery snow would slip right through the prongs, but it doesn’t. And it works on the heavy wet stuff too.
Jean, I'll have to remember that! I have a $10 snow shovel which works about as well as you'd expect, and I've been putting off buying a better one. Thanks!
(confidential to aarenex: have you tried using a crowbar?)
I confess that ours get used as goat whackers as well. The goats don't seem to notice. They do, however, notice when you use them as goat *scratchers*.
Our local rescue was selling mini-rakes as horse scritchers this summer!
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