So, we have our not-so-small plot of land, we have the house and all the storage buildings, and now let’s look briefly at all the tools that one person would need to be self-sufficient in firewood and food. If I were to write it all, it would be quite a long list, so I will try to be brief
- Full set of hand tools for gardening, orcharding, and landscaping, including such old-school tools as a scythe and sickle. No matter what, there will be a lot of earth moving, so a lot of work with a spade, a pickaxe, and a shovel will be involved.
- Woodworking and woodcutting hand tools – saws, a hatchet, an axe, and a machete.
- Some power tools, like at least a small chainsaw, and a small electric hoe.
- Some medium-sized gardening machinery – a verticutter, a lawnmower, and a small tractor with a plough, a rotary tiller, a harrow, and maybe even a small cart.
- A deer and hog-proof wire fence.
Let’s not forget that we are trying to do all the necessary work to feed and keep warm one person on 3000 m². Ideally, it would be a square of land 55×55 m2. It might not look that big on a map, but walking it back and forth the whole day, dragging dead trees behind you, or carrying sacks of potatoes, is not easy (I am talking from experience). And if we are trying to do without a mule or an ox, machinery is necessary.
I must say, I do have fun with this mental exercise. We will look at how to partition the land next.
Wheelbarrows are always useful.
I’ve considered, even started, writing an essay on wheelbarrows. There are really a number of different wheelbarrow designs and many of them are best suited to specific types of tasks. A wheelbarrow which is designed for moving bricks may not be as useful for moving dirt. Where the wheel is located can have a huge impact on the amount a wheelbarrow can carry, the closer to the center of gravity the more the mechanical advantage for the user. But at the same time, too much mass on a wheelbarrow can make it unwieldy and inclined to tip. I like two wheeled wheelbarrows for a lot of tasks, but then there is a flexibility in dumping with a one-wheel wheelbarrow that you lose when you add a wheel.
Is it weird that I find topics like that fascinating?
@flex, I find it interesting too. I have two wheelbarrows, and even though they look very similar, one of them has a tendency to flip over when I throw in it a shovel of dirt at the wrong angle, and the other has a tendency to self-brake in on wet clay, because the wheel is so close to the bed that the clay that attaches to the wheel effectively blocks it.