Equipment
This subject heading could be placed under almost all the topics of discussion. I have put it under 'Gardens', but I may stray off topic and include references to other activities as well.
You could quickly put yourself in the poorhouse if you bought all new equipment (much less at least one of everything you want). The art is in deciding which things are quite good enough used and which justly should be bought new. Borrowing or trying out what a friend has can save you costly mistakes.
I personally am a great believer in used equipment, but find I really want to have developed a relationship of trust with those I purchase from. A dealer in used farm equipment can be your best friend. So can someone actively involved in the same activity as yourself. When I bought my first milking machine, for example, I spoke with a a friend who had used them for years. The first conversation was just theory. By the second time we talked, he was in a position where he needed to upgrade, and I got a chance to buy his milking machine.
With tillers, for example, you can often borrow one from a friend. once you find out if it is a good match for your operation, you have a good idea what you may want to buy.
Equipment that will get a lot of use (a tiller is a good example, or perhaps a chainsaw) is often best purchased new.
You could quickly put yourself in the poorhouse if you bought all new equipment (much less at least one of everything you want). The art is in deciding which things are quite good enough used and which justly should be bought new. Borrowing or trying out what a friend has can save you costly mistakes.
I personally am a great believer in used equipment, but find I really want to have developed a relationship of trust with those I purchase from. A dealer in used farm equipment can be your best friend. So can someone actively involved in the same activity as yourself. When I bought my first milking machine, for example, I spoke with a a friend who had used them for years. The first conversation was just theory. By the second time we talked, he was in a position where he needed to upgrade, and I got a chance to buy his milking machine.
With tillers, for example, you can often borrow one from a friend. once you find out if it is a good match for your operation, you have a good idea what you may want to buy.
Equipment that will get a lot of use (a tiller is a good example, or perhaps a chainsaw) is often best purchased new.
1. What do you need, and how can you afford it?
When I go shopping for tools and equipment, I want at least one of everything- sometimes more than one. I'd take the hardware store home with me if I could. But I am brought to a stop by the second point; affordability.
I have progressed and slowly become more successful in growing grains. To cut the rip grain, I use a scythe or a sickle.
At every grain-growing workshop I have attended, there has been discussion of availability and affordability of processing equipment. My initial method was patterned on my brother-in-law's description of travels in Asia, Their bus was pulled over at each village, and the villagers spread their harvested rice stalks out in the road. The bus would then drive over the rice heads, threshing out the grains of rice. I modified this method by laying out tarps in my driveway, putting the sheaves of grain on them, covering with another tarp, then driving back and forth with my truck. It was a slow, inefficient process. I knew I wanted a thresher or a combine. Affordability was a sick joke.
This past year (2011), word started to spread about an inexpensive thresher design.
....
....
I bought the thresher, but got much more than that.
http://solarcarandtractor.com/*/Home.html John Howe $600 for a thresher.
http://opensourceecology.org/ 'A Network of Farmers, Engineers, and Supporters Building the 'Global Village Construction Set'
'...The 'Global Village Construction Set' is an open technological platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small civilization with modern comforts.
'...A modern, comfortable lifestyle relies on a variety of efficient Industrial Machines. If you eat bread, you rely on an Agricultural Combine. If you live in a wood house, you rely on a Sawmill. Each of these machines relies on other machines in order for it to exist. If you distill this complex web of interdependent machines into a reproduceable, simple, closed-loop system, you get these. 4 'final products' compressed earth brick press, skid-steer tractor, soil pulverizer, power cube. 4 'prototypes' micro-tractor, drill press, torch table, ironworker machine.
Research page for the microcombine;
http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Microcombine/Research_Development
http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/index.html
I have progressed and slowly become more successful in growing grains. To cut the rip grain, I use a scythe or a sickle.
At every grain-growing workshop I have attended, there has been discussion of availability and affordability of processing equipment. My initial method was patterned on my brother-in-law's description of travels in Asia, Their bus was pulled over at each village, and the villagers spread their harvested rice stalks out in the road. The bus would then drive over the rice heads, threshing out the grains of rice. I modified this method by laying out tarps in my driveway, putting the sheaves of grain on them, covering with another tarp, then driving back and forth with my truck. It was a slow, inefficient process. I knew I wanted a thresher or a combine. Affordability was a sick joke.
This past year (2011), word started to spread about an inexpensive thresher design.
....
....
I bought the thresher, but got much more than that.
http://solarcarandtractor.com/*/Home.html John Howe $600 for a thresher.
http://opensourceecology.org/ 'A Network of Farmers, Engineers, and Supporters Building the 'Global Village Construction Set'
'...The 'Global Village Construction Set' is an open technological platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small civilization with modern comforts.
'...A modern, comfortable lifestyle relies on a variety of efficient Industrial Machines. If you eat bread, you rely on an Agricultural Combine. If you live in a wood house, you rely on a Sawmill. Each of these machines relies on other machines in order for it to exist. If you distill this complex web of interdependent machines into a reproduceable, simple, closed-loop system, you get these. 4 'final products' compressed earth brick press, skid-steer tractor, soil pulverizer, power cube. 4 'prototypes' micro-tractor, drill press, torch table, ironworker machine.
Research page for the microcombine;
http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Microcombine/Research_Development
http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/index.html
 ironworker machine (prototype) |
 Global village construction set micro-combine (still on the drawing board) |