Filed under: August 2017 | Tags: American Made, cover crop, Family business, Garden tools, gardening, Homestead Iron, made in America, raised bed gardening, soil
August 10, 2017
Leaning on my cane, fingers in the dirt is a mental boost for this farmer! It’s been a while since I could “play in the dirt”, if you will. Many farm jobs got put on hold. A few jobs have been done by others. Yesterday, I was able to weed and till this section of raised bed garden. I even planted a cover crop of buckwheat.
Now, this surely is farming small, but my connection with the soil has been made whole again. This whole job took a total of about 20 minutes to complete. Before knee surgery, I would have knocked it out on the way to do something else. I was my whole focus yesterday and I was even tired by the time I had completed it!
I did this entire job by hand using garden tools made by a family business called Homestead Iron. The hand tools are forged and fashioned out of tool steel in a small shop. The shipping part of their business involves using their kitchen table. This is a family business, here in America, in the state of Missouri, owned and run by Mr.& Mrs. Will Dobkins. You can check out their website at WWW.Homesteadiron.com
I am amazed at just how nice these tools were to use. They are just the right weight. They are sharp and well balanced. They fit my hand well and the angle of the blade is perfectly aligned for working the dirt. These are made like tools were made in the “olden days”. I’m talking about the time when the guy making the tool used them too. Most of the junk tools available today are bulky, heavy, not sharp and not anywhere near ergonomically friendly. It’s easy to see that many of today’s tool manufacturers never had to use one all day long!
Friends, I am endorsing the tools made by Homestead Iron. They are tools that work for people who work too. The best part is that the guy who forges them uses them too. Each tool is hammered and shaped by one man. His wife answers the phone, sends email and ships the product…from the same kitchen where she feeds her family! This is true American work ethic in action. I urge you to check them out.
Thanks to the Dobkin’s, my day of gardening, though short, was a wonderful experience. The tools they made were a joy to use. The sun shined on my face and a little dirt worked under my fingernails making the whole experience for me nothing short of divine. Due to the recovery time from my knee surgery, I’m not able to farm in a big way yet. Getting my fingers in the dirt sure helped my healing…mentally and physically!
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RicelandMeadows 
Thanks for sharing that company info Ralph. I will check out their website. Always looking for good hand tools. Hope you recover quickly so you can get back out there working the horses. Have you looked into starting an Instagram account? It’s easy to set up & you can post all your photos/videos & tell your stories on it. I feel you would be popular. If you need help, let me know. Jacklyn
Comment by Jacklyn August 10, 2017 @ 4:03 pmI will take you up on that offer. I also can use a lesson in Facebook. My computer skills are severely lacking when it comes to social media!
Comment by ricelandmeadows August 11, 2017 @ 7:17 pm