Since we don’t carry ALL the items needed to operate a small sustainable farm, here is a list of companies we have become acquainted with that carry other high-quality essential items. This is by no means a full or exhaustive list, but we will add to it as we have experience with (and good referrals for) other such companies. As such, we appreciate our customers (you) giving us feedback on good suppliers you have found, so we might add contacts to this list and help share good information around to other farmers and homesteaders.
Some of these suppliers carry a few items similar to what we offer, but we are not worried about “competition” on these items…as you will find, these items are not their area of expertise, as they are ours (and with our sales volume, our prices are better anyway). Listed in alphabetical order.
Apogee Climate & Energy Transitions
Frankfort, KY - 502-699-2553
https://apogeeclimate.org/
This is actually a program of Earth Tools…it started out as our “Sustainable Systems” division, but it has morphed into more of a educational and consulting service to help with the local / regional transition to renewable energy. Headed by Andy McDonald, this public-service “arm” of Earth Tools operates primarily in the North / Central Kentucky region.
CARTS AND TOOLS
Corvallis, OR 855-476-9834
http://cartsandtools.com
American Manufacturers of an electric motorized wheel-hoe.
ConsumerNotice.org
https://www.consumernotice.org/environmental/pesticides/roundup/alternatives/
This Non-profit operates a website dedicated to providing information about harmful products, environmental hazards, and preventing personal injuries. The link above is to their “alternatives to pesticides” page, but they have lots of other helpful info as well.
CRITTERFENCE.COM Londonderry, NH 855-921-7900 https://www.critterfence.com/ Another fencing supplier, offering various types of fencing products.
FARMER’S FRIEND LLC
Williamsport TN, 931-626-4911
http://www.farmersfriendllc.com
Manufacturer of a great little salad / greens harvester. Also sells a nice salad/greens spinner, and “Silage Plastic Tarps”…used for covering fallow beds to increase microbial & “macrobial” action.
FOUR SEASON TOOLS
Kansas City, MO 816-444-7330
http://www.smallfarmtools.com
Named after Eliot Colemans’ Four Season Farm, this company offers a variety of High-tunnels (greenhouses) with state-of-the-art designs. They also offer installation of these systems.
JOHNNY’S SEEDS
Winslow, ME 877-564-6697
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
Most of our customers probably already buy from Johnny’s, but we’re going to list them here anyway, because they’re a good company and a great growers’ resource.
NATIONAL YOUNG FARMERS COALITION
Hudson, NY - 518-643-3564
http://www.youngfarmers.org/
–INFORMATIONAL SITE– This organization is all about helping young (and old!) farmers be successful. They have all kinds of useful info for farmers; they have campaigns going to on various fronts to help the small farming endeavors, and they even have programs to help farmers find land to farm on. A worthy group to support (and we do), and they have a lot of great info.
PStyle Dowelltown, TN https://www.thepstyle.com/ For all people with Female anatomies who work (or play) outdoors, this woman-owned Tennessee-based small company offers a solution to the “pee” problem. (products are made right in TN, too!)
PURPLE MOUNTAIN ORGANICS
Takoma Park, MD 301-891-2488 or 877-538-9901
http://purplemountainorganics.com
These fellows carry a wide variety of Organic Gardening/farming products, from books/DVDs to soil supplements to seeders to mushroom inoculants to BioDiesel processors. They are one of our Grillo walk-behind tractor dealers, as well. And they have an Acupuncture clinic! (sorry, can’t mail-order that!)
THE MARKET GARDENER / JEAN-MARTIN FORTIER
St-Armand, Quebec, Canada 1-438-800-0498
http://www.themarketgardener.com/
In 2008, we sold a walk-behind tractor and implements to this fellow, and he started a very successful small-scale market garden with it. He then wrote a book about the whole process, which has been WILDLY successful both in his native Canada and the USA. Jean-Martin now also shares his experiences on a “speaking” circuit during the winter season (when he is not gardening!), and he has started a “Master Class” program to teach farmers.
SEVEN SPRINGS FARM
Check, VA 540-651-3228
http://www.7springsfarm.com
Offering a wide variety of Organic Farming & Gardening supplies, such as Soil Supplements, Organic Insecticides, BioDynamic products, Animal supplements, Animal & Pest repellants/Barriers, Cover crop seed and more.
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE SEED EXCHANGE
Mineral, VA 540-894-9480
http://www.southernexposure.com
A great source of Certified Organic seed and Heirloom seed, including potatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic, etc. (This is where I buy what seeds I don’t manage to save from year to year—Joel at Earth Tools)
SPECIALTY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, LLC
Orange, CT 800-483-8889
http://www.nodeer.com
Specializing in Animal control fencing and barriers. (When I needed to buy deer fencing, I did my research, and this is where I purchased!—Joel at Earth Tools)
SPIN Farming LLC
http://spinfarming.com
–INFORMATIONAL SITE– SPIN Farming is a “system” of farming in small spaces/acreages…already practiced by many of our customers, but this site is a great resource.
SOLAR SAVES LIVES
Please donate!
While this isn’t a “resource” as such, it is a project that Earth Tools supports, one which is in dire need of funding. In September 2017, Hurricanes Maria and Irma swept across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, devastating the lives of 3.5 million American citizens. Solar Saves Lives is an initiative led by The Solar Foundation to coordinate the delivery and installation of donated solar equipment to areas in need.
BOOK REVIEW: “The Two-Wheeled Tractor Handbook” By Zach Loeks (published April 2023)
NOTE: We have never done a “book review” before, but since this book relates directly to to the products that we represent, I just had to give it a read and let folks know what I thought of it. - Joel Dufour, Earth Tools owner
This is a well-written book, and it is long overdue to have a book dedicated to these amazing little machines. It has lots of great information about walk-behind tractors and their applications, with in-depth descriptions and diagrams of different farming systems that can utilize walk-being tractors to maximize efficiency. The author actually owns the equipment and uses it on his farm, so he can give real-life how-to examples and share his experiences. The author even covers many maintenance procedures, which is a real bonus and will help equipment owners get the most out of their investment.
The only thing I find lacking in this good work is that for whatever reason, the author chose to ignore all current walk-behind tractors other than BCS (there are a couple of pictures of Ferrari walking tractors, but since Ferrari tractor is owned by BCS and the current Ferrari walking tractors are simply re-badged BCS machines, I do not consider this a separate brand). Also omitted are pretty much all of the implements that are NOT offered by BCS America (the North American importer of the Italian brand BCS). These omissions go so far as to not even acknowledge, by and large, that there are other two-wheel tractors currently produced in Europe besides BCS. The author DOES mention other historical American walking tractors (such as Gravely and Planet Junior), and plenty of other parts of the book show that the author is a well-researched sort of guy, so I’m a bit mystified as to these omissions. (Oh, there is one mention I found of the Grillo brand walking tractors, in the “engine” section. Sort of odd that Grillo, a 70-year-old Italian brand with North American distribution for nearly 20 years, would get a cursory mention only in regards to the engines that power it [which is not even accurate in North American context], when Grillo is completely ignored in the rest of the book…)
A tractor (two-wheel or 4-wheel) is useless by itself; its usefulness is dictated by the implements that are powered by it and enable it to perform different types of work. In omitting information on the full range of available implements, the author somewhat “sells short” the capabilities of the two-wheel tractor (excluded examples are straw chopping/blowing, stump grinding, mini-trenching, crimper-rolling, vacuum-seeding, electrical power generation, etc. [A Hay-baler gets a cursory mention, but is not included in the “selected enterprise example” relating to grassland])
The other gripe I have with this book is that it very much recommends the BCS model 739 as an adequate machine for the average Market-Gardener. We beg to differ… We have sold machines to literally THOUSANDS of market gardeners over the last 30+ years, and the general consensus is that the 739 (and the 732, which has the same size frame as the 739) are too small for the full range of tasks / implements required for market gardening. The lack of independent “steering” brakes, the shorter handlebars (which rob the user of the leverage necessary to handle “heavier” implements easily), and the smaller standard wheels all contribute to the inadequacy of this model for the average market gardener or commercial farmer. On top of that, the handlebar column is made of much weaker material than it is on the 749 / 853 series tractors, and we have seen numerous cases where handling heavy market-gardening implements (such as the flail mower or power harrow) causes the column to fail prematurely from stress.
I will let the reader hypothesize as to the motivation behind this omission of valuable information in an otherwise well-researched and useful book. Note added May 2024: We now have more clarity on the “omissions” mentioned above…We have it on good authority that Mr. Loeks was actually contracted by BCS America to write his book. So it is virtually 100% a “BCS-America-approved Adversitement”. The “omissions” make a lot more sense in this light! And: Regarding that the author seems to “recommend” the BCS model 739: We suspect that BCS America “donated” this model to the author…this is just a theory, but it would explain the author’s “lean” toward this model. But in total: It is a valuable work, full of useful information, and it adds to the body of published material regarding a highly practical equipment sector that most Americans are woefully uneducated about. (And good news: If you’re reading this, you’ve already found our website, which fills in the “blanks” in Mr. Loek’s book with a complete and “non-brand-specific” offering of walk-behind tractors and implements!)