FarmArt Six-Row Seeder

Based on a first-hand recommendation, and a fair bit of experience with uneven mesclun seeding, and endless carrot thinning (all thanks to the the less-than-precise Earthway seeder), I’m up for one of these! The FarmArt Six-Row Seeder is sold through the well-known US seed house, Johnny’s Selected Seed. From the web site blurb: “Up to six rows can be planted at once with 2 1/4″ spacing between rows. A roller in front firms and levels the soil. One in the back closes the furrows and drives the seed shaft. Four hole sizes are provided for seeds from raw carrots through pelleted lettuce. Three different drive ratios give spacing within the rows of 1″, 2″, or 4″.” This covers all the spacings I can think of for carrots, mesclun and other salad greens, green onions,… By using only some of the six hoppers, you can get row spacings of 4½”, 6¾”, 9″ or 11¼”. According to the brochure, “This design arose from Eliot Coleman’s experience with pinpoint seeders, customer feedback to Johnny’s, and design and development work by Art Haines of FarmArt,” which also sounds good, as in, practical! The only problem is, at $549, it’s a bit of an investment for my 2-acre scale of tiny farming, especially since I also want to try the equally recommended Jang seeder…

Northern Industrial spotlight

Maybe every tiny farm already has one of these, a rechargeable high-intensity spotlight—I’m posting this because Bob, who’s been farming for over 40 years, doesn’t, so maybe it’s something you hadn’t considered. The one pictured is a 10 million candlepower Northern Industrial model, I have a similar Sunforce brand. Previously, I had a couple of 1 million candlepower units, then the 10 million got less expensive ($30CDN on special in 2007), now there are 15, 20, 25 and 40 million units… 10 million is just fine. Having a really bright light comes in handy for nighttime missions, whether it’s dealing with some sort of mechanical emergency, retrieving something left in the field, or just checking things out, as well as poking around in larger outbuildings, like big old barns. You can’t compare the amount of light these produce to what regular flashlights provide. Yes, it could be considered a somewhat decadent convenience tool, and you could do without, but they really are useful! Ideally, I’d like a rechargeable high-intensity LED version that can also be hand-cranked (if that’s possible), as in my experience these halogen models, while advertised as being good for around 45 minutes, only run from 20-30 minutes on a full charge—if you’ve walked out in some woods, or to the end of a big field, 20 minutes can go by pretty quick.

Tiny Farm Gear