The Right Tool for the Right Job
I’m always on the lookout for innovative, sensible, and easy-to-use tools and supplies to use around my Bedford, New York farm. Look at my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48 to see me mowing in my new Kubota Z251-54 to Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It.”
Supporting a working farm is a huge responsibility and a tremendous amount of work. In order for it to thrive, animals and gardens need constant tender loving care. I always create very detailed lists of all that needs to be done. And to complete the many tasks, it’s crucial that we all use the right tools for the right jobs.
Here are just a few of the great pieces of machinery we use around Cantitoe Corners - enjoy these photos.
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- I always enjoy doing work around the farm – it provides good exercise and allows me to spend quality time outdoors in the fresh air. Here I am mowing one of the paddocks with my Z251-54 mower. Its ergonomic design and high-back seat make it so comfortable to drive – and look at all the front legroom. Watch me mow on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48.
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- I spent hours mowing the paddocks.
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- The powerful engine delivers 25-horsepower. It’s also equipped with a rugged transmission for the wheels and mower deck.
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- The 10-gauge steel welded mower deck also provides clean, professional-level cutting performance. A patented K-Lift pedal also makes adjusting the cutting height easy.
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- This is the ZD1211-60 zero turn riding mower. Pete does a lot of the mowing in the paddocks – he loves the speed and efficiency of the new mower. It has a 24.8 horsepower diesel engine and a wider mower deck than older models. The wide tire tread also provides better traction and weight distribution to help protect the lawn.
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- After every use, the crew always washes the equipment, so it remains as clean as possible and well-maintained.
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- For even tighter areas, we have Kubota’s WGC6-21 push mower. The 21-inch mowers provide sharp cutting and easy bagging. And the controls are built to be ergonomic in design, making it comfortable to use throughout the day. Fernando uses this push model to mow around the pergola.
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- Here he is mowing around the pool. All the mowers have powerful Kawasaki engines, cast aluminum wheels and decks, and edge guards to protect the machines.
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- And here is my Kubota model M7060HD12 tractor – a vehicle that gets lots of use at the farm for pulling or pushing agricultural machinery or trailers, for plowing, tilling, transporting and so much more. The bucket attachment is used for so many things. Here, it is filled with grass cuttings after a big mowing job. Some of these cuttings will go to the chickens and geese who love munching on the healthy, untreated grass.
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- It’s also used to transport heavy stone dust for a recent project in my perennial flower cutting garden.
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- And here it’s used for collecting all the leaves blown from around the maple woodland trees leftover from last fall. These leaves will be composted and then reused as top dressing for the garden beds.
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- Here, the tractor is hooked up to my chipper, which is another great piece of equipment that chips twigs and branches into usable wood chips for the gardens.
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- Phhurba is driving the tractor to another job – I wonder where. We use the tractor very single day.
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- Another great piece of equipment is the edger. Pete is using the battery-operated STIHL Kombi-System Lawn Edger. The attachment is a single purpose tool that is used to make good, crisp lines along the edges of garden beds and lawns.
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- On his back is STIHL’s backpack battery. This backpack battery eliminates the cost of fuel and engine oil and can be used with this edger attachment along with several other useful accessories. Edgers are easy to use – just line up the edger blade on the turf side of the road, and turn it on. This edger is also very light – less than three pounds, with a wheel on one side for added maneuverability.
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- STIHL’s most well-known tool is the chainsaw. STIHL designed and built its first electric chain saw in 1926 and 94 years later, it is still one of its best pieces of equipment. The chainsaw has soft grips for comfortability and secure maneuverability. And this one is run on an AP 300 S Lithium-Ion Battery, which is powerful and compatible with a wide range of tools, including extended-reach hedge trimmers, pole pruners, chainsaws, and blowers. Pasang is an experienced chainsaw user. Here, he is just showing where he used it to cut this log – it was not turned on for this photo.
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- We’ve been using STIHL’s backpack blowers for years here at my farm. These blowers are powerful and fuel-efficient. The gasoline-powered engines provide enough rugged power to tackle heavy debris while delivering much lower emissions.
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- Here’s Dawa blowing leaves and other debris from the garden beds around the stable.
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- And here are Dawa and Chhiring blowing leaves in the hayfield.
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- Fernando uses it to clean any organic debris off the carriage roads.
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- Here’s Phurba using our Troy-Bilt “Big Red” model to till the garlic patch. On rear-tine tillers like this, wheels are standard operating equipment. This has a 20-inch tilling width and a 12-inch tine diameter.
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- The Troy-Bilt “Big Red” model also has an adjustable tilling depth of up to seven inches – more than enough to adequately turn this soil and prepare it for planting.
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- To keep the many trees, shrubs, and plants well irrigated until the next soaking rainfall, we use a number of hoses, nozzles, and sprinklers. One of my favorite sources is Gilmour, a Madison, Wisconsin-based company that’s been manufacturing watering equipment for more than 65-years. I use several of their products at my home in Bedford, at Lily Pond in East Hampton, and at Skylands in Maine. These are the new AquaArmor™ Lightweight Hoses in 25-foot, 50-foot, and 100-foot lengths. They are very useful for doing these outdoor jobs.
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- These hoses are 50-percent lighter than standard hoses and up to 10 times longer-lasting. What’s also nice is that they unkink so easily and glide over surfaces without snagging or tearing. Plus, Gilmour’s AquaArmor™ Lightweight Hoses coil flat for storage.
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- Here, it is being used in one of my greenhouses for watering. It is attached to my own Martha Stewart Telescoping 10-Pattern Watering Wand from my shop on Amazon.
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- Here is my Polaris RANGER Crew 1000. I use this one to tour the farm every day to check on the gardens and animals. We have a few of these vehicles at the farm, and everyone loves them. Every couple of weeks, they are all given a thorough cleaning.
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- Here is my driver, Andres, washing the 25-inch wheels of my Polaris. This Polaris RANGER Crew 1000 offers great comfort from seats to storage and lots of durability and protection from all the elements.
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- It has a single overhead cam engine that delivers 61-horsepower and the rear box can hold up to a thousand pounds.
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- I always remind the crew to use “the right tool for the right job.” I’m glad I am able to keep my farm in excellent condition by using all these wonderful and well-made pieces of equipment.
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