Two-Wheel Tractor Handbook

Zach Loeks is an educator, grower, second-generation permaculture designer innovating and specializing in Edible Ecosystem Design. His passion is demonstrating how small actions – strategically linked – can create big change. He is director of the Ecosystem Solution Institute, where he consults widely with homes, farms, colleges, schools, and municipalities across North America and around the world. His purpose is to help people create more edible and diverse farms, gardens, and landscapes while enhancing food security, community well-being, and societal resilience. Zach manages an award-winning farm featuring diversified food forest products, heirloom garlic, and a hardy tree nursery. His innovations have earned him three provincial awards. He is the author of The Edible Ecosystem Solution and The Permaculture Market Garden. Zach splits his time between his rural farm in Ontario and a sister urban farm in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

"As much as I favor managing your garden with hand tools, if you scale up to marketing you may need some help. In addition to serving as an operator's manual for two-wheel tractors, this book helps you define your goals for your enterprise and decide just what equipment you may need. A good resource to have."—Cindy Conner, author of Grow a Sustainable Diet and Homegrown Flax and Cotton "Jam packed with great information. This book is going to save serious growers a lot of time tinkering around."—Curtis Stone, author of The Urban Farmer "Zach Loeks' The Two-Wheel Tractor Handbook is a detailed, beautiful, & much-needed must-have for every market gardener's library - and for anyone serious about using small machines to manage their farm."–- Matt Powers, author of Regenerative Soil "This book is essential to anyone who owns a BCS tractor or who is exploring the purchase of one. I use a BCS in the garden, forest and the snow and found a ton of insights in Zach's book. The review of various BCS implements, different uses for these machines and maintenance tips is invaluable to the novice and intermediate user alike. This book should be included as a how-to manual with every BCS tractor sold."—- Rob Avis, Verge Permaculture, author of Essential Rainwater Harvesting "Easily the most comprehensive guide to two-wheel tractors ever written. Get more out of your two-wheel tractor with all the tips and tricks while saving money by doing the maintenance yourself."—- Diego Footer, founder of Paperpot Co."This very practical manual will help us really understand our two-wheel tractors and get the best out of them while giving them our best. Even those in favor of minimizing tilling understand that some circumstances call for tilling, so let's do it well. Mindful, good use of machinery is important!"— Pam Dawling, teacher, speaker and author of Sustainable Market Farming and The Year-Round Hoophouse "The scale of farming is crucial in designing farm systems and planning for labor, investments, profits, and machinery. This book discusses scale and choosing a family of machinery that work together and allow a farm to grow over time in a comprehensive and innovative way that I have not seen anywhere else."— Sam Oschwald Tilton, Direct Market Vegetable Specialist, author of numerous articles and resources on sustainable agriculture, vegetable farming mechanization specialist"When growing vegetables for market, one of the most important lessons is that bigger is not better. It's quite the contrary; even 1 acre of cultivated land can allow a grower to make a living in farming. Another lesson is to size the equipment properly, which is why two-wheel tractors have become so popular in recent years. In this fantastic book, you'll learn everything you need to know about this appropriate technology. This book is truly unique, full of tips, hints and tidbits even for someone like me who's been farming with such tractors for over 20 years."— Jean-Martin Fortier, author The Market Gardener

• Liability StatementCover & Inside Material PraisePreambleIntroductionThis Book's FormatAbout This BookSmall-Scale Profit ResilienceChapter 1: A Story About a Horse The Horse and His BoyThe Origin of Two-Wheel TractorsHonoring the Two-Wheel TractorThe Italian Two-Wheel RenaissanceChapter 2: Two-Wheel Tractor Essentials The Definitive Two-Wheel TractorEleven Two-Wheel Tractor Benefits The Types of Two-Wheel TractorsRow Crop Tractor with High ClearanceRow Crop Tractor FeaturesTractor Components: Form and FunctionPowersafe Clutch and TransmissionTractor Operation: Getting Started Steps to Get OperatingSteps to Begin Implement OperationA Bit of Tractor SafetyChapter 3: Implements and Their UsesTypes of Implements Selected Equipment ProfilesChapter 4: Equipment Decision-MakingScale-Suitable EquipmentScale PhasesEquipment Guilds and Operation CyclesGuild Enterprise Production Guild Enterprise Brainstorming Template Budgeting for Tractors and EquipmentChapter 5: Selected Enterprise Examples The Backyard Gardener (.25–5 APA)Suburban Homesteader (1–3 APA) Market Grower (1–3 APA)Row Crop Farmer (3–6 APA) Back-to-the-Lander (3–15 APA) Groundskeeper and Landscaper (Various APA) Grassland Farmer (8–13 APA) Tree Nursery (3–6 APA) Edible Ecosystem ManagementChapter 6: Permabed System for Two-Wheel TractorsPermabed System 101Permabed ArchitecturePermaplot DesignPermaplot LayoutCompost-a-Path PrinciplesPermabed Soil Design Using Equipment for Crop Rotation ManagementChapter 7: Growing from Scratch 1. Clearing New Land (or Reclaiming) 2. Garden Plot Layout3. Micro-Plowing a Field4. Permabed Layout and Bed Building Options5. Building Beds with a Power Ridger 6. Refining Your Rough Permabeds 7. Seasonal Bed Preparation Operations8. Succession Planting and Crop Guild Design9. Other Seasonal ManagementChapter 8: Tractor Maintenance and Care Tractor Maintenance SimplifiedEssential Tools for MaintenanceEssential Maintenance SuppliesMaintenance TipsChecking and Changing Honda Engine OilTwo-Wheeling into the FutureGlossary of Common Terms and JargonIndex About the AuthorAbout New Society Publishers