Not that the weather has been cooperating with me or anything, but I am ever more convinced that double-digging the garden is the right thing for us to do.

And taking into account the urgency to make progress and the impossibility of digging when the ground is too wet (not because I’m not strong enough, but because digging muddy soil destroys the soil’s texture), I’ve been daydreaming about getting a broadfork.  I don’t want to go through this heartache and pressure again.

I see the benefits of maintaining the double-dug garden beds with a broadfork.  A tool like this depends more on my (girly bottom-heavy) bodyweight than just upper arm strength.

David and I have discussed getting a broadfork several times.  (“Discussion” means that I state my case, and he reminds me of how much it costs.  I fine-tune my case, and he comes back with the same argument.  This goes on until I give up or get really frustrated…)   I finally lost my patience about it this morning and guilted him and Eloise into accompanying me  to Red Pig Tools out in Boring so that I could order one to be made for us.

I’ve winced at the cost of this tool, too.  Money has never grown on trees for us, but it stopped growing at all  late last year so every penny matters too much.  Yet I still keep coming back to how tuly helpful a broadfork could be for me out there in the garden. 

I am not a sucker to believe that a well-made tool pays for itself tenfold.   I have fifty of those tools in my kitchen.  I also have three Red Pig handtools that I depend upon.  This one (the Cape Cod Weeder) is my right hand out there.    When I use this particular weeder, my wrist enjoys itself and keeps a nice rhythm with pleasure because of the tool’s balance.  After setting my arm and wrist to work, I don’t have to think too much about sustaining that rhythm because the tool helps it feel good to my body. 

So…  when I wanted a broadfork, I wanted one from Red Pig Tools, and I may get mine next week.