garden tractor

**"Fred Conrad" f*@acfb.org**

say, i've been lurking on the list without posting lately (three or four years, maybe), i don't know why.  maybe it's just a phase i'm going through.  i used to post, then i got all distracted with plant-a-row-for-the-hungry campaigns and youth gardens and organic certification and getting remarried yet again.  then other times i start to respond and second guess the value of my input.  i think the common perception among the public is that community gardeners have it all under control, but sometimes it's like Mitch Snyder.  

forgive the rant.

the reason i'm writing... my program supports autonomous community and social service agency gardens and i've accumulated some decent equipment over the years... five rototillers, a large trailer to haul equipment, etc etc.  i'm now looking at a handfull of gardens where productivity could be greatly enhanced - without increasing labor inputs - if i had equipment that could work bigger and faster.  that is to say that i'm looking at some pasture, some bottom land, an old American Negro League baseball field, a 4-H camp, a community garden in southwest where the city tragically fenced in an area five times bigger than the garden and left the poor elderly folks sitting there with handtrowels and a glazed look. And i'm thinking what can i do with my weed-eater and rototiller?

looking around i can't make a clear determination about what that bigger and faster machine is.  a two wheel garden tractor with several implements?  a riding tractor with a moldboard plow and belly mower?  i'm looking at maybe $5k max and hopefull not more than half a ton total.  i know there are some large land-tract community gardens out there, having seen a few at various ACGA conferences over the past ten years, so i'm asking what you/they're using and what you would get if you were starting anew.  i've got a tracking cart that would be easier to use with a four-wheel tractor but they break down more often than two-wheel... how do you decide when you're feeling indecisive in general?  John Lennon said 'there are no problems, only solutions,' so i guess i'm generating my own quagmire of doubt here.

thanks, and sorry for the long post.
fgc

Fred Conrad
Community Garden Coordinator
Atlanta Community Food Bank
732 Joseph E Lowery Blvd, NW, Atlanta, GA 30318
ph: 678.553.5932 fx: 678.553.5933
fred.conrad@acfb.org    <http://www.acfb.org> 
Our mission is to fight hunger by engaging, educating and empowering our community. 

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