The Two-Wheel Tractor Handbook, livre ebook

Small but mighty — a comprehensive guide to the use of two-wheel tractors for highly productive gardens, landscapes, and farms

TWO-WHEEL TRACTORS are multifunctional, economical, practical, maneuverable, portable, and low impact. Yet choosing the equipment is only half of it; the other half is integrating the right machine and implements into your land-based enterprise and coupling it with innovative high-efficiency techniques. Coverage includes:

• Why you need a two-wheel tractor
• Two-wheel tractor essentials including tractor implement options and functions
• Equipment decision-making to suit your scale, context, enterprises, and budget
• Safety equipment, operation, and basic maintenance
• Innovative use strategies including micro-plowing, making "Permabeds," in situ mulching, the "Compost-a-path Method," crop guilds, scaling up, and diversified crop management
• How to start from scratch, clearing new land, scaling up your enterprises, and more
• Case studies and rich examples from suburban landscaping to commercial market gardens from Europe and North America
• "Pro tips," "design boxes," and other sidebars for rapidly elevating your skills.

The Two-Wheel Tractor Handbook shows small-scale growers how to leverage walk-behind tractors to maximize the productivity and profitability of their enterprises. This full-color, highly illustrated guide is a must-have tool for urban farmers, suburban gardeners, rural homesteaders, orchardists, landscapers, and market gardeners looking to boost production.

Liability Statement

Cover & Inside Material
Praise
Preamble

Introduction
This Book's Format
About This Book
Small-Scale Profit Resilience

Chapter 1: A Story About a Horse
The Horse and His Boy
The Origin of Two-Wheel Tractors
Honoring the Two-Wheel Tractor
The Italian Two-Wheel Renaissance

Chapter 2: Two-Wheel Tractor Essentials
The Definitive Two-Wheel Tractor
Eleven Two-Wheel Tractor Benefits
The Types of Two-Wheel Tractors
Row Crop Tractor with High Clearance
Row Crop Tractor Features
Tractor Components: Form and Function
Powersafe Clutch and Transmission
Tractor Operation: Getting Started
Steps to Get Operating
Steps to Begin Implement Operation
A Bit of Tractor Safety

Chapter 3: Implements and Their Uses
Types of Implements
Selected Equipment Profiles

Chapter 4: Equipment Decision-Making
Scale-Suitable Equipment
Scale Phases
Equipment Guilds and Operation Cycles
Guild Enterprise Production
Guild Enterprise Brainstorming Template
Budgeting for Tractors and Equipment

Chapter 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 Management

Chapter 6: Permabed System for Two-Wheel Tractors
Permabed System 101
Permabed Architecture
Permaplot Design
Permaplot Layout
Compost-a-Path Principles
Permabed Soil Design
Using Equipment for Crop Rotation Management

Chapter 7: Growing from Scratch
1. Clearing New Land (or Reclaiming)
2. Garden Plot Layout
3. Micro-Plowing a Field
4. Permabed Layout and Bed Building Options
5. Building Beds with a Power Ridger
6. Refining Your Rough Permabeds
7. Seasonal Bed Preparation Operations
8. Succession Planting and Crop Guild Design
9. Other Seasonal Management

Chapter 8: Tractor Maintenance and Care
Tractor Maintenance Simplified
Essential Tools for Maintenance
Essential Maintenance Supplies
Maintenance Tips
Checking and Changing Honda Engine Oil
Two-Wheeling into the Future

Glossary of Common Terms and Jargon
Index
About the Author
About New Society Publishers