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CHOOSE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB OR INVENT IT YOURSELF
I've learned several useful lessons about tools as I've journeyed through life.
First, a job is a lot easier when you use the proper tool.
Second, if the right tool is unavailable - or beyond your budget - figure out how to make it yourself.
I've often observed people trying to do a job using the wrong tool. It's frustrating to watch, and more frustrating for the person doing the work.
Recently, my wife and I were riding on one of those people-mover belts in an airport. A worker was standing at the end with a plastic-handled putty knife. He was trying to clean out the metal grate at the end of the belt but he was forced to stop each time people came to the end of their ride. He was using the wrong tool for the job, and he had only seconds to do the job before having to step back to allow the next passenger to pass.
Last year, on a trip to Egypt, I was startled to see street maintenance workers using machetes to hack large branches off boulevard trees. Someone presumably had instructed the workers to prune the elegant trees and then sent them to the boulevard with improper tools. The result was depressing.
Several years ago, in another third-world country, I watched workers mixing cement for a new home using the ancient method of pouring water and cement into the center of a pile of sand. When the mixture was stirred to just the right consistency, the mix was removed from the center of the pile, and more water and sand were added to make the next batch. And so it went until the house was built. A cement mixer would have come in handy.
On a recent trip to South Carolina, I watched a hired garden worker remove last year's growth of ornamental grass by pulling one handful at a time with his fist and stuffing it into a 5-gallon pail. When the pail was filled (about ten handfuls), he carried it to a wheelbarrow, dumped the pail, and returned to the grass for more hand pulling.
Each of these workers could have done a better job, and enjoyed the work more, if he had selected (or been given) the right tools.
I probably learned the lesson of inventing tools from my father.
A while back, my siblings and I were cleaning out Dad's workshop and garage in preparation for an auction. As we scrounged through years of accumulated clutter, we kept discovering inventions Dad had fabricated to do jobs his existing tools weren't capable of.
Many of these devices were skillfully crafted from hardwood and were held together by bolts or screws.
A wood footstep attached to a tapered piece of white ash was designed to create slots in the ground for planting tree seedlings. Dad planted thousands of trees during his lifetime and the device saved time and labor.
An elongated wheelbarrow-shaped cart crafted out of a bicycle wheel and sturdy ash wood made hauling a deer carcass out of the woods easy work after a successful hunt.
A workshop lamp had several curious holes at the center of the stand. The dual-purpose lamp lighted the saw blade work area and the holes were drilled at just the right height to accommodate the vacuum hose that sucked away the sawdust.
Two hip-replacement surgeries and tired knees caused by years of milking cows led to Dad's ingenious scissors-like wooden "picker-uppers" and countless two-foot-long shoehorns that enabled him to don shoes without bending over.
The intended use for several of Dad's inventions defied comprehension. When we asked him for an explanation, he often replied with a smile "I'm not sure what that's designed to do."
So what, you might be asking, does all this have to do with gardening?
Well, for one thing, I think we're lucky that we have such a vast array of tools at our disposal. In fact, based on some of the gardening catalogs I receive, there are more tools available than there are applications.
Second, now and then we may find ourselves tackling a gardening project for which we don't have quite the right tool - or perhaps the right tool hasn't been invented. When faced with this situation, ask yourself if this your opportunity to invent the tool that thousands or maybe even millions of gardeners will stand in line to buy.
Think about what it could mean - instead of trying to squeeze a few minutes of gardening in here and there between your career and family responsibilities, you could begin living off the royalties of your invention and spend the rest of your life gardening.
As you watch the snow melt this spring, give some thought to whether you've got the right tools for your gardening jobs, and whether the next gardening "miracle tool" is just an ingenious thought or two away.
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
Gardening Wisdom, Wit
and Whimsy
$10 + $2 for shipping
by Cliff Johnson |
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