As we were beginning to modify our planting beds back in February, we were fortunate enough to have a family friend let us borrow a Honda Rototiller (Model FR800 if you’re curious) to break some ground. When compared to hand hoeing, this tiller was a godsend; but after one 10 hour day of non-stop tilling back in the spring, I was out of commission for a couple of days afterwards.  The Honda certainly had some power to it, but harnessing that power effectively resulted in more fatigue than I could handle.   It was time to explore our options.

An interesting thing I’ve noticed about some farmers (and a lot of dudes) is an almost rabid desire to own giant pieces of machinery.  Someone even told me “if you are going to farm, get a tractor.” Period. Sure, owning a large tractor that I would get to sit on would be the least physically demanding way to go, but could our land (and our bank account) deal with such a purchase? For us, the answer to both questions was a resounding “no”.  Our main area of cultivation is only 3/4 of an acre.  If we provide enough room at the ends of our rows to turn a tractor around, our growing area would be significantly reduced (perhaps even reduced to the point of not necessitating a tractor!).

So a full-on tractor is too big, but an 8hp roto-tiller is too small…fortunately, the tradition of small farms had continued on in Europe through the latter half of the 20th century, and a few manufacturers still produce a tool that falls somewhere in between: the “walk-behind” tractor.

After a few weeks of cogitating, weighing pros and cons and consulting with other, more experienced farmers, we decided that this was the way to go. Depending on the model, a walk-behind tractor can offer more power than even the heaviest duty Honda or Troy-Bilt tiller, but the real value lies in the walk-behind tractor’s versatility.  Although it is oriented to be operated like a tiller, the biggest advantage of a walk-behind tiller is the presence of a PTO (power take off) that allows for any number of implements to be attached.

There are two main manufacturers of “walk-behind” tractors: BCS and Grillo (both in Italy). Peaceful Valley offers a pretty wide range of the BCS tractors, and most of the local mechanics are more familiar with them.  We picked up a 732GX, the smallest of BCS’ “Professional” line, and a 30” tiller attachment.  Besides having an 11hp engine, the BCS is all metal-to-metal direct drive, no belts. This helps maintain torque in tough situations…situations like, say, breaking up rock-laden, clay soil in the Sierra Foothills…?

It took a little while to get used to it, but as you can see in the pictures, the BCS has been able to efficiently handle what I’ve thrown at it so far. I was able to incorporate semi-composted horse bedding into about a third of an acre of previously unworked soil in one morning of work.  The BCS tiller is also a great tool to incorporate cover crop matter into the dirt; our summer buckwheat cover was turned into “organic matter” in just a few minutes. Awesome!  The BCS is also small enough for us to be able to go in and work the soil beds one at a time, and our pre-existing pathways do not need to be adjusted to accommodate its size.

(Aside: for those who might be interested in my method, we wet down the horse bedding as we unloaded it, creating “instant hot compost piles” which we then spread over the area a week or so later. Even though this step is not necessary, given that food won’t come out of here until next May or June, we wanted our winter cover crop to have as much readily available nutrition as possible.  Deeper penetrating roots + greater nitrogen fixing efficiency by legumes = better results for next year’s crops.)

Any cons so far? Given our heavy clay soil, the action of the BCS’s tiller will eventually create an impenetrable layer of hardpan. Luckily, a “subsoiler/ripper” attachment exists, and we already have one on order. This attachment is essentially a single, deep chisel that cuts a groove into the subsoil, allowing roots and other good stuff to penetrate deep into the ground.  I also had a little trouble with the bolts and threaded pieces on the “quick-release hitch” coming undone as a result of vibration, but that was easily fixed with a few drops of red Loctite.

Overall the BCS has shown itself to be just as its long-time proponents described: rugged, dependable, powerful, easy to use.  What is most exciting for us is that we seem to have found a piece of machinery that makes moving forward with the farm project a much more comfortable thought :D