Author: Melissa Fery, Oregon State University Small Farms Program
Publish Date: Spring 2017
Recycling, re-purposing, and modifying are not new concepts for farmers, who are constantly working to find the right piece of equipment for a task or a cost-effective way to get a job done. Some people have a natural ability to engineer what they need and the rest of us have the wisdom to reproduce their ideas, legally, of course. Thanks to online resources, such as http://farmhack.org/tools or YouTube videos, limitless ways to make something you need, utilizing materials you have laying around the farm are just a few clicks away. Need an example? Search ‘homemade chicken plucker’ on YouTube and you’ll find creative, yet functional designs that use an old washing machine drum and a 55-gallon barrel to a cordless drill and PVC pipe.
On a recent farm tour, Beth Hoinacki of Goodfoot Farm showed a great example of re-purposing a broken chest freezer into a seed germination chamber. “The most expensive part was the new latch, purchased to keep the door securely closed,” said Beth. With a little wiring and experimentation with light bulb wattage to get the needed temperature, she is able to germinate tomatoes and peppers with ease. Beth cautioned, “You need to watch carefully because once the seed has germinated you need to get them out, otherwise they’ll turn leggy without sunlight.”
Designing equipment to solve problems and increase efficiency
is what Mark Luterra has been doing since his employment with Wild Garden Seeds in 2014. As he helped winnow seeds with box fans, wind drip tape onto a reel, or other farm tasks, Mark’s engineering, and planning skills were also at work. As a result, he has designed and built equipment to meet the needs of the farm. The Winnow Wizard and Wonder Winder are two examples of original designs available at http://luterra.com. Mark also offers a Problem-solving, Brainstorming, and Design service where you can send him a need, and he’ll ponder it and reply with some tentative ideas.
Keeping fruit and vegetables fresh to minimize spoilage often requires cold storage, a cost that many small-scale farms can’t justify. What if you could find a way to insulate a simple structure and make your own walk-in cooler for a few hundred dollars? Ron Khosla, a farmer, and engineer who now resides in Oregon developed the CoolBot®, a device that tricks a window air conditioner unit into getting colder without freezing. Within the last few years, many local farms have invested in a CoolBot® to make a DIY cooler that provides an opportunity to extend the harvest to market period and the ability to store produce efficiently and safely. More information about the CoolBot and designs for structures are available at https://www.storeitcold.com/agriculture
Are you proud of a useful tool or piece of equipment you have made and would like to share it with other farmers? Please email a photo, along with your name and a brief description of what it is to SmallFarmsProgram@oregonstate.edu and we’ll post it on our OSU Small Farms Facebook page.