Mike, What a great day! Boy that was some hard soil, but we were able to persevere! To Lisa, great job editing that video, you guys make a great team. I had a blast working with all of you! To answer a comment, both tractors have a locking differential, that is what the D stands for and you are correct, turning one of these with the wheels locked is a task. Sorry I called Gabe Brown, Ted. Anyway, the snap peas I planted two weeks ago are starting to come up! I am getting ready for some serious planting next week! Thanks Mike! Ron Bell Friendly Farm, Machinery & Tool, Co.
It was a great day! We are so very appreciative of you taking your time to come and help us. We have already been hard at work planting some of the beds that you shaped up for us. We first hear about Gabe Brown about 5 or 6 years ago and was one of the first farmers that we heard of that used the no till method. I am so glad that your brought him up and encouraged people to listen to his presentation. I wish I would have known he was in NC last year. Glad that your snap peas are coming along and I hope you get everything planted that you want to in the next couple of weeks. Thank you so much!!
We have the Grillo G107 and love it. Our Berta rotary plow is the two directional one that you can flip at the row end. We also have the power harrow, a Molon hay rake, a drum mower and a Flail mower that we use to Bush hog. These are well worth the investment for all aspects of gardening. We farm 15 acres in Kentucky. We also use the rotary plow to work manure into our gardens. We originally had a Yanmar Diesel engine on our 107, however the Yanmar is not suitable for agricultural applications and does not handle the dust at all. We switched it out for the Honda.
Hi Mike, great video, I'm in North Herefordshire United Kingdom. I have the Bertolini 411 with the Honda engine, which I bought 2nd hand in perfect condition with the rototiller, then I moved to 2 1\2 acres of orchard, paddocks and veg garden. I had already decided to go no dig, so had to think again and purchased the mulching Mower for the tractor which was twice the cost of the price I paid for the rig. As I am a retired widower of 75 the amount of physical labour I can cope with is reduced. I have been using huge amounts of woodchip on permaculture beds this last two years the soil has improved even from the good soil it was on my arrival in August 2017. Having studied and practiced for over 40 years I am still learning about this subject. I have spent more effort on improving the beneficial insects and Bees as a pest control, the first year cabbage white butterfly murdered my brasicas, but this year was much better, Also I use ducks to control slugs, I do not worry about weeds as I believe plants enjoy the company of other plants my strong beans once up and running had huge docks growing with them and nettles, plantain, nasturshum etc., After watching the video I may get the tiller shown but I find the mulching mower does a super job, then I cover with woodchip mulch for the winter. It has been a very wet November this year and putting it all to bed for the winter is a bit behind but I have planted garlic, shallots, onions, and broad beans for a spring crop. This is not my income but a hobby with pastures hens and a pair of noisy geese to raise the alarm when strangers come by.great work best of luck with your endeavours you have a super family Brian
Nice information on the tractors Mike. For me, simple maintenance builds into reliability, being able to service and repair damaged equipment is paramount when one NEEDS the tool to work.
Wooo whoooooooo. Now that's what I call some serious tillage equipment. Nice! The prices sound reasonable too. If I had the need I definitely would look into these. Thanks Mike for sharing this. Take care.
Ron and Mike, thanks for all the candor and straight shooting on the Grillo walk behind tractors. Fantastic video! Mike, I've been injured from wreck with a TBI, so could not watch your channel for a long time, but feel blessed to witness your channel again today. God bless all of you!
So sorry to hear about your TBI. Thank you so much for choosing to spend your time watching our channel. Glad that you found our video helpful! Will you be growing a garden this year?
Hi Mike! If the Lord allows me to recover enough and I believe that will be a the case, I will for sure put in a garden this year! I'm so inspired by you and your family, Sow the Land, Justin Rhodes, all the people trying to run small farms and bring people, plants and animals together. That's our goal too and we just take it one day at a time by God's grace! Thanks for all you do, truly.@@MikeTheFitFarmer
I commented last month on your beastly tiller. This one is even bigger! Holy Farm Machinery, Batman! You could till all of Gotham City with that monster!
Mike, I agree with "devil" Bermuda grass. I dug my yard up and hand shook out the roots. Easiest was covering with old carpet for six to eight months. Getting ready to cover another area that has popped up. Nice tools you had today.
Cathy Roe, thanks. Yeah covering like that is the best way to begin working on getting rid of it. Last year, I covered some areas with plastic and then wood over the plastic for almost the whole year. After that there are still roots left. But it is way easier to pull up. And then the key is making sure it doesn't spread from other areas again.
We're still having cold weather here too but it's got to be almost over lol. Great equipment and great video. It's always nice watching all the progress on the farm and happenings with the family 😊 ❤
Thank you Danny and Rita! We really liked what the Grillo had to offer. It was totally different using the Grillo compared to the rototiller that we have been using. The walk behind is definitely something we are saving up for. Thanks so much for watching!!
Wow it is still snowing in April!! It snowed here the other night but it was mixed with rain. I hope Spring shows up soon for you! Thanks for watching!!
We are so glad that Ron came out to help us and we were able to make this video. The Grillo walk behind would be a game changer for us here on the farm. Glad that you found value in our content!! Thanks for watching!
I love when you offer to interview someone to promote their business and they till your property in the process. It did seem like you were making sure to film every possible angle of him tilling. lol. nice machinery.
Love these walk behinds! He's right about Joel at Earth Tools, he's a walking encyclopedia on these machines! One thing he didn't get into, at least I don't recall him mentioning it, that's a factor for me on these machines, is the "fixed" straight axle vs the differential axle. The 107 D he was operating has a differential axle. If you've ever tried to wrestle one of these big machines around a corner or turning tight at the end of rows, you know what I mean. The Grillo 85D is the smallest (and cheapest, of course) tractor available with the differential axle. These are truly workhorses and built to last. There is a good reason for the higher price tags! It's not uncommon at all to see 25 yr old machines working every day.
Catharine Anderson, glad you like the video. As far as garden goes; it is on a slope. We terraced it with an excavator and by hand. A terrace garden is not the easiest to start but it can be done. And I believe you can better take advantage of water with applying permaculture swell techniques because of rainfall running downhill.
Catharine, Yes, Mike's property sloped. That is why one can see me working the tractor with the rotary plow on the high side of the slope. This was to help the tractor throw the dirt downhill. Usually, one would put the right wheel of the tractor into the furrow left from the first pass. This throws the soil on the bottom to the top and right of the tractor. I did this on the lee side of the slope to help build up the bed. On the high side, I threw the soil downhill thus creating a terrace with each raised bed. As Mike and I discussed, we moved a lot of soil in a few hours! To do that by hand is quite the job! Now Mike has new beds that will be a lot easier to maintain than they were to make, and he gets to expand his garden to produce more PRODUCE!! Once again, we had a great day together and meeting the family was the icing on the cake.
Every time I try to sign up for your email newsletter, I get an error message. This is the first day I've tried to sign up. Bee Blessed Danny and Rita in TN on Rooster's Ridge
Rita McCartt-Kordon, so sorry to here about the error message Could you message me your email on Instagram or Facebook and I will make sure you get signed up.
Hey, thanks for watching. Mike's situation was tough! Just a few weeks later I took the same rotary plow to Durham, Co, and one would have thought the situation was worse. But it went thru that red clay like butter! From an operational stand point there is little difference between the two machines. They have similar weight, similar horsepower and gearing. BCS brand has a more user friendly operating system for switching from engine front to engine back applications and for forward and reverse operation. I like Grillo for its ease of maintenance and rugged reliability. The BCS video you are talking about is in soil that was worked the year before, that is a huge difference!
Yes devil grass. We are slowly beating it back with the flame weeder and landscape fabric. If we find another way we will let you know. Thanks so much for watching Sue Ellen!
nicole73551, I know what you mean. I just learned about places that fill tires with rubberized material. I am planning to have it done on my riding lawn mower.
Will this equipment work well with rocky clay type soil? Never heard of a Grillo tractor my parents used a Massey Ferguson tractor with a disk then a rear wheel tiller to plow up our garden on my childhood farm. Interested in more information on this equipment and any attachments that could be added to get my virgin rock and clay type soil. My husband and I have three acres on a side of a mountain so as you can imagine it's a long ways from being garden friendly land; however I plan on changing that with any suggestions you may have for me!! HELP PLEASE dad is no longer with us to help his inexperienced daughter out with such a huge task.
The Grillo is similar to the popular BCS walk behind tractor. Ron, the man that helped us in this video has a website and he is a wealth of information. His email address is at the bottom of the page on his website. www.friendlyfarmmachinery.com
No, Sand Hollow Homestead, they are made in Italy. The implements are predominately made in Italy as well, by big ag machinery manufacturers. That is why the quality is so high. The implements and the machines are made to meet the demands of constant use! Why I am at it, another feature that differentiates the G-107d from the G-85d unit is braking. Braking is standard on the G-107d unit and this is a necessary feature when running heavy front mounted equipment like the finish mower, sickle bar mower, bush hog or flail mower. One would not want to wrestle with the tractor on a slope with these implements. The steering brakes make managing these implements on a slope a doable process. Also, locking the differential can help maintain a line when on a slope. One must remember to unlock the wheels when needing to turn though! I have two 4-wheel drive Kubota tractors, for 5 acres or less the walking tractor is the way to go! Ron Friendly Farm, Machinery & Tool, Co.
Just watched this again. Something always bothered me about this. Seems like it would have been more effective to hook up the rotary plow to the bigger machine. See you soon.
The only place Bermuda grass belongs is on a golf course. It is the bane of my yard. The only way I have found to remove it is to soak the ground and remove it a piece at a time by hand! Time-consuming and tiring hard work.
Mike,
What a great day! Boy that was some hard soil, but we were able to persevere! To Lisa, great job editing that video, you guys make a great team. I had a blast working with all of you! To answer a comment, both tractors have a locking differential, that is what the D stands for and you are correct, turning one of these with the wheels locked is a task. Sorry I called Gabe Brown, Ted. Anyway, the snap peas I planted two weeks ago are starting to come up! I am getting ready for some serious planting next week!
Thanks Mike!
Ron Bell
Friendly Farm, Machinery & Tool, Co.
It was a great day! We are so very appreciative of you taking your time to come and help us. We have already been hard at work planting some of the beds that you shaped up for us. We first hear about Gabe Brown about 5 or 6 years ago and was one of the first farmers that we heard of that used the no till method. I am so glad that your brought him up and encouraged people to listen to his presentation. I wish I would have known he was in NC last year. Glad that your snap peas are coming along and I hope you get everything planted that you want to in the next couple of weeks. Thank you so much!!
One of the Best videos I have seen on busting new ground. Thanx
Now that is a MO-SHEEN !! Thanks for bringing it to us.
We have the Grillo G107 and love it. Our Berta rotary plow is the two directional one that you can flip at the row end. We also have the power harrow, a Molon hay rake, a drum mower and a Flail mower that we use to Bush hog. These are well worth the investment for all aspects of gardening. We farm 15 acres in Kentucky. We also use the rotary plow to work manure into our gardens. We originally had a Yanmar Diesel engine on our 107, however the Yanmar is not suitable for agricultural applications and does not handle the dust at all. We switched it out for the Honda.
Hi Mike, great video, I'm in North Herefordshire United Kingdom.
I have the Bertolini 411 with the Honda engine, which I bought 2nd hand in perfect condition with the rototiller, then I moved to 2 1\2 acres of orchard, paddocks and veg garden. I had already decided to go no dig, so had to think again and purchased the mulching Mower for the tractor which was twice the cost of the price I paid for the rig.
As I am a retired widower of 75 the amount of physical labour I can cope with is reduced.
I have been using huge amounts of woodchip on permaculture beds this last two years the soil has improved even from the good soil it was on my arrival in August 2017.
Having studied and practiced for over 40 years I am still learning about this subject. I have spent more effort on improving the beneficial insects and Bees as a pest control, the first year cabbage white butterfly murdered my brasicas, but this year was much better, Also I use ducks to control slugs, I do not worry about weeds as I believe plants enjoy the company of other plants my strong beans once up and running had huge docks growing with them and nettles, plantain, nasturshum etc.,
After watching the video I may get the tiller shown but I find the mulching mower does a super job, then I cover with woodchip mulch for the winter. It has been a very wet November this year and putting it all to bed for the winter is a bit behind but I have planted garlic, shallots, onions, and broad beans for a spring crop. This is not my income but a hobby with pastures hens and a pair of noisy geese to raise the alarm when strangers come by.great work best of luck with your endeavours you have a super family Brian
Nice information on the tractors Mike. For me, simple maintenance builds into reliability, being able to service and repair damaged equipment is paramount when one NEEDS the tool to work.
Jack Bridges, thanks... Yeah, I am with you. The simpler the better.
Wow, Mike, great information as always. Thank you.
Tom, We are so glad that you find value in our content. Thanks so much for watching!!
Wooo whoooooooo. Now that's what I call some serious tillage equipment. Nice! The prices sound reasonable too. If I had the need I definitely would look into these. Thanks Mike for sharing this. Take care.
Nice seeing the machines at work. They sure do seem to get the job done in your hard red clay soil. Garden is looking really well.
Richard Bohling Sr, thank you very much. Things are slowly coming around.
Ron and Mike, thanks for all the candor and straight shooting on the Grillo walk behind tractors. Fantastic video! Mike, I've been injured from wreck with a TBI, so could not watch your channel for a long time, but feel blessed to witness your channel again today. God bless all of you!
So sorry to hear about your TBI. Thank you so much for choosing to spend your time watching our channel. Glad that you found our video helpful! Will you be growing a garden this year?
Hi Mike! If the Lord allows me to recover enough and I believe that will be a the case, I will for sure put in a garden this year! I'm so inspired by you and your family, Sow the Land, Justin Rhodes, all the people trying to run small farms and bring people, plants and animals together. That's our goal too and we just take it one day at a time by God's grace! Thanks for all you do, truly.@@MikeTheFitFarmer
every educational, and you're still a class act, Mike
Todd Miller, thanks 😎
Ur place is working well thanks for sharing
Thanks Colleen!
Awesome stuff Mike! Keep crushing it dude!
I really appreciate you watching and for the positive encouragement!
I commented last month on your beastly tiller. This one is even bigger! Holy Farm Machinery, Batman! You could till all of Gotham City with that monster!
Jason Paul, 😂😂😂 Great comment!!!
That soil is beautiful!
Mike, I agree with "devil" Bermuda grass. I dug my yard up and hand shook out the roots. Easiest was covering with old carpet for six to eight months. Getting ready to cover another area that has popped up. Nice tools you had today.
Cathy Roe, thanks. Yeah covering like that is the best way to begin working on getting rid of it. Last year, I covered some areas with plastic and then wood over the plastic for almost the whole year. After that there are still roots left. But it is way easier to pull up. And then the key is making sure it doesn't spread from other areas again.
Great video thanks for sharing!
Thanks Darcie! We appreciate you watching!
We're still having cold weather here too but it's got to be almost over lol. Great equipment and great video. It's always nice watching all the progress on the farm and happenings with the family 😊 ❤
cozykitten, the forecast looks like the cold might be over for us. I hope it is for you too. Hope you have a blessed week!
Good video! We're looking at tractors right now. We live in TN. Bee Blessed Danny and Rita in TN on Rooster's Ridge
Thank you Danny and Rita! We really liked what the Grillo had to offer. It was totally different using the Grillo compared to the rototiller that we have been using. The walk behind is definitely something we are saving up for. Thanks so much for watching!!
we had snow the last few days.... :-(... still.... luv ur vids...
Wow it is still snowing in April!! It snowed here the other night but it was mixed with rain. I hope Spring shows up soon for you! Thanks for watching!!
Been waiting for you to make a video like this! Similar to what I see from other UA-camr's videos, but so much more entertaining! Thanks a ton!
We are so glad that Ron came out to help us and we were able to make this video. The Grillo walk behind would be a game changer for us here on the farm. Glad that you found value in our content!! Thanks for watching!
I love when you offer to interview someone to promote their business and they till your property in the process. It did seem like you were making sure to film every possible angle of him tilling. lol. nice machinery.
I am looking at the Grillo front tine tiller. Earth Tool is great.
Great Instructional, thanks! Am sharing!
Thank you Annie!
Love these walk behinds! He's right about Joel at Earth Tools, he's a walking encyclopedia on these machines! One thing he didn't get into, at least I don't recall him mentioning it, that's a factor for me on these machines, is the "fixed" straight axle vs the differential axle. The 107 D he was operating has a differential axle. If you've ever tried to wrestle one of these big machines around a corner or turning tight at the end of rows, you know what I mean. The Grillo 85D is the smallest (and cheapest, of course) tractor available with the differential axle. These are truly workhorses and built to last. There is a good reason for the higher price tags! It's not uncommon at all to see 25 yr old machines working every day.
Tom Mathews, thank you so much for the info. I really enjoyed using the Grillo. Definitely on my wish list.
I live in Michigan at the mouth of Lake Huron. Not planting this year but hoping to move where I can have a small garden.
I want G110 is it available in India ?
Hi Mike great video,are your beds on a slope and if so did you have to terrace them when you formed them and how did you go about doing so?
Catharine Anderson, glad you like the video. As far as garden goes; it is on a slope. We terraced it with an excavator and by hand. A terrace garden is not the easiest to start but it can be done. And I believe you can better take advantage of water with applying permaculture swell techniques because of rainfall running downhill.
Catharine,
Yes, Mike's property sloped. That is why one can see me working the tractor with the rotary plow on the high side of the slope. This was to help the tractor throw the dirt downhill. Usually, one would put the right wheel of the tractor into the furrow left from the first pass. This throws the soil on the bottom to the top and right of the tractor. I did this on the lee side of the slope to help build up the bed. On the high side, I threw the soil downhill thus creating a terrace with each raised bed. As Mike and I discussed, we moved a lot of soil in a few hours! To do that by hand is quite the job! Now Mike has new beds that will be a lot easier to maintain than they were to make, and he gets to expand his garden to produce more PRODUCE!! Once again, we had a great day together and meeting the family was the icing on the cake.
Does Grillo make a flail brush mower attachment?
I love my bcs two wheel tracktor
BCS is a good brand.
Every time I try to sign up for your email newsletter, I get an error message. This is the first day I've tried to sign up. Bee Blessed Danny and Rita in TN on Rooster's Ridge
Rita McCartt-Kordon, so sorry to here about the error message
Could you message me your email on Instagram or Facebook and I will make sure you get signed up.
I just traded up my 27 year old BCS 730 for a Grillo 85D.
I just watched a video on BCS in a similar situation and this one seems like it's really struggling whereas the BCS just completely tore it up
Hey, thanks for watching. Mike's situation was tough! Just a few weeks later I took the same rotary plow to Durham, Co, and one would have thought the situation was worse. But it went thru that red clay like butter! From an operational stand point there is little difference between the two machines. They have similar weight, similar horsepower and gearing. BCS brand has a more user friendly operating system for switching from engine front to engine back applications and for forward and reverse operation. I like Grillo for its ease of maintenance and rugged reliability. The BCS video you are talking about is in soil that was worked the year before, that is a huge difference!
Oh, my... devil grass! Let me know if that works to stop the bermuda! I can't get rid of the stuff at all!
Yes devil grass. We are slowly beating it back with the flame weeder and landscape fabric. If we find another way we will let you know. Thanks so much for watching Sue Ellen!
I want a "never go flat" tyre on a wheelbarrow. I can't count how many wheelbarrow tyres that have gone flat on me..
nicole73551, I know what you mean. I just learned about places that fill tires with rubberized material. I am planning to have it done on my riding lawn mower.
Will this equipment work well with rocky clay type soil? Never heard of a Grillo tractor my parents used a Massey Ferguson tractor with a disk then a rear wheel tiller to plow up our garden on my childhood farm. Interested in more information on this equipment and any attachments that could be added to get my virgin rock and clay type soil. My husband and I have three acres on a side of a mountain so as you can imagine it's a long ways from being garden friendly land; however I plan on changing that with any suggestions you may have for me!! HELP PLEASE dad is no longer with us to help his inexperienced daughter out with such a huge task.
The Grillo is similar to the popular BCS walk behind tractor. Ron, the man that helped us in this video has a website and he is a wealth of information. His email address is at the bottom of the page on his website. www.friendlyfarmmachinery.com
@@MikeTheFitFarmer thank you, I'm going to check this out for sure!
Are these made in the U.S.A.?
No, Sand Hollow Homestead, they are made in Italy. The implements are predominately made in Italy as well, by big ag machinery manufacturers. That is why the quality is so high. The implements and the machines are made to meet the demands of constant use! Why I am at it, another feature that differentiates the G-107d from the G-85d unit is braking. Braking is standard on the G-107d unit and this is a necessary feature when running heavy front mounted equipment like the finish mower, sickle bar mower, bush hog or flail mower. One would not want to wrestle with the tractor on a slope with these implements. The steering brakes make managing these implements on a slope a doable process. Also, locking the differential can help maintain a line when on a slope. One must remember to unlock the wheels when needing to turn though! I have two 4-wheel drive Kubota tractors, for 5 acres or less the walking tractor is the way to go!
Ron
Friendly Farm, Machinery & Tool, Co.
Thanks for responding Ron!
Just watched this again. Something always bothered me about this. Seems like it would have been more effective to hook up the rotary plow to the bigger machine. See you soon.
The only place Bermuda grass belongs is on a golf course. It is the bane of my yard. The only way I have found to remove it is to soak the ground and remove it a piece at a time by hand! Time-consuming and tiring hard work.
We don't like it either!! That is why we usually refer to it as devil grass. lol Sorry you have to deal with it too. Thanks for watching Gail!!