For Christmas I got a knife -a pruning knife of decent build. My first, it's guided by a flick of the wrist, away from the body. It's sharp enough to cut cleanly through the thick cardboard it came with.
I also received a small Japanese hoe, Nejiri Gama, which roughly translates to torsion sickle or twist sickle. It is nearly short-handled and designed to undercut weeds in tight quarters with a pull stroke. Both tools belong to a greater body of tools I am growing for the farm (and garden).
Good tools cost more, but I have a philosophy -a good tool is the least expensive because you will only buy it once. These are the tools you make sure not to leave out in the yard over winter, tools you are sure not to leave in the car overnight should someone decide tonight is the night they're breaking your window.
It should be of no surprise that I've also acquired a number of books by Wendell Berry -writer, poet, agriculturalist.
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If I do not respond to your comment right away, it is only because I am busy pulling out buckthorn, creeping charlie, and garlic mustard...