Friend With A Tiller: Troy Bilt Super Bronco CRT Garden Tiller

I have learned an important thing about tillers recently. That, in terms of number of friends you have (like the flesh kind, not the electronic kind), they have a similar effect as to pickup trucks. When people find out you have one, suddenly, they discover an overwhelming need to call you up and see how your life is going, and it just so happens to be that they have a garden they need tilled (or a house full of possessions they need transported, in the case of trucks).

This year, I was asked to review the Troy-Bilt Tillers. And I will be honest, I did not use it myself. I was afraid of it. The thing is a beast, and in tough soil, I was fairly certain that I was going to lose control of it and take out a fence, a shrub and important pieces of my anatomy.

So, for the safety of myself and those around me, I let my husband use it and I will report his findings securely from behind a computer screen.

To start off with, the tiller was bang easy to assemble. Pop the handle on and you are ready to go. That being said, my husband thought that in terms of how well the tiller itself chewed through the soil, the handle felt a little flimsy. But, being said after that, no matter how tough the ground was, there was never an issue.

We tilled my garden, which already has been broken in during past years with no problems. The tiller moved smoothly. I think that if I had this to do again, I would have gone with a slightly smaller tiller though. I have raised beds and turning it around in those beds was a bit tricky sometimes.

So we tried it next in my neighbor’s open garden. Again, soil that had been tilled before. My husband loved that and turning was not a problem.

Then we took it to my friend’s “fire-sale, bought in a foreclosure action and the yard was abandoned a year before the house was” yard. This was basically virgin, hard clay soil, and my husband had a blast. It was like watching a cowboy ride a bronco. The soil did its best to throw my husband and the tiller and my husband and the tiller handled it. The tiller chewed through the ground and left a lovely, smooth bed in its wake.

All in all, we were impressed and pleased.

Then the tiller broke. It seems the spring on the pull cord had snapped. My hubby, being a hands on kind of guy, took the pull cord assembly apart and shook his head like a doctor who had lost the patient. I called the company. And to be very honest, they were quick like bunnies to get the tiller fixed for us. No fuss, no questions and we were rolling (um, I mean tilling) again in no time.

All and all, I liked this tiller. My husband loved the tiller. And while it did break on the 3rd time we used it, it gave me a chance to see their customer service in action, and they were very nice and prompt.

So the tiller is now at my in-laws and will then go to my husband’s grandparents and my other neighbor has asked if I could let them borrow it, just for an afternoon. I am now officially the “friend with a tiller” which is the kind of friend with benefits that gardeners like.

Why You Don't Need to Found Your Startup in Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is the capital of venture capital and the acknowledged headquarters of disruptive ideas, fierce determination and hard work.

That aura of potential casts a golden glow on the zillions of Bay Area startups trying to make it big. It sometimes seems that if you’re blessed to work where unicorns graze, there’s no doubt you’re on the path to success. But what if you’re not in the San Jose-to-San Francisco corridor?

The truth is entrepreneurs and startups can flourish anywhere, even in places that lack Philz Coffee (said to be a favorite of Mark Zuckerberg) and whose residents would laugh at the conceit of $4 toast.


Small businesses -- which, by definition, include startups -- and entrepreneurship are doing just fine beyond the confines of Silicon Valley. According to the Kauffman Foundation's 2015 study of entrepreneurial trends, 38 of 40 major metro areas showed an increase in small businesses. These incuded cities such as Nashville, Tenn.; Austin, Texas; and Jacksonville, Fla.

Whether you’re in St. Augustine, Fla., (pop. 14,000) or Topeka, Kan., (pop. 128,000) a bit of creativity and persistence will enable you to assemble critical resources and position your business to thrive. Pay special attention to three vital areas:

6 Shrewd Moves for Entrepreneurial Success

Being a 21st-century startup entrepreneur isn't just about setting up a business, making a little profit, and then leaving it and jetting off to go set up another one elsewhere. No, you need to give your business the needed time and attention necessary for growth in a highly competitive industry, if you want it to survive.

Impatience for the business to bloom, before setting sail on another business, is a strong factor responsible for business failure.

Below are six shrewd business tips for every 21st-century entrepreneur who wants to start and build a profitable and sustainable business that will still be standing a long while.

For These Artisan Founders, Cute Small-Batch Goods Were Just the Beginning

Morton’s sells a perfectly suitable box of kosher salt. It’s $2.49 for three pounds. Then along comes Ben Jacobsen from Oregon, whose salt’s price is 650 percent higher. But his isn’t just any ole salt: It is pulled from a handpicked spot in the Pacific Ocean and run through a complex process of purification. It is not salt to just salt things. His is a highlight -- a “finishing salt,” the flaky crystals that chefs sprinkle on food right before serving to give it a pop of flavor.

Jacobsen launched his company in 2011 and called it Jacobsen Salt Co. He knew his price would make some scoff -- but that plenty of others would be willing to be impressed. “The challenge was to keep the product quality at the highest level possible and continuously improve quality over time,” he says, “and to convey the story of how our salt is made and why it is so special.”