To be effective in working entirely by hand, it is important to have suitable and effective tools! At Bec Hellouin we try to develop efficient hand tools and now have a range of simple and complementary tools for working quickly with a minimum of fatigue.

[Editor’s note: The best resource so far is https://www.fermedubec.com/la-permaculture/les-outils/ (translation begun Feb 2019). It amends the standard garden toolkit with designs more suited to no-dig mulched beds, companion planting, dense planting, etc. The farm’s new encyclopaedic book Vivre avec la terre describes the tools at length.]