Bicycle Mounted Strawberry Picker

Bicycle mounted strawberry picker FARM HOME Miscellaneous 14-1-9 "My strawberry picker also works great for weeding. It saves my back," says Willis Homer, Brown City, Mich., who built a bicycle-mounted, carpeted plat-form supported by a third wheel. The rectangular platform consists of a 3/4-in. dia. pipe frame covered by a 4 by 4-ft. piece of carpeted plywood. The framework can be extended from 4 to 7 ft. wide and is about 8 in. off the ground. One end is welded to the bicycle, and the other end is attached to the axle of an 18-in. dia. bicycle wheel. Homer lays face down on the carpet and picks strawberries with his arms just ahead of the platform. A radio hangs from the handlebars. "It eliminates the need to constantly bend over," says Homer. "I raise straw-berries in solid stands so I just let the wheels run over the plants. However, I can adjust to any row width and use it on anything that needs weeding. The plat-form tips rearward, allowing my feet to reach the ground. I can reach over and grab the bicycle's front wheel to move ahead or use my feet to kick myself along." Homer locked the front steering fork so the bike won't turn. He hangs a plastic milk jug from the bicycle handlebars to hold garden tools along with an FM radio. He mounted a radio antenna on the top of a vertical bar at the rear of the bicycle to improve the radio's reception. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Willis Homer, 5309 Van Dyke, Brown City, Mich. 48416 (ph 313 346-2689).

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