The Antique Garden Rake

When my 90-year old mother-in-law moved to her new home in assisted living, my husband and I had the pleasure of cleaning out her old home. I may have mentioned she was ultra frugal and saved and patched everything, seldom buying new unless the item was broke beyond repair. Some of the items dated back to the 1930s, not only historical, but a bit interesting to say the least. Last week, I used her not-sure-how-old garden rake and immediately noticed something different about it -- the handle was a full 9 inches longer than most garden tools today. You can stretch further under a bush, and get more out of single sweep - very noticeable in a days worth of work. A google search for long-handled antique garden rakes didn't turn up much, but it's certainly worth noting if you can find an antique garden rake, grab it -- it'll make your gardening more pleasant.