This is the toolkit I haul around with me from vine to vine in my small vineyard as I do pruning work and some minor trellis maintenance work.

The 7 items in the green grocery carrier that I use to hold my tools are:

1. Felco #2 Pruner
2. Tape gun (also known as a tapener gun) for tying vines to the trellis
3. 7 inch multipurpose plastic ties also for tying vines the trellis (more heavy duty tie than the tape gun)
4. Multipurpose fencing tool
5. Couple of short pieces of fencing wire (for tightening the trellis wire)
6. Two wire joining and tensioning spools
7. Fencing staples (use wooden posts for my trellis)
8. A pair of gloves.

It takes awhile to figure out what tools are most useful and worth carrying around with you. My wife carries around a small trolly so she can put pruned material from the vines into it. She also carries gloves, Felco #2 pruners, a water bottle, insect repellent, and some sunscreen. We all carry around the set of tools that are right for us and for the job as we define it.

I spent some time yesterday thinking about how I could organize my vineyard tools more efficiently. I have more vineyard tools and materials than are shown in the green bin above and I was wondering how I might organize those tools as well. I have a small arts-and-crafts toolbox that I decided would be a good storage for my "core helper" tools. The "core helper" tools consist of replacement parts for the tape gun as well as long nose pliers to remove and insert the tape gun blades if need be. It also includes extra wire tensioners and extra plastic ties if I need them. This blue box can physically sit inside the green box I use for my core tools.

You'll also notice that I have an even bigger sturdy grey container for some bulkier vineyard tools and materials (e.g., gold-colored wire tensioning tool, wire spools, string trimmer line, wedges, a maul, etc...). This might be considered my "core extension" toolkit. The three toolkits can nest inside each other as illustrated in the photo above. If I filled the core extension toolkit with a gas jug for my string trimmer and more trellsing tools, I wouldn't try to nest the toolboxes; however, it is interesting to note that the toolkits can be physically nested within each other and, in one armload, I can load most of the vineyard tools I might need into my truck and take them to where I will be doing vineyard work. By organizing my tools in this way I don't have to make as many decisions about which tools I will need for jobs in the vineyard.

It pays to spend some time getting yourself organized so you don't have to spend alot of time in search mode looking for the tools you need to complete a job. If you find yourself spending alot of time in search mode getting ready for a job, perhaps you need to spend some time getting organized.

This blog was inspired in part by my own organizing efforts and also by former Wired editor Kevin Kelly whose Cool Tools blog is worth checking out. In particular, check the postings on the topic of What's In My Bag which was an inspiration for this blog.