<I>The Eagle/Cheryl Jessup</I><BR>Jabe Philip Merricks sits with a few of the tillers he has available at his business in Monument. Merricks is an authorized dealer for BCS garden tillers.

MONUMENT – A person would be hard-pressed to find a business venture that Jabe Philip Merricks hasn’t tried. At one-time or another he has worked in orchard management, wholesale food distribution, started and ran a community newspaper, and taught workshops in watershed concepts.

Now Merricks has added a new business to his long list, as an authorized dealer for BCS garden tillers.

Touted as “The Best Tiller on Earth,” the walk-behind, two-wheeled tractors have many attachments available, including a chipper/shredder, a snow thrower, lawn mowers in various sizes, a rototiller, brush mower and a sweeper.

The tillers come in a variety of models and sizes, depending on the power needed and the task at hand – everything from basic lawn-mowing and seedbed preparation to jobs of a more professional or commerical nature. And the attachments make any of the models versatile in all four seasons.

Merricks has some models on display now, in front of his shop (the former North Fork Cafe) on Main Street, across from the Monument Senior Center. He says he can easily order more, as well as any of the attachments.

Merricks, who was raised in Virginia, has lived in various places across the United States, including the Eugene area in the 1970s where he started The Dexter Action News. By 1984, he found himself on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, with barely $100 to his name, selling oranges to individuals and businesses. By the late 1980s, he was managing what was at that time, the largest orchard on the island of Hawaii. He still has one macadamia nut business connection there.

Following a vacation to Frenchglen in the fall of 2003, he and his domestic partner, Tina Lau began buying property in the Kimberly area. They settled in Monument for good in 2005. Lau, who worked as a botanist on the island of Molokai, as part of a crew that oversaw three nature preserves, now teaches science at Long Creek School. On the five-acre parcel which borders the North Fork of the John Day River, they have an extensive fruit orchard, among other agricultural projects in the works.

Merricks, who says he has basically been helping farmers distribute their crops since 1980, wants to “help people for the hard times that are coming.” He says he wouldn’t be surprised to see “victory farms,” popular in the war time of the 1940s, return in popularity.

He believes the BCS tillers, which he points out, come with one of the best warranties in the industry, are a great way for people to accomplish that or just get enjoyment from growing their own food.

For more information or a demonstration on the BCS tillers, call Merricks at 934-2010.