The Tools That Make Harvest Easy at Rocky Suns Farm

By Michele Katsaris|September 24, 2025

Rocky Suns Farm is a 9-acre homestead-turned-market farm in Parker, KS, that cultivates around 5 acres of diverse produce, including tomatoes, strawberries, sweet corn, melons, peppers, blackberries, okra, lettuces, greens, onions, garlic and more. Over the past five years, owners Amanda and Dustin Michelle have grown the farm to include five farmers markets, a small on-farm store, and a developing orchard within the gardens. Pastured poultry are raised and processed on-site, with the chickens sold directly through the store. Rocky Suns Farm distributes its harvest through local markets, wholesale accounts with school districts, and farm-to-table restaurants. While small in scale, the farm relies on a variety of essential implements to keep operations running smoothly. Check them out in the gallery below.

1 of 5

1 of 5

Mulch Layer

“We have a plastic mulch layer; this helps resist weed growth in the growing rows. We grow a cover crop in the walk rows to help with soil biodiversity.”

Photo courtesy of Rocky Suns Farm
2 of 5

Wheel Transplanter

“A water wheel transplanter that has significantly improved our planting time. We went from three hours to 15 minutes for one row of tomatoes. This thing is a lifesaver!”

Photo courtesy of Rocky Suns Farm
3 of 5

John Deere 5400 Tractor

“The tractor we use is a John Deere 5400 with a front and loader, none of our large implements could be pulled without this. It is absolutely essential to our operation.”

Photo courtesy of Rocky Suns Farm
4 of 5

Tiller

“We have a 6-foot land, pride, reverse time tiller. This helps loosen the soil up enough to get the plastic in the rows.”

Photo courtesy of Rocky Suns Farm
5 of 5

Cooler

“Another tool that significantly helps our farm is our cooler. We just installed that this year and I don’t know how we went so long without one. We’re able to harvest enough for the entire week and store it keeping it fresher longer. We used a cool bot on an old commercial cooler.”

Photo courtesy of Rocky Suns Farm