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Lyman’s Legacy

A bit of history:

Lyman Wood always preferred to work at home, at the dining room table.  But encouraged by his family, he built a log cabin (shown on the cover of the book) in 1965 near his house at Cedar Beach in Charlotte, Vermont. It was used as an office overlooking his experimental vegetable gardens where he developed and tested such products as the Troy-Bilt Rototiller and Garden Way Cart that became mainstays for gardeners throughout the United States .

In 1972 he added the Meeting House portion of the building, designed to serve as the headquarters and board of directors meeting place for Garden Way, Inc., the company that he helped found in the late 1960’s. After an unfriendly internal takeover on January 28, 1982, Garden Way departed from Vermont. In subsequent years Lyman continued to use the Meeting House as incubator space for a variety of businesses that he helped start:  Country Home Products, Treadle Power Inc., In Brief Press, and Home, Farm & Garden Research Associates. For several years after his death in December 1996, it was used as a retreat center and then a private home. His family continues to live and garden at Cedar Beach, and happily offers his book to a new generation of entrepreneurs seeking better ways to live and make a living.

Lyman’s “keys” to a happier life

     Lyman lived his life by the “golden rule,” and developed his own simple rules: his “keys” to a happier life.  They have brought strength and comfort to family, friends and many others for many years.  Here they are:

1. Be thankful always.

2. Be giving always

3. Be forgiving always.

4. Be self-helpful always.

5. Be faith-full always.

Products for the Home & Garden


Here are links to companies that manufacture and/or sell products for the home and garden that were developed and promoted by Lyman Wood and others associated with the Garden Way Companies:


Books for Country Living including the original Have-More Plan, “A Little Land, A Lot of Living”
Gardeners Supply Co.
Troy-Bilt Rototillers
Country Home Products: DR Trimmer-Mowers, Field & Brush Mowers, Power-Wagons


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