Rita Goggins and the Move About Stool

Rita Goggins grew up the daughter of a dairy farmer in Ravenna, Michigan. It is on the family farm that she learned a valuable lesson from her father, Gale McNitt; “Do what you love and love what you do”. Rita has turned her love for the outdoors, animals and gardening into a palette of continuous blooming color on the 11½-acre homestead that she shares with her husband Jerry in Lowell, Michigan.

Due to an injury Rita has difficultly kneeling or squatting, which prevented her from working in her gardens for long durations of time without being able to sit. At times she used a pail turned upside down but found it damaged plants in her beds due to its large base not to mention it was not good on any type of incline or slope. She looked for other types of gardening products that would assist her only to find items that caused greater problems: rolling seated scooters that damaged plants with their large tires, to non-stable kneelers. All of them requiring the user to pick them up and move them. It is at this point Rita thought of her days growing up on the family farm and the stool her father used when milking cow. It was attached right to you and allowed your hands to be free for other tasks.

It was perfect, or was it? That’s where the Move About Stool begins. Rita wanted the base to be larger then the original milking stool to prevent it from sinking into soft soil but not to large as to damage her planting beds. Then it should be adjustable in height and what about an attached tool caddy? The ideas for improvement just kept coming.

While the initial intention was that the Move About would be used as a simple gardeners stool, there are numerous other stoop labors that can take advantage of the Move About Stool. Any task that requires extended time bending, kneeling or squatting increases the likelihood of injury to the back, hips and knees. Not only is the Move About Stool a great device for the average gardener, it can reduce occupational hazards faced by thousands of US landscapers, groundskeepers, fruit and vegetable farm workers, carpet/floor/tile installers, office administrators (filing), mechanics, plumbers, merchandiser (shelf stocking), painters, maids, tailors, hunters, fishermen, electricians, sports officials, auditors, photographers and more.