Have loved this thread all the way thru! ;D Am just going to use a big pointy stick myself with no foot-step on it - being somewhat unsophisticated and definitely not techy (tho Mr W will no doubt get his hands on it and "refine" it ::))
Anyway, pont is(pun deffo intended), I am now looking forward to seeing all your designs for a Parsnip Puller-Outer which will definitely be needed for all the enormously loooooong parsnips grown in all the enormously deeeeep holes!!